Gift shopping

So today I spent the day gift shopping. I am doing mucho gift knitting this year, but there are some family members for whom knitted things don't really seem to be all that suitable. It doesn't help that my brothers live in Florida, Texas, and Oregon, with the Oregon brother/SIL combo being the only ones who can truly use things like gloves and scarves. C's sister and her family live in Los Angeles, not exactly a bastion of cold weather knits. Being a woman, I know that us Southern gals can still use knitted items like headbands, decorative scarves, shawls, and bags along with the occasional pair of fingerless mitts thrown in. But Southern men? Southern men are downright hard to knit for, so until I discover the secret knitted item Southern men want, they will continue to get storebought items. Unless I decide that simply everyone should have a hand-knit scarf for the odd trip north regardless of home location.

The nieces and nephews range in age from 5 to 17. Granted, there are some Yankee teens and pre-teens who might really appreciate a new scarf and hat set, but the ones I'm gifting to are not going to be headed out into the frozen tundra anytime soon. The girls might appreciate pretty knitted bags or purses, but I'll leave that for when they are a bit older. Besides, they are at that name-brand stage where labels mean everything and unless I can become a fashion icon in the next few weeks, I'm not sure my line of accessories will fit the bill.

So today I went off to look at some electronics for my mom. I live 5 minutes from a shopping wonderland and she lives...well, she does not live 5 minutes from a shopping wonderland. So while I was out I took advantage of the situation to shop for the kids and the brothers and I got most of it done.

The kids are kinda hard to shop for right now.

The 17yo boy...well, 17yo boys were a mystery to me when I was 17, and that hasn't changed...he's generally been getting money or its equivalent for years unless I find out a specific want. He's into golf and racing and certain sports teams, but he also lives half a country away like most of the kids and I don't know what he already has. I'm not really keen on giving money and gift certificates...it seems very impersonal, but teens aren't known for their raging sentimentality.
The soon-to-be 13yo girl, who has a birthday Christmas day, is not such a mystery...teenage girls are generally in my comfort zone...although we didn't have things like mp3 players and handheld video games back in my day.
The 12 yo boy does not, apparently, own an mp3 player, which mystifies me because his younger sister does. He loves music, too...loves to play...loves to sing. I don't understand what the issue is with the no mp3 player thing, but whatever. I'd get him an Itunes card or something if he had an mp3 player, but if that's out, then he falls into mystery-land because there are few things harder for me to shop for than a 12yo boy I only see once a year. I see a gift certificate or money in his future.
The three 11 yo girls (yes, 1997 was The Year of the Girl) are not terribly mysterious, but they are evidently much more hip than I was a that age. And one of them is not a girly-girl and never has been, which has made her a bit of an enigma to me over the years. Too old for toys, too young for those department store make-up sets. (My grandpa used to give me those and I was in HOG HEAVEN...not that I had much appreciation for Estee Lauder vs Cover Girl when I was 16, but it was the 80's and turquoise eye shadow was all the rage.)
The 6yo boy. Ahhh, the six year old boy. Still in toy mode. But part of his Asperger's means he seriously does not do loud noises or musical things, so a whole segment of the toy section is wiped out. He isn't terribly hard to shop for, though. I have a feeling all these toys with lots of pieces get scattered to the four winds and never seen again, but if you take out the noisy ones and you take out the small pieces, there isn't much to get this 6yo unless you go to the video game aisle and since Game Boy games seem to be out of favor at the moment (long live Nintendo DS?), that's not easy either.
The 5yo girl. She isn't your average 5yo. She has Down Syndrome, so she is maybe more like a 3-4yo, although it is really hard to know just exactly where she is on the spectrum. She loves music and I've bought her a dozen different musical toys over the years. But she is getting maybe a little beyond the infant toys...and not yet totally ready for the "big girl" toys. She also loves to rock. (In a chair, not to AC/DC.) I'm going to try to find a little child-sized rocking chair for her. If that fails, I saw a little car racing set I might get her...although it would likely be taken over immediately by her brother, the 6yo.

We give Christmas gifts to everyone on my side of the family every year. And birthday gifts to the nieces and nephews. And Hannukah to the kids on C's side. We only exchange Hannukah with the adults on C's side if we are actually with them during Hannukah, which we will be this year for the first time in many years. So that puts a woman and two men into the mix who aren't usually there

I have a lot of plane knitting time coming up on our flights to Hawaii and to Los Angeles. I'm not feeling particularly stressed yet over the gift knitting I have planned. But I still have a bit of shopping to do and not much time here at home to do it before we start travelling over the next two weeks. So I think I'll pack up my knitting and hit Toys R Us on the way to Knit Night. Maybe I'll even get there early enough to score one of the comfy chairs...I'd better get moving.