Pushing your wishlist.

[Hyena Dandy]

I got a friend who's presenting a bit of a dilemma. See, her birthday is coming up, or possibly is today, or was yesterday. And it was Christmas coming up for a while too... And the whole last couple weeks, half of the statuses I've seen from her on facebook have been "I filled out my wishlist on Amazon!"

"I just spent three hours looking at lunchboxes on Amazon, and this is the one I want the most!"

And just now "I just reranked my wishlist *links to it* I'm not SUPER happy with the order, but this is the best I can get"

I dunno, it feels like she's pushing too much what she wants. When I get someone a gift, I want it to be something I wanted to get them, not something I feel like I'm being ordered to buy.

[AdminAssistant]

That person would no longer be on my friend's list.

ETA: And those people make the rest of the people filling out gift registries look bad. I mean, it's one thing to have a registry for a wedding or a first baby shower. It's quite another to have one for your fourth child or your baby's 1st birthday or for your own birthday when you're a damn adult.

[blas87]

I'm awful lately. I've been telling everyone that my birthday is coming up, and the women's North Face section is at Scheels, and there's Packer zip hoodies at Victoria's Secret and I need a large.

But I'm joking with most people, especially those I'm not particularly close to.

I do know of brides to be and moms to be that are downright nasty and seflish about the gifts they want for their showers and wedding. It's seriously just disturbing.

Ya know, for my pregnant friend, my mom is making her a blanket for the baby and I'm probably going to give her a bunch of diapers. I don't care if it's "cliche" to give the mom to be diapers, ya know what, it saves her money and that's the point. If I were pregnant, I'd want everyone to bring me diapers so I could worry about clothes and other stuff myself.

My ex's sister had a "celebrity" type of wedding (I'm not lying, her dress was the same price as I paid for.my.car) and you don't even want to know what was on her registry.

Personally, I don't believe anyone is entitled to gifts because they are getting married or having a baby. It's nice, and traditional, but nowadays, couples live together BEFORE getting married, so they don't need lavish dinnerware and appliances, and women expecting babies should be thankful that they get lots of diapers and towels and wipes.

[Rapscallion]

Heh - my snobby cousin had a semi-registry arranged by her mother, and I dislike both of them. She and her bf were apparently fond of antiques, and thus they had been collecting them for some time and were happily sorted for what they needed. After all, they'd lived together for some years by this point.

Instead, the request was for money instead of presents, so they could buy more antique stuff.

My mother took them towels, deliberately ignoring this.

Me? I didn't do anything, but I considered a box with a fragment of rotted wood in, labelled, "Genuine hand-made splinter from the true cross!"

Rapscallion

[jackfaire]

I have an Amazon wishlist for 2 reasons.

1) window shopping. I am surfing the web see something I really want I add it to the list then when I have money see if I still want it and buy it if I do.

2) My mom requested I have one so she has at least an idea of what I am into.

[Ree]

I don't have a problem with people making those registries or wishlists and quietly letting people know.

I have an online friend who is registered with Amazon.
She doesn't live near me, and we don't see each other, so I don't really know her tastes and needs.
I find it really helpful, if I do want to give her a gift, to just check her wishlist.

I think constant Facebook updating about wishlists and registries is very tacky.

[Cat]

I have a wish list, but it mostly stuff that I'll but for myself. Yes, online window-shopping is fun.

I don't post it on Twitter for FB. I too, will joke when my b-day is coming about, but it joking. Isn't there a section on Etiquette Hell about Gimme Grabs like this?


(mhhh......North Face......)

[HYHYBT]

The only place I use a wish list is Audible, so that I have somewhere to put books I might want next time I have a credit to use because otherwise I might forget about them. (They used to have a slightly different feature for that: if you had a credit that was about to expire, it would automatically use it for the first thing on your list instead.)

I could see making a list and posting it *once* to Facebook; it's easier to pick out a gift for someone when you know what they'd like. Sometimes people have very different tastes, and sometimes even when you know what sort of thing someone would like you don't know things like whether they already have one, or if that *particular* one will work for them (for example, once upon a time Dad got us Donkey Kong for Christmas. Yay! Except it was the Intellivision version, and we had Coleco...)

But doing it over and over changes it from informative to begging.

[Hyena Dandy]

I don't have a problem with people making those registries or wishlists and quietly letting people know.

I have an online friend who is registered with Amazon.
She doesn't live near me, and we don't see each other, so I don't really know her tastes and needs.
I find it really helpful, if I do want to give her a gift, to just check her wishlist.

I think constant Facebook updating about wishlists and registries is very tacky.

That's basically the thing. In fact, I like wishlists. I believe in random acts of kindness, and sometimes I'm in a good mood, or I come into money, and I feellike buying something. for them. It's a gift from me to them.

When you spend a week or two talking about it, I feel pressured.

[Andara Bledin]

I have one wishlist anywhere, and that's on Steam and that's only because Steam has giveaways where prizes include the top ten games in your wishlist. Plus, it's easy to check to see if any of those games are listed as being on special that week.

Wishlists are a good thing to have. They are not something you should actively advertise. Quietly mentioning that they exist somewhere that someone who would be looking could find that info is a much better option.

^-.-^

[BlaqueKatt]

1) window shopping. I am surfing the web see something I really want I add it to the list then when I have money see if I still want it and buy it if I do.

I do this as well, and if someone asks what to get me, I'll let them know I have a wishlist( I have two actually, a personal one with the pricey stuff, and kindle books on it, and the "general ideas" list-nothing over $40) that they can use for ideas, and that it does not have to be the exact item, and anything hello kitty/cycling/outdoorsy is always appreciated.

[LadyBarbossa]

Like Ree, I have a wishlist but it's mostly because my online friend kept bugging me to make one. Each time Christmas or one of our birthdays rolls around, we get something for each other. It's nice

But I would never, EVER post my wishlist on FB! How tacky. I'm nearly 28, I don't really need birthday gifts anymore. I am having a gathering at a friend's house next month, but I'm going to be sure to say that the only thing I want is my friends' presences, that's it. Unless they're picky drinkers, in which case, they can bring the poison of their choice.

[Peppergirl]

I agree with the others. Having a wishlist is fine, but to be carrying on about it on FB like that is BEYOND tacky.

How the hell old *IS* this woman, anyway? Anyone over the age of 10 has zero excuse for acting like that.

[boringscreenname]

I don't have a wishlist or have one for any of my kids. I don't have anything against them, I just don't have time to make one, then keep it updated, remember the link, etc. Whenever people ask what to get us for gifts, I just give them general ideas of stuff we like or would find useful. Besides I don't really expect people to buy me stuff anyway. I'm an adult, and if I see something I want then I buy it.

But I think it's extremely tacky to push your wishlist on Facebook. It's fine to have one and make people quietly aware of it, but it's another thing to stand on top of the roof of a building shouting about it with a loudspeaker, begging for gifts.

[Sleepwalker]

Seconding the 'mentioning once that it's been updated' post. Maybe even more than once during holidays, the get the early shoppers and the procrastinators. But posting about each item? Lord.

The only item on my amazon wishlist I ever posted about specifically was the 28000 dollar toaster I found.