this can  be frustrating. Over the many years I have tried so hard to find that gift I hoped the  person would like.. sometimes it appeared to be a "winner" other times I got that forced oh gee thanks smile. when I could see they were not happy. I have bought many gift cards over the years. and most people seem happy with them. they even request them. my spouse and two kids and myself  even ask for them. it is so much easier getting a gift card to a place they like so they can pick out what they want.it is NOT being lazy on my part. I have spent countless hours trying to buy gifts I thought they may like.I still buy open up gifts, it is just this year I will be paying for those cards again. and be glad to do it.

Thanks goodness for gift cards!

Cold hard cash or a giftcard to their favorite store will do.

I stoped this dumb act. If I do shop for a gift, it will be something they need, most of the crap people will buy tonight will end up collecting dust in 2 weeks, buy socks, shirts, pants, and maybe a bottle of wine, for that special someone...lol..

I think once you pass 12 years old, you should graduate from Christmas gifts. Sooner or later Christmas stops being about what new video game console you're going to get and start to be about enjoying the company of your family and lvoed ones.  Why can't we just focus on this and the birth of our Savior, and forget about annoying gift shopping.  all it does is stress me out when i should be enjoying the Season.

To me everyone's hard to shop for.  I get frustrated easily walking around the stores in circles and wind up sitting down in the leather couches in the middle of the mall reading the paper and watching the shoppers who are on a mission.

Oh definitely! I never know what to get my fiance (Mad Hatter) or everything he wants is expensive!

Actually, I agree with MissPackRat.  This way people can buy whatever they want, and you don't have to worry about them taking it back to the store.  Very practical, I'd say.

That's why they have gift cards.

But that's not the real meaning of Christmas, anyway.

Getting "the right gift" is almost impossible for some people.  Like my dad, for example.

Dad's Interests:  
1.  Smoking.  I'd get him a nice Zippo, but I don't want to encourage the habit.
2.  Drinking.  Again, don't want to encourage the habit.
3.  Baseball/The Baltimore Orioles.  After two and a half decades of getting Orioles memorabilia from his daughters, I think he's got pretty much everything.

I'm seriously strapped for ideas for him.  My mom is also notoriously hard to shop for, and not for lack of interests so much as a bad habit of hers of returning the items to the store for store credit.  My solution (and I've done this for three years running):  Get her stuff that's engraved with her name on it.  Particularly things that she can put pictures of herself on, because she really, really likes pictures of herself.  I can't even begin to describe it.

If anyone's got any ideas for my dad, though, I'm open to suggestions!