Apparently I’m a nightmare to buy gifts for. There are a number of reasons for this but principally I’m sure it’s because I don’t really wait for anything. If I see something which takes my fancy I simply buy it and there it is, done.
“Why didn’t you tell me, I’d have got it for you for your birthday?!” is something I’ve heard on more than a few occasions over the years and the answer has always been the same, “because I’d have had to wait until my birthday to have it!”. This seems perfectly logical and sensible to me, but not apparently to others.
The time of the Yule is also fraught with these kind of dangers but I have devised a strategy over the years and I’d like to share it with you now, I call it having your cake AND eating it too!
Fact 1: Publishers ALWAYS deliver a rash of games (good and not so) in the run up to Christmas.
Fact 2: There are ALWAYS a handful which I simply can’t wait for. Maybe I’m impatient, maybe I’m just a victim of slick marketing… the fact remains.
Fact 3: I’m always happy to get games and books as a present (socks are on the list too, but I’m actually a little fussy about them… I’ll perhaps share this one day but probably not!)
Solution: I review the upcoming titles and drop them into 2 general buckets.
Bucket 1 – Games I MUST have and will play through well before I have to defrost a Turkey.
Bucket 2 – Games I MUST have but I probably wouldn’t get to, pre-winter gift giving celebration, as they are a little further down the list.
The contents of Bucket 1 I go out and purchase without guilt or fear of reprimand. Huzzah, I have new games to play! The contents of Bucket 2 I add to my Wish List (sorry but it’s still the best way to deal with those “What shall I get you..?” questions) and usually one or two will come floating my way over the festive period, again I get new games to play, I win!
Now then, there is a risk here and the risk is that I will have one of the MUST have games on my wish list and it simply won’t be chosen and gifted. Well this is why it’s a strategy, after the Holiday Period (I believe we’re supposed to call Christmas this now) I review the outstanding balance of games and those become my February – April purchases, after which the summer releases start to unfold and I repeat the process for my birthday in August!
I AM a genius!
In the meanwhile, I would like to wish Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Festival, Holidays to everyone! As for me, I’ll be the one in front of the big screen, controller in hand, burping happily!
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