Would you spend this much on a Christmas gift?

[Attalus]

Hmm, well, I spent that much on Will, mostly for his new bike and his Imaginex Castle/Wizard's Tower/Goblin Dungeon. But, that stuff is made to last, and I am now getting triple duty out of it, since Piestrider and Galadria are now playing with it. But, on a card, no.

[Davros]

Pah - I spent more than that on a card last Christmas - a GeTi4600

[/)eathKiller]

@_@ It's insaine to invest that kind of money in something so temporary!

Those cards had BETTER be all 4 parts of the Tiamat or else she's been ripped off, and belive me, ripping a parent off would be NO problem seeing as they woudln't be able to identify the cards off-hand themselves without alot of research. All-in-all this seems like its been a whole lot of wasted time and energy... oh and yeah money...

[Vaskez]

Heh it's stories like this that reinforce my view: the majority of people are stupid. That means over 50% of people. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

When I was growing up my parents always set strict limits on presents. They would give me a small amount of pocket money which I could use for what I wanted. If for my birthday or Christmas I wanted anything worth greater than £50 (about $75) then I would have to pay for half of it with my pocket money or whatever was left to pay after £50. Obviously this meant that until I earned some cash myself, I never got anything too expensive. Anyway I didn;t like it at the time and I always said: "but none of my friends have to pay towards their Christmas gifts!". However, now I realise they taught me a very good lesson and I am very appreciative towards my parents now about this and I will continue this with my kids if and when I have any.

[Nanobyte]

I used to collect Pokemon cards, but I gave nearly all of them away to my neighbor for his birthday. I have a few lying around, but I don't intend on selling them for their "retail" price; heck, I don't intend on selling them at all, I don't even know where they are! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I'm just glad I got over this fad, I was broke on a Florida field trip because I wasted all my money on those collector cards. I think instead of these legislative bodies attacking computer companies over violence and sexuality, they should be looking down on these companies that suck the income right out of our pockets.

[Animal]

For those who have money, price isn't an object and you don't even consider it. I do however find it in bad form for this women to flaunt how much she paid for a gift. It almost seems like she's rubbing your nose in it, so to speak.

[Galadria]

Originally posted by Attalus: Hmm, well, I spent that much on Will, mostly for his new bike and his Imaginex Castle/Wizard's Tower/Goblin Dungeon. But, that stuff is made to last, and I am now getting triple duty out of it, since Piestrider and Galadria are now playing with it. But, on a card, no.

Hmmph. Right now, Piestrider is playing with it. But, you better come up with something original by Valentine's Day, Boyo!

[Cerek the Barbaric]

The fair Lady Galadria has returned to General Discussions [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] and made an appearance in MY thread?!?!?! [img]graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] WOW, I DO feel honored.

Animal - she wasn't "flaunting" how much she paid for the cards, she was mildly lamenting the amount. BUT, it was the only thing her son wanted for Christmas so she tried time and again on e-bay until she finally prevailed. And I agree with some comments that have been made to the effect of "if they can afford it, what difference does it make?" The difference (that many have touched on so far) is that I don't feel it teaches her kids respect for what they have. When mom or dad will simply buy what you want or replace something that gets broken, the child never learns the value of sacrifice and becomes increasingly difficult to "satisfy" with material goods. It leads to the "IwantIwantIwant" syndrome mentioned earlier.

I'm an only child, so I had it pretty good growing up. I will freely admit that my parents got me most of the things I wanted....but certainly not all. And many things came with an "additional price" (such as extra chores OR the suspension of my allowance until I had "paid" for the item).

BTW Animal, it's very good to see you back on the forum. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

/)eathkiller - I don't know which cards she got...but I admit I'm curious to find out. However, I'm sure she didn't get blantantly "ripped off", because her son told her exactly which cards he wanted.

Vaskez - It's good to see you back here too. I wouldn't say that the majority of people are stupid. I think "foolish" is a better term. It's been pointed out that many people spent similar amounts of money on gifts at one time or another...the difference is those gifts were items that would last several YEARS......not just a few weeks. I didn't really consider the X-Box to even be foolish last year. It was one gift to be shared by all three kids - and it is something I'm SURE the youngest boy WILL play with for several more years.

I spent close to the same amount on my boys about 3 years ago....but I spent my money on one of those electric Jeeps that they can actually drive around the yard. It is STILL one of their favorite toys 3 yrs later.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Nanobyte - I agree that any "fad" can become extremely addictive. Several of my college buddies started playing Magic when it came out...and spent hundreds of dollars on "rare and powerful cards". I remember the kids were fighting each other over their Pokemon cards....and when parents were fighting each other over certain Power Ranger figures. It just amazes me to sit back and watch how people behave sometimes.

One of the "oddest" fads has to be the Beanie Baby Craze. It was unusual because it actually lured in more adults than kids. The "town librarian" sits on our pew in church, and I can remember when she and one of the church ushers would sit down and talk about which Beanie Babies they had gotten that week. Afer listening to them discuss Beanie Babies for several weeks, I just had to be a little "mean" to them.

I told them that I had gotten a couple of Beanie Babies for my son (who was just a baby at the time).
Town Librarian "That's a good idea. Buy them now and they will really be worth a lot of money when he gets older."
"Yeah, he seems to really like them", I said...then paused for a moment and added "Of course, I had to tear the tag off of it's ear so he wouldn't get choked on it."

Her eyes bugged out of her head and I thought SHE was going to have a "choking fit" of her own. [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

[ 12-28-2002, 03:00 AM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]

[Tobbin]

Originally posted by /)eathKiller: @_@ It's insaine to invest that kind of money in something so temporary! Those cards had BETTER be all 4 parts of the Tiamat or else she's been ripped off, and belive me, ripping a parent off would be NO problem seeing as they woudln't be able to identify the cards off-hand themselves without alot of research. All-in-all this seems like its been a whole lot of wasted time and energy... oh and yeah money...

EDIT: Well, although we are discussing Tiamat here, I really believe the card set might have been the GATE GUARDIAN set. There are only 4 cards and they are fairly rare. Now back to the original discussion.

Tiamat nothing. I want EXODIA. LOL. Little cheaper too cause it's only going for $175 for 5 cards (count them 5). LOL. I can't say too much about buying gifts though, cause I spent $540 for a Playstation 2 the Christmas it first came out. I also got a RC car, Star Wars Millenium Falcon, and an Anna Paquin X-men (signed) card for a friend's son. He still keeps the stuff cause I don't see him that often and it's his way of remembering me. All total, I spent about $1500 on that 1 Christmas alone (for her son). I only spent about $150 on her, but she didn't really want anything. When I grew up, I had to accept hand me down stuff for Christmas, or stuff that we could afford. I never had top of the line stuff. Is it wrong to let someone else get the stuff I couldn't? He is not a spoiled little kid (except for Christmas maybe) and is very well adjusted. Throughout the rest of the year, he has learned to accept not getting anything as his mother is not well off. Well, anyways, money is just money. It is a tool for someone to use. I personally do not care much for wealth. It is against my religion.

[ 12-30-2002, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: Tobbin ]