Christmas shopping: online, mall, stores, homemade, or other?

I hear ya!  I hate crowds, people seem so ignorant sometimes walking that they force you to move, because they have to walk beside each other and there's like 5 of them...then the long lines, etc.  Uuugghh!  I do the same thing.  Online is very much my style!  Besides, since it's so darn cold...I don't have to go out in it, so much nicer!

I hate going shopping this time of year.  It's a rat race!  I usually buy a few gifts online but most of the time, I brave the crowds or go shopping in the dead of night!  The cold weather doesn't bother me!  I love this weather!  I still have a few people to buy for and I am dreading it.  People are crazy this time of year!

I do as much online as I can -- I'm not a normal female ... I hate, loathe, and despise shopping in any way shape or form ANY time of the year.  But add a ton of people on it and ugh ...

I'm also really not able  to do it -- I either have to shop at separate very small stores where I can take my chair in with me or use something like Target or Wal-mart that have the ecv's ... but I'm just not a shopper at heart at all. 

I hate to shop as well.  I do not even like to buy clothing.  I buy online or do without.  Sometimes my husband practically forces me to buy some new clothes by going with me. 

I went to Target last night to get some candy for decorating a gingerbread house. BIG MISTAKE. There were 100000000000 people there, every single one of them crazy. Seriously. There was a youngish couple with 2 kids standing in the candy aisle SCREAMING at each other about what candy to get to decorate cookies for one of the kid's school classes. "Did you get the Raisinets?" "Yes!!! I got 3 boxes!" "WHAT?! ONLY 3 BOXES?! What if we don't have enough? WHAT IF WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH!?!?!??!!! YOU HAVE TO GET 4 BOXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" etc. etc. I hid in the next aisle over until they were gone, then tried to pick something out when three pre-teenish girls came over bouncing a nice big rubber inflatable ball all over the aisle. Parents nowhere in sight, of course. Ball flying everywhere, knocking things off the shelf, I ask them to stop, they get all quiet, stare, giggle, and move one aisle over. Super. In the end, Target was out of gumdrops anyway, and I was late for my holiday party.

Short answer? ONLINE!  

I LOVE to shop in stores but I am increadibly impatient and LOOSE my mind with crowds, lines, etc.   Most of my shopping in stores I do at wierd times when the crowds are low or online.  My mom shops all online now.  She just can't deal with the driving and searching.  I know it's not a really suprise, but she loves when we sent her wish lists from our favorite online sites so she can just click click click and buy something we will like. 

 Most of it is done online now...my bad back would not allow for much mall shopping.  I also find that the selection is much more varied, and sometimes I get ideas that wouldn't have occurred to me by just browsing in stores.  I think I have surprised my 2 adult kids this year, and that is what I like to aim for unless something is really needed.  Still trying to play Santa...

I used to love shopping and didn't even mind crowds, but not anymore. I honestly don't mind fighting thru crowded aisles as much as I hate going up to pay and finding super long lines. It's just too much time for me to stand and wonder if I really want the items that bad. So far, I've done almost all my shopping online this year. I'm going to have to brave the crowds at some point, but I think I'll probably take a day off mid-week and get it all done then.

 Am I just crazy, or does anyone else tend to sort of "absorb" the stress in the air at stores around this time of year? At crowded times I set foot in a shop and almost immediately feel freaked out, just because of all the insane and stressed people around me.

Cita

 Am I just crazy, or does anyone else tend to sort of "absorb" the stress in the air at stores around this time of year? At crowded times I set foot in a shop and almost immediately feel freaked out, just because of all the insane and stressed people around me.

Nope, you're not crazy. I feel it too. It's not just this time of year for me though. Anytime a place is crazed with shoppers, I feel stressed out. It's one of the reasons that I hate going to Costco. It doesn't matter what time or what day you go, it's always super crowded and people act strange in there. I honestly think if you were monitoring my blood pressure as I walked in there, it'd shoot up 10-20 points .

 cita you arent crazy. i can tolerate the mall most times of the year, but this time of year there are way too many people. i get these mild panic attacks when i am at the mall and it is super crowded (ie. christmas). we rarely go to the mall anymore. i cant tell you the last time we went.

 we usually do a good bit of xmas shopping on line. this year we are a bit strapped, so only the kids are getting gifts (our 2 grandsons, our neice, and nephew). we bought all their stuff at the stores, but thankfully we are done.

we have this new shopping center near us that is supposed to be a new design. the shops are arranged like a little village or something, and supposedly you can park and walk between them. kind of like a mall, but outdoors. the DA part is there are no sidewalks linking the stores together, and god forbid anyone yield to a pedestrian. so people end up driving from store to store, and you can hardly get through tha darn place. i think i hate it worse than the mall.
 

Typically, I like online, but the people I have to shop for are all over the board and I'd be paying almost twice just for shipping.  My back fence runs along the mall parking lot, so I could just walk over there!  This year went like this...

Old Navy: 

Mom - fleece

Sister - fleece

Brother - waffle knit shirt (he likes that stuff for hunting)

Dad - sweater

Sale at the campus store where I work/went to school 

MIL - hoodie (she asked for it)

FIL - long sleeve t-shirt

Nephew - zip down hoodie and knit hat

Yankee Candle

Candle holders and a candle for my work gift exchange

Homemade

Puppy Chow (the human kind) - to go along with the candles for work people, and also for my trainers/dog people

Chow Hound

Dog treats and dog Christmas cookies for my trainers/dog peoples' dogs (to go along with the puppy chow for humans)
 

cyclefiend2000

we have this new shopping center near us that is supposed to be a new design. the shops are arranged like a little village or something, and supposedly you can park and walk between them. kind of like a mall, but outdoors. the DA part is there are no sidewalks linking the stores together, and god forbid anyone yield to a pedestrian. so people end up driving from store to store, and you can hardly get through tha darn place. i think i hate it worse than the mall.

Not so new   Most of the shopping centers around here are like that, except for the traditional malls. It's really frustrating during the holiday season for precisely the reasons you pointed out. And for those 2 days a year when it rains, it's particularly annoying.

I've always hated going to stores around Christmas, but now that I live in ultra-densely-populated-ville, it's a thousand times worse. There's just no good time to go..because there's ALWAYS tens of thousands of people out, and all the stores close at like 9 (in Maryland, there are 24-hour Walmarts year-round..in other normal places, Walmarts are at least 24-hours around Christmas..in Orange County? You're lucky to find anything open past 9 or 10..sigh). I went to Target at 9 am on Thursday (not a weekend..not an evening, but a weekday morning), and the toy section was a freaking mad house. I was ready to grab a slingshot and start pelting people with things.

I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet..but I'll likely do most of it online within the next few days. I don't have many people to buy for.