Is it poor form for me to buy my own christmas presents in the Black friday sales, and then give them to my wife to give to me later, or should I tell her what I want and she can log on and buy them for me? If it matters, it’s about $100 worth of stuff - training swimsuits, new goggles, paddles and a kickboard, and that’ll be enough for me for my birthday and christmas combined.
BTW, she’s already given me a list of stuff she wants.
I think it depends on your wife.
Mine would rather buy it herself based on my list (although it has happened the other way as well). I however am perfectly ok with her buying it for herself if she is. 
For most things, she would probably rather buy it herself. In this case I would tell her what I was ordering before I ordered, but if she were to buy it all I’d be doing is giving her the login ID to the website and saying “buy the stuff that’s sitting in the shopping cart”. Seems like it would be a pain in the iliopsoas for her more than anything else.
but then, she did give me a list with links so I could do the same thing…Just wasn’t sure if most folks would consider it a major faux-pas to buy your own gifts.
just as an fyi, before my wife and I got together I used to buy my own gifts for christmas all the time, because Santa. (young daughter would probably wonder why daddy didn’t get any gifts from Santa, and I like the wrapping and unwrapping part of christmas.
Your question couldn’t have come at a better time giving me and my wife a good laugh this morning after she was just reading my email with my “suggested” Blackfriday Xmas gifts when I saw your post - hahaha.
So you also know my thoughts on your question.
i sent her the list…
Is it poor form for me to buy my own christmas presents in the Black friday sales, and then give them to my wife to give to me later, or should I tell her what I want and she can log on and buy them for me? If it matters, it’s about $100 worth of stuff - training swimsuits, new goggles, paddles and a kickboard, and that’ll be enough for me for my birthday and christmas combined.
BTW, she’s already given me a list of stuff she wants.
i would love you forever if you did that for me…
This is why, if I am particular about an item, I just go and buy it myself. I don’t wait around until my birthday or Christmas for things I “need” or have specific tastes on. I was never a fan of the “here’s a link to my Amazon shopping cart” wish list, because it seems to take the spirit out of gift-giving.
Apparently I am a pain in the ass to buy gifts for because of this.
This is why, if I am particular about an item, I just go and buy it myself. I don’t wait around until my birthday or Christmas for things I “need” or have specific tastes on. I was never a fan of the “here’s a link to my Amazon shopping cart” wish list, because it seems to take the spirit out of gift-giving.
Apparently I am a pain in the ass to buy gifts for because of this.
I hear you. I am definitely hard to buy for. I geek out on lots of things, but rarely can someone just go to Target and find something I am looking for. I love being a good gift giver, and I put lots of thought into things for others. Then when I get gifts, it’s always “oh, sweet - nice thought. Yeah, that was almost close.”
This is why, if I am particular about an item, I just go and buy it myself. I don’t wait around until my birthday or Christmas for things I “need” or have specific tastes on. I was never a fan of the “here’s a link to my Amazon shopping cart” wish list, because it seems to take the spirit out of gift-giving.
Apparently I am a pain in the ass to buy gifts for because of this.
just so you know, my wife sent me back an email which says, and I quote: “Thanks, that’s totes helpful.”
She goes through enough stress in the leadup to xmas trying to pick out gifts for her mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, friends, my family (I’m a terrible shopper, so she’s taken over all of the gift buying duties in our house). If I can take some stress off by not making her guess what I would like for my birthday and christmas, then that’s a good thing. She will probably buy stuff that she wants me to have as well (mostly clothes, socks and underwear), but at least she knows that she got something that I actually want.
It’s nothing that I need right now, so I can wait…
Wife and I buy stuff for ourselves every Christmas, it is just easier.
We also buy each other smaller more romantic gifts too!
Whenever I see debates like this, I think of the Deadweight Loss of Christmas.
We leave sports / training stuff out of Christmas because:
a) we are both very picky about what we want and
b) we just get it whenever we need it, so come Christmas, the list is usually not very long except for dream stuff
We just take the occasion to buy ourselves fun, personal, not sport related gifts 
.
just so you know, my wife sent me back an email which says, and I quote: “Thanks, that’s totes helpful.”
She goes through enough stress in the leadup to xmas trying to pick out gifts for her mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, friends, my family (I’m a terrible shopper, so she’s taken over all of the gift buying duties in our house). If I can take some stress off by not making her guess what I would like for my birthday and christmas, then that’s a good thing. She will probably buy stuff that she wants me to have as well (mostly clothes, socks and underwear), but at least she knows that she got something that I actually want.
It’s nothing that I need right now, so I can wait…
She used the “word” “totes”. I know you are on the east coast, but isn’t statutory rape a thing there too??
My wife and I are pragmatic about gift giving, however, we like it to be more than just a process to get what we might otherwise just buy for ourselves. So we try to buy each other something exciting and something we can enjoy together. Last couple of years it’s been a Trek travel trip to Europe. This year we’re talking Hawaii(kona, the only way I’ll ever KQ).
She’s young at heart, but most definitely legal in all 51 states…
“Santa Claus” orders stuff for me every year. I don’t expect my husband to know what I want in what size or color, and I’m saving him a chore, so it’s a win-win if I just do it myself. Maybe your wife gets a kick out of actually buying stuff for you, though?
For years now my husband and I have kept an updated Christmas List on Amazon (w/color, size, etc.)… that’s the list we send to our families and use for each other as well. So yes we already know what we’re getting each other and it’s rarely a surprise - Black Friday through Cyber Monday is when we buy most of our presents. I already have my Christmas present and “opened” it yesterday to use for my run - a Garmin 920xt
work clothes, casual clothes, cologne, socks, boxers, etc, let her pick out.
Tri stuff - oh hell no, unless you give a specific link to a specific item (or if she’s better at tri’s than you)
I’m very particular about the things I want, at least when it comes to technology, sports stuff, etc, so I usually give wifey a list of what I want. If I know there’s a great deal on something, I’ll let her know of the deal and how to get it, just to save her (and really, us) money. She’s the same way about her fashiony crap, very particular!
My wife and I never exchange gifts we just buy stuff when we want it, makes it easy.