Holiday gift trees

[badgergrl]

I'm posting this here rather than my normal board as you guys are the experts on this topic.

so my dh mentioned his work had an angel tree full of teens. I told him to pick up a couple and familiarized myself with upcoming deals at best buy etc for what I anticpiated the kids would want.

he brought the tags home today. They are so sad. The kids were told to put down 3 wishes each.  Kid one asked for 1. Sport team hat 2. Boxers 3. Sweat pants.  Kid two asked for 1 a belt 2. A watch 3.  Socks. 

The instructions say to only pick one or two of their items and spend no more than $15-25 total.  Tell me there is no harm in doubling the budget and buying these kids all the stuff they have asked for.  How can I only buy a kid some socks?  Or just his watch and not his socks?  I wish they wanted some beats headphones    

[chedifuen]

First, it's awesome that they are older kids, teen boys are undeserved at this time of year. Maybe it's wrong but I would get it all. Lots of sales on Beats headphones with Black Friday nearing

[shortcake2675]

I would do it and feign ignorance about the instructions. I'd also want to stick in something fun not on their list.

[badgergrl]

I wanted to do the fun thing too, but I have no idea what a 15 year old boy thinks is fun. Any ideas?

Also the kid who want the sports hat didn't specify if he wanted a hat like a cold weather hat or a cap. My dh said, let's just buy him both kinds. The only concern I had was what if the people who got his potential siblings follow the shitty instructions. But I can't spoil a kid with socks, sweat pants and a belt. Yeesh.

[shortcake2675]

I polled a friend with a 15 year old. He couldn't stop snorting about this: www.thinkgeek.com/product/d6fa/

[stealthmom]

The only "harm" I can think of is that the other kids have people who follow directions so your two kids get beats headphones or whatever, and the other kids get a watch. The only suggestion I might have is to instead get 10 kids and stick to the list (I would get all three) instead of 2 and go off the list. Tough call. What are the chances other people will adhere to the rules?

Those are shitty lists. What org is doing it?

[secretlyevil]

Nov 22, 2014 3:11:24 GMT -5 shortcake2675 said:

I polled a friend with a 15 year old. He couldn't stop snorting about this: www.thinkgeek.com/product/d6fa/

I obviously haven't been around teens in quite awhile.

[IIOY]

Nov 22, 2014 4:15:22 GMT -5 stealthmom said:

The only "harm" I can think of is that the other kids have people who follow directions so your two kids get beats headphones or whatever, and the other kids get a watch. The only suggestion I might have is to instead get 10 kids and stick to the list (I would get all three) instead of 2 and go off the list. Tough call. What are the chances other people will adhere to the rules?

Those are shitty lists. What org is doing it?

I'm angry at the $15-25 limit. What on earth?

Are you able to contact the organization in charge to ask about giving more?

[shortcake2675]

Nov 22, 2014 6:02:21 GMT -5 secretlyevil said:

Nov 22, 2014 3:11:24 GMT -5 shortcake2675 said:

I polled a friend with a 15 year old. He couldn't stop snorting about this: www.thinkgeek.com/product/d6fa/

I obviously haven't been around teens in quite awhile.

Me either.  He may not be the greatest person to poll, but something ridiculous is probably the best bet.  

[dirtyred]

Nov 22, 2014 6:12:28 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Nov 22, 2014 4:15:22 GMT -5 stealthmom said:

The only "harm" I can think of is that the other kids have people who follow directions so your two kids get beats headphones or whatever, and the other kids get a watch. The only suggestion I might have is to instead get 10 kids and stick to the list (I would get all three) instead of 2 and go off the list. Tough call. What are the chances other people will adhere to the rules?

Those are shitty lists. What org is doing it?

I'm angry at the $15-25 limit. What on earth?

Are you able to contact the organization in charge to ask about giving more?

Last year the tags at DH's work tree had $25 dollar limits. It pissed me off, too. We spent quite a bit more. What are they going to do, not pass out your gifts?

[statlerwaldorf]

The organization we use has limits in place because they have trouble finding enough donors. They would rather you help a few kids instead of just one. Admittedly I usually go over. I always get socks and underwear and don't count them in the limit.

The organization doesn't accept teenagers since they have such a hard time finding enough donors.

[mollybrown]

If you go over they will probably just split the gift up among multiple kids. Usually the fine print on these drives indicates that they can redistribute gifts if not enough donors are found or if one gift is disproportionately generous. So feel free to spend as much as you want, but I wouldn't expect it all to go to the kid you expect.

[badgergrl]

Maybe I will get everything on the list and add a megaking size candy bar or something

its a local org that's running it that helps families and people with disabilities. I don't have a contact person or anything since it's through his work. I wish some of the tags were a bit clearer. The 13 year old boys says he needs a side "L". I am guessing that is adult size large, not kids, but I'm not even sure.

[NewOrleans]

[lauralala]

That's so sad. I would definitely get all of the things and be tempted to add a fun thing, too.

[IIOY]

Nov 22, 2014 9:16:31 GMT -5 statlerwaldorf said:

The organization we use has limits in place because they have trouble finding enough donors. They would rather you help a few kids instead of just one. Admittedly I usually go over. I always get socks and underwear and don't count them in the limit.

The organization doesn't accept teenagers since they have such a hard time finding enough donors.

This is exactly why I picked the two oldest kids I could find on our church Christmas Tree Angels.  Ages 16 and 15, one boy, one girl.