The Lazy Parent's Guide to Christmas Shopping
As if life itself wasn't already stressful enough, let's throw the act of perfecting Christmas into the mix. Because DIY Halloween costumes and Martha Stewart Thanksgiving tablescapes weren't enough.
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But you know that shit don't fly around here. You're lucky both my kids had costumes that almost fit them on October 31. Thing 1 waited until the day before Halloween to choose/be forced into choosing a costume which resulted in my near-seven-year-old wearing a size 4. And Thing 2 simply wanted to be a box of donuts. And there's not a whole lot you can do besides slide on the Krispy Kreme overalls.
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Considering my father takes care of Thanksgiving, I'll glance over that and move directly to Christmas. I tend to go waaaayyyy overboard (have my mother to thank for that) when it comes to gift giving. Decorating, not so much. But the amount of gifts under the tree on the morning of December 25 is just an embarrassment of wealth I don't actually have. And I basically have to wing it in terms of gift ideas; these two couldn't make up their minds even if they only had one option to pick from.
Enter: Amazon Snap A Picture feature in their app. It's like stealing ideas straight from your child's mind and adding it to their Amazon Wish List in real time. Here's how it works:
Download the app.
Start a wish list for the precious little snot nose gift recipient in your life.
Take them to a store, preferably not hyped up on adrenaline like mine were (they may or may not have just literally smashed jack-o-lanterns with hammers in the front yard).
Ask them to pick out items (books, DVD, clothes, plushies, toys, bags, snacks, etc).
Open the app and click the camera icon next to the search bar.
Snap a picture of the front of the product or of the bar code.
Amazon uses Black Mirror-esque voodoo to locate that product in their inventory, pull up the product page, then present you with the option to add that gift to your kid's Amazon Wish List.
Order that ish on Amazon Prime.
Stand in awe of your ability to craft the perfect Christmas experience without ever thinking about it.
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The gift wrap to give-a-shit-about-gift-wrap ratio is up to you. I'm not about that life either.