Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

The Hits: I don't have the gift of present buying

By Adam Green
Hawkes Bay Today·
26 Nov, 2019 06:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
The Hits DJs, Adam Green and Megan Banks. Photo / File

The Hits DJs, Adam Green and Megan Banks. Photo / File

"Less than a month til' Christmas" states the cheery co-worker strolling up the hall.

"How's the Christmas shopping going?" formulating all manner of non-festive replies in my head I hastily reply "Oh you know, same as last year!" Which means I haven't even remotely got close to even thinking about who I need to purchase a present for let alone begun to swipe my plastic debt machine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some sort of Christmas Grinch with a penchant for Halloween over holidays, I DO love Christmas, I'm just horrible at buying gifts. I have a tendency to try and put myself in the gift receiver's shoes.

"Hmmm If I was Sarah [my lovely wife] what would I want for Christmas" I'll ponder to myself strolling through the doors of Kmart.

"I would definitely want a radio-controlled drone with a camera and a new charcoal barbecue", and so off I'll meander, over to the toy section, where I'll forget I'm shopping for presents and marvel at the fact a flyable helicopter is now 20 bucks.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And there are so many people to think of. Like how far out in the circle of co-workers should the present buying spread?

Yeah, there's the office secret Santa, which no doubt will involve a flyable helicopter that I've taken for a test run, but what about gifts for the others?

Roughly $40 a gift for those immediately next to you, down to $5 for those down the hall, and if there are multiple offices, a box of Favourites chocolates with "Merry Christmas, Help Yourself" should be sufficient for the other 30 people you work with right?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cherry Ripes for that one that sent you the angry email in June you're still stewing over.

The kids. Oh, the kids. They've been dropping hints since October. One wants a new puppy, which is so far off the cards she may as well have asked for matching family Ferraris, and the other wanted a pony.

Only a pony? What about a holiday home in Pauanui and a launch to head out on after your ride?

So I'll do what I usually do at this time of year, and that's give up.

Discover more

New Zealand

Push to turn Hawke's Bay into major film and TV production destination

26 Nov 05:00 PM

Exhibition captures heart of the harvest

26 Nov 05:00 PM

Comment: Speed limit doesn't stop some drivers

26 Nov 06:00 PM

Rock chick moves to opera

26 Nov 03:31 AM

Hope like heck the wife has all the gifts under control (She's a gift-buying savant) and then spend Christmas morning wondering what I bought her this year! Hope it's something good!

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay elections guide: 114 candidates and some fierce competition ahead

Business

‘Very concerning’: Kiwi wine industry dealt $112m Trump tariff blow

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Put your number plate into the iPad: Smart parking systems are here to stay


Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay elections guide: 114 candidates and some fierce competition ahead
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay elections guide: 114 candidates and some fierce competition ahead

The most contested seat is in Hastings-Havelock North, with 17 candidates for seven seats.

05 Aug 03:16 AM
‘Very concerning’: Kiwi wine industry dealt $112m Trump tariff blow
Business

‘Very concerning’: Kiwi wine industry dealt $112m Trump tariff blow

04 Aug 10:26 PM
Premium
Premium
Put your number plate into the iPad: Smart parking systems are here to stay
Hawkes Bay Today

Put your number plate into the iPad: Smart parking systems are here to stay

04 Aug 06:00 PM


Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’
Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

04 Aug 11:37 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP