Holiday Loot 2016 (favorite gift received or given)

Games
1

List your favorite gift that you received or gave this holiday season. I usually like giving presents that no one would normally get themselves; it is more fun (I also get them something I know for certain they will like but the first type of present is usually more fun to do).

I gave my wife an iPad Mini 4 this year because she always gets my geek/tech hand me downs and I was fairly certain it would be a huge surprise.

I shared somewhere in the forum that the only game she ever really got into was Roller Coaster Tycoon. We actually lost her for three days when that game came out. I purchased the iOS RCT Classic version that was just released so she could play it on her new device.

She ended getting sick the day after Christmas and stayed in bed all day playing the game. BUT…the funniest thing was that she ran out of power! So I go into the bedroom to check on her and what do I see?

She is actually standing by the outlet with the mini plugged in playing the game! It was the last thing that I ever thought I would see my wife do!

I set her up with my extra long extension and battery pack so she could lay back down. I think I picked a winner this year!

2

I got plenty of games as gifts from family. Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- , Anno 2205 Gold Edition, ICEY, Final Fantasy IX, Quadrilateral Cowboy, INSIDE, 3030 Deathwar Redux, and Exanima. Now I just have to find the time to play those. :)

I did install Guilty Gear already and it’s awesome. I love fighting games. I just wish I was any good on them. ;)

And I also installed 3030 Deathwar Redux and it’s… weird? Mostly in a good way. I hope it’s as good as @BrianRubin says it is. ;)

3

I got an awesome long hand-knitted scarf. It is a thing of beauty. It’s from my mother in law. As for the giving side, well, we kept it pretty low key, but every year, we create calendars for my kids grandparents, and this year was no exception. It usually is a big hit though, since it’s packed with pictures of grandkids.

4

Given: Repaired a spare Nexus 7 tablet I had lying around and gave it to my little one. A big hit.

Gotten: LEGO Technic crane.

5

That is a brilliant idea for a gift! Wish we had thought about it when our kids were small (and I was out of work).

6

This year it was essentially just the gift of Christmas to my 3 year old boy. It’s about the age where he kind of gets it, so we got him all excited about Santa, hung a stocking in his room, put out biscuits and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and just generally had a great morning with him all excited and pulling stuff out of his stocking and unwrapping presents.

7

I could see this item being a big hit with the little one either now or in the future. That crane looks very, very cool.

8

The thing I miss the most from when the kids were small was having the excuse to go to Toys R Us.

Now I am waiting on grandkids to appear one day so I can go back to Toys R Us with a built in reason.

9

We do that too, and it works out well. It also helps that toddlers are adorable.

10

The biggest hit for a gift given this year was an old manual typewriter we picked up on ebay for my 9 year old son. He had heard about them and thought they sounded cool. He was so happy when he opened it and has already written several thank you notes and 3 or 4 pages of a story.

11

It is, don’t worry.

I got a great haul this year. A Mel Brooks Blu-ray collection, Enchanted on Blu-ray, I Claudius on DVD and, possibly my favorite, Klingon Hamlet.

12

That sounds so awesome. My 2 year old loves keyboards, so maybe something like that for her one day it might good.

Love the idea of writing thank you notes on it.

13

I bought my wife Hogwarts Battle, the Harry Potter-themed cooperative deckbuilder, and it looks like it’s going to be a family hit. Other notables: Blu-ray player, and The Incredibles on Blu-ray.

14

Nice, hadn’t even heard of that one. Might have to give it a look…

Did get her a case of butterbeer, the new book, and a tote bag that has its own carry case. It’s a small zippered pouch that looks like Harry’s Hogwarts letter, that when you pull out the contents folds out to a tote bag with all the house crests on it, and the carry pouch becomes a zippered pocket.

15

I got Hogwarts Battle for my wife’s birthday earlier this month. We’ve played the first two games or decks, whatever you want to call them. 3 and 4 player games with our boys. I don’t know much about Harry Potter but she seems to enjoy the theme and knows what all the Items, characters and whatnot are. We would have played more but we’re making an effort to try to get through our board game backlog and get some untried games to the table over the holidays. I’m sure we’ll work our way through a few more games this week.

16

Looking forward to putting my new Baking Steel Griddle through its paces.

17

I forgot to mention something else I got as a gift - a DVD of “Spirited Away”, which is pretty hard to find down here. I had been looking to buy it for a while but I couldn’t find it, and a friend of mine did. Now I’m looking forward to watching it again soon.

18

Regular Tim Tams? Or the fancy ones?

Inquiring minds, etc… ☺️

19

Just regular Tim Tams, but Santa was nonetheless satiated. nom nom nom ;)

20

Ok @Fishbreath definitely tell me your thoughts, you too @Chronic. I had missed this one, and now I think it is one I need to get to play with my wife. If you couldn’t tell by the partial list of gifts I gave her, she is a major Potter fan.

Also got the Illustrated Harry Potter books for Christmas, so if the game is half decent, it is a must buy.