Is making a holiday wishlist practical or tacky?

Nearly 5bn lb of gift returns end up in landfills every year and yet there is a certain taboo around compiling a gift list

The first Christmas that I was with my boyfriend, his family asked for my Christmas wishlist. I was unused to the concept, apart from writing to Santa as a kid. Usually, my family’s norm is to haphazardly guess what each person might want – with a pretty conservative success rate, if I’m being honest. So I was surprised by the tradition of requesting and sharing wishlists – and even more surprised by how much I liked it.

I’m the kind of gift-giver who keeps an eye out year-round for what people might enjoy, picking things up in advance and delighting them with my acuity and taste. Nonetheless, I don’t find the perfect gift for everyone every single year like clockwork, because I am not superhuman. Ever since adopting the wishlist tradition into my own family I find having gift ideas direct from the people in my life is unbeatably practical, massively stress-reducing and satisfying.

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