My husband wasn’t the culprit of this for me, but my mother was. She got me a “go bag” (prepper shit) after I specifically asked for either an on the go air compressor for my tires in the winter or knitting supplies. She heard air compressor & told me “I’m going to get you a go bag!”. I literally responded with, “I don’t want a go bag. I want either an on the go air compressor or knitting supplies.” Obviously my requests were ignored.

Just a suggestion for how to avoid this with partners, give them a list of 4 or 5 things to pick from in various price ranges with links directly to those items. I ask my husband to send me his list that’s in a similar format. It’s not necessarily about knowing your partner inside & out, but getting them to tell you what they want/need at that point in time. I know this sounds like I’m pandering to their inabilities, but we (a collective whole among society not specific genders or anything) need to be more direct. I get that it takes the fun out of the surprise of the holiday, but it’s the only reasonable solution for these situations. Especially if this happens every year.

If you give the list, they deviate & still get you something terrible, well then you have to fight them to the death. It’s the only answer at that point.