I go with the radical method of buying presents for myself, then I present my friends a plethora of gifts that they can say they bought for me. This alleviates them of the stress of figuring out what I need, where it could be bought and how much it is. It's win-win for everyone...
My folks haven't given me any ideas, and my brother is overseas which always complicates gift-giving.
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"But there's no sense crying over every mistake,
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake"