I have one related to Christmas gifts.
At work, I saw a CW ask around for an empty PS4. I asked her what it was for and she said her kid was into XBOX but they were going to put the PS4 box.... With a Macbook in it. They also had an XBOX to give AFTER all gifts. And the kid is only 7.... I was like wow!! At 7, I'd be happy with one gift... Not demand more. And she said, her kids usually have meltdowns after all gifts are opened since they sometimes don't get all they want. Apparently in earlier years, they've had to go to stores to buy those missing gifts on or after Christmas day. Now my cw and husband get everything but give the "missing" gifts when meltdowns start. If the kids dont do a meltdown, they still get those gifts for being good throughout the day. She said she spent around $3k per kid. Took me some time to get through all of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqqRPvM_Sw - Cartman when his mom won't buy him the biggest-storage ipad.
You know, I think I am going to get a santas costume next year and someone who knows how to make photos. You could even give them a red USB stick with the photos for 35$ each!!!
The photo thing is funny.
Photos are expensive - well, no, photos are actually nearly free, but everything surrounding them is expensive. Fancy cameras, expensive lenses, lots of lighting gear (some if which is also very expensive), lots of specialized knowledge of both the camera-lens part and the lighting part, lots of time to post-process. Insurance for all the above. And add the fact that usually it's a freelancer, so they need to charge twice per hour what they actually need to survive, since work is sporadic. And of course, you need to pay the mall, pay the santa, pay for whatever other bullshit you need to pay for.
That's one of the many reasons, for example, a wedding photographer might cost you three grand.
Or at least so the story goes. Of course, that's not the end of the story. In truth, I can get a $200 kit with camera and lens, $200 for some basic lighting, give it to some 16-year-old who likes instagram, teach them how to use it for 15 minutes on auto mode, and shit out photos for $35 per. Or $5 per, if kids don't take too long and I don't like profit. Next year, wouldn't even have to buy the gear, since it still works fine. And you know, the photos will be fine. They're not going to be art, they're going to be fast and simple and not very good. For an extra $5/per, I can hire someone who knows more about lighting and exposure, knows a bit on how to set up lights for portraits, and can do a basic post-process.
But every "photographer" with a camera and a need to eat likes to think that what they're doing is very specialized and difficult, as if they're developing the photos themselves and dodging and burning and framing and each shot costs film and chemicals. You can get away with it for weddings; $300 gets you a student with very basic gear and in good conditions they might deliver good photos, in poor conditions it's a bit unlikely; for three grand you're essentially buying a guarantee of good technical work as well as decent art to boot. For santa shots, you don't get away with that. But you can still pretend that it's something special, add in some of that "once a year event, memories for the rest of your life" bullshit (who the fuck looks at those photos more than once? they go on facebook, get ten likes, and are buried forever) and charge as much as the market will bear.
Which, apparently, is thirty-five dollars.