An online wish list? Take it or leave it.
Erica George of Somerville doesn't have to rattle off what she wants for Christmas to her family and friends. She simply refers them to her online holiday wish list.
"It's got mostly books, CDs, DVDs," said George, 29, whose two-page list on
But as people flock to online wish lists or gift registries to buy that special present, some shoppers are feeling conflicted about the whole concept. They wonder: Is the buying of gifts losing its spontaneity? Are holiday gift exchanges becoming predictable? Some online sites even allow shoppers to compile their various wish lists from around the Web, providing a cheat sheet to help desperate and uncreative shoppers come up with gifts. But as these sites proliferate, some people say they are sucking the fun and surprise out of the holiday shopping experience.
"Christmas has been done for a long time without website wish lists. It seems impersonal," said Britani Santos, 17, of Brockton, as she takes a break from shopping at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. "I'm sure my friends have done it, but I wouldn't do it. What's wrong with the old-fashioned way of writing a letter to Santa?"
Indeed, wish lists are nothing new. For as long as people have been buying gifts, others have been jotting down lists of what they want - sometimes sending them off to Old Saint Nick. But for online customers, wish list sites serve as virtual gift registries, allowing consumers to bookmark the things they want and describe how badly they want them.
Some sites, including Ama zon.com and walmart.com, rank the most-wished-for items, for people scrounging around for ideas. Other sites such as stylefeed er.com and boxedup.com allow users to import their wish lists from other sites into one place so they can share their most-wished-for gifts. Those sites also take the concept a step further: They encourage social networking, allowing members to coexist in virtual communities based on the material things they like and want to have.
Chris Osborne cofounded boxedup.com last summer because he and his friends were tired of receiving gifts they didn't like. "Like most people, we'd experienced people buying us things that we didn't have a need for or want, and so good money had been wasted. So we thought we'd put an end to that," Osborne wrote in an e-mail. His site, based in San Francisco, allows privacy settings in case members want only their friends to have access to their lists.
"It certainly takes the pain out of the whole process of working out what to get somebody, particularly if you don't have a great sense of what they're into at that moment in time," Osborne said.
Amazon would not disclose how many of its customers have created wish lists, but the company says the numbers continue to grow. "From the time that we have launched to today, we see customers take to wish lists with vigor," said spokesman Craig Berman. "People don't use wish lists just during the holidays. They use them year-round - for birthdays, anniversaries, and wedding registries."
Vanessa Graves of Dorchester, heading into Macy's for some gifts for her grandmother, said she might resort to online wish lists next year to save time.
"It's a good idea," she said. "People don't have to think about what you are getting. It makes it easier. I'd rather get something I want than something I don't want or am not going to use and pretend I like it. Wish lists would make my life so much easier."
Liana Leahy, 36, of Arlington has two lists each on Amazon.com and WishList.com. One list is for her baby due in 2008 and the other for items she would like to have. They range from a framed movie print of "It's a Wonderful Life" to a 2008
"Hey, whatever price range you want to go for. You don't have to get something exactly from the list. It's not like a hard-written rule, just a guideline," said Leahy, a programmer at Harvard. "I want to know what everyone else wants. When you are buying for the same people every year, it gets harder and harder."
Not everyone in the family will make a list, though. "My mom is kind of a holdout," she said. "She doesn't make a wish list. She expects us to know."
Eric Vasallo, 38, alerts his older sister in Dedham and his siblings in Georgia and Florida to his list of desired goodies on Amazon.com, even though they don't subscribe to the whole concept.
"They don't have one, but I always tell them to look there to know what to get me," said Vasallo, whose list includes a remote-control toy helicopter and books on home design. "Wish lists are cool because it's less impersonal than a gift card, and more personal than a random gift that the person will probably return or regift. So the surprise is still there."
Jason Callina, 34, of Somerset maintains wish lists for each of his sons, who are 5 and 8. His own list on Amazon features 72 items including a $500 wind generator. "I like people to look through the entire range of things I am interested in and have them find something that they would like to give me," he said. "I feel worse about a gift when not any thought is put into it."
Still, even an online wish list convert like Erica George enjoys it when someone buys her a present the old-fashioned way.
"I kind of like that my mom also goes out and doesn't get stuff on the list," she said. "I don't want all the presents that I get to be from my list."
Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com. 