Anyone not married- skip this.
Anyone without kids- probably not relevant
Anyone under 30- you've not been properly broken yet.
...But for the rest of us old married guys with the hiking habit, disposable income and spouses who have passed the "shy and demure" stage; I send out a plea to the outdoor retailers on our behalf.
A little help with the box graphics please!
Let me 'splain. The kids are older and we now can move into our properly spouse vetted and sanctioned activity with more money and time to spend. All our undesirable (single,jet-setting,or otherwise fun) friends have been long culled and a little research has assured her there is no strip clubs or gambling joints out on the trail. The pack,boots,tent and some clothes show up in your gear closet and all is fine. More boxes marked with outdoor retailers keep showing up...this is detected on the radar, but no threat warnings sound. Then, one day it happens. Maybe she reads a gear invoice. Maybe she stop in REI thinking to pick out a little something for you for Christmas and sees the price tags. BOOM! Defcon 4.
Eventually a truce is arranged: you get to keep what you have,but NO MORE! You assure her you have all you need, you're good.
Now the games afoot. Timing packages to arrive when she's not home, deliveries to work. The rules are simple: if it makes it into the gear closet and the packaging can be disposed of without her seeing....winner (I've always had this,just haven't worn it til now).
The occasional miss can be covered choosing gift invoice (no pricing shown) with message "Rewards Points Purchase".
But she's not stupid. And occasionally the dumb idea occurs to you that you're a grown man and can do what you want (read: visiting gear websites when drinking). We need better resources.
So retailers, you want to sell us more shiny new gear. Suck up your pride and offer "old guy camo packaging". We need the box that shows up when we're not home to read "Lawn & Leaf bags.com" or "stuff to fix upstairs toilet", how about "new t-shirts and underwear" or "picture book on how to repair home appliances for free". What do you say Retailers, can you help us out?