Family Wishlist

Summary

Family Wishlist (familywishlist.com) is a website Brad created approximately 10 years ago to coordinate gift-giving and Secret Santa events for Christmas. The site allows users to create wish lists and link to items, including restaurants on Uber Eats. When someone selects an item to give, it becomes reserved so others cannot also select it, but the recipient does not know what they are getting. The website unexpectedly attracted a "surprisingly large number" of users beyond Brad's family.

Details

The website functions as a gift coordination platform. Users can create wish lists and link to specific items they want, including restaurant options on Uber Eats. The reservation system prevents duplicate gift-giving—once someone selects an item to purchase, it is marked as reserved for other users but remains hidden from the recipient. This allows gift-givers to coordinate without spoiling surprises.

The site includes both Secret Santa functionality (added in 2010) and general wish list management. Brad has backend access to see what gifts people are getting for him, but claims to have never looked because "would have to look up the password for the database."

The website features a donate button with the text "anxious to contribute some of your hard earned money. We probably won't refuse" and an alternative option saying "not so anxious. That's cool. We're still friends." It also includes an "About Us" section that Dayna describes as "quite enjoyable."

Like Bradacon, Family Wishlist has an aesthetic that Shawn describes as looking "like fake websites from TV shows." Brad admits to not remembering much about creating these features due to how long ago it was.

The last major update occurred in 2018 when Brad made the site mobile-friendly. The previous update was in 2010 when the Secret Santa functionality was apparently added.

History

Session 9

In Session 9, Brad and Dayna discussed Family Wishlist during a conversation about Brad's various web projects. Dayna mentioned the site as a potential solution to the group's chaotic food delivery coordination, where everyone independently sends food to each other. Dayna noted that the group could use the website to coordinate their deliveries by creating wish lists with restaurant links, allowing others to reserve which orders they would send without the recipient knowing in advance.

Dayna also revisited the website's "About Us" section and found it enjoyable. The discussion revealed the site's timeline—created roughly a decade before Session 9, with updates in 2010 (Secret Santa) and 2018 (mobile compatibility). Brad and Dayna's family use the website for Christmas coordination every year.

Episode: "Session 10"

Family Wishlist was briefly mentioned during the pre-session conversation as Brad discussed their web development work. The website was referenced alongside Bradacon as an example of Brad's self-built web platforms, illustrating the scope of their personal technical projects.