I am going to be technical and ask you Hotch’s most expensive purchase but it needs to not be something he buys for someone else !!
Love love LOVE this because I have very strong opinions on it. Here we go
I think that the most expensive items (aside from a house or car obviously) that hotch buys are pertaining to his outfit or appearance. He doesn’t buy the most expensive products, persay (drugstore 3-in-1 shampoo, probably), but his ties, watches, even his belts are high end.
However, I don’t think he regularly buys them. I think he splurged after first becoming a prosecutor (the combination of no kids + making a decent salary + the idea of ‘clothes make the man’ all play into this) and bought himself a number of expensive items.
He did it over the space of a couple of months, and it was a subtle hit to their finances until Haley put her foot down and reminded him that the ‘lucky’ Gucci tie (the one he swears is the reason he won the Henderson case, by the way) could buy them a plethora of baby supplies, and they were planning to start trying once he had a stable job.
He still hangs onto the items, both because he has no reason to get rid of them- they’re already paid for, after all, and he’s not a wasteful man- and because when he puts on the Rolex he feels professional, put together, full of potential the way he was when he first started going to court.
The clothes give him a sense of control, and later on once he’s in the BAU, he still wears them. He relies on them in a way; he knows that the FBI has a reputation, and he’s hoping to keep it going by walking into a local precinct wearing the cost of their tech setup in his suit. It’s the first thing people see, long before he can actually display his competency.
They see a man in power, and his clothes speak for him so he doesn’t always have to speak for himself. He earned these clothes, each tie and belt representing a case won or a victim remembered.
He doesn’t buy them anymore once he joins the BAU; he’s a father now, with more things to worry about spending money on or saving for. Besides, his time in the department humbles him quickly. It can be overwhelming, and whenever he feels like he’s not up to the job he puts on the red Gucci tie he bought to celebrate passing the bar.
He touches it a lot, it’s worn with age, but as with everything he does, he carries it as a reminder of how far he’s come, how much he’s grown up, and what he’s capable of accomplishing
