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Gift Giving Tips
So, you dread the thought of having to buy gifts for
Christmas. Friend or family member has a birthday or
anniversary coming up, and you still don’t have a gift?
Well, we’ve all been there and done that. None of us
want to do it again. Yet we always seem to be in the
same sorry spot each year. As Mark Twain said: “Never
put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after
tomorrow.” That may be great advice for yard work, but
it’s terrible advice for gift giving. Waiting too late
to buy gifts can cause several problems, including stress,
choosing less than stellar gifts and experiencing holiday
shopping misery. Let’s look at several ways to avoid
those problems.
1: Start thinking of gift giving as a regular part of
your day-to-day life. Don’t think of it as a rare, necessary
evil. You need to adopt a new mindset: one that tells
you that any day could be a great day to find that perfect
gift for family or friend. Once you get in that frame
of mind, there are several things you should do to make
gift giving fun for you and great for the recipient:
2: Make a list of the people you exchange gifts with
and a calendar of the dates you expect to give them
gifts. When you receive an invitation to a wedding or
party, mark that date on your gift calendar. This will
help you get organized, which is usually the first step
in any worthwhile endeavor.
3: Keep that list in a handy, convenient place in your
home or carry it with you. That way you can easily access
it when you need it.
4: Have an idea? It’s funny how you’ll get one right
after holidays, birthdays or other gift-giving occasions.
Of course, by this time you have spent quite a bit of
time thinking about your gift(s). When you have an idea,
write it down on the handy list mentioned above, so
you’ll be one step ahead of the game next year!
5: Listen year-round for that friend or family member
to say or do something that tips you off to the perfect
gift! When you pick up on it, you’ll have a place to
write it down. This will help you buy that just-right
gift and prevent gift panic, or worse, the dreaded Christmas
rush.
6: Buy the great gift you just wrote down! There is
absolutely no reason to wait to buy a gift for any occasion
if you have an inspirational (or just good) idea, unless
you think it may later go on sale. Otherwise, buy that
gift as soon as you can! To make gift buying even easier,
buy your gifts online and have them shipped to you.
In many cases you can even have them wrapped for you
by the merchant.
7: Buy a generous gift WITHIN YOUR BUDGET! Two things
you want to avoid, in decreasing order of importance:
being seen as a cheapskate (or worse, having no gift);
or going overboard on a gift, which usually means spending
more than you can afford and probably making the recipient
uncomfortable. It’s also easy to spend too much on someone
(like your spouse or kids) and then find that you have
little or nothing for other important people in your
life (like your parents, siblings or friends). So set
a budget for your gift buying and stick with it.
8: Once you’ve purchased your gift(s), you need to have
a place to put it (or them). So, make room in your house,
apartment, condo or whatever, and create a gift closet.
Keep it stocked with the great gifts that you wrote
down on your handy gift list and then purchased (within
your budget).
Presto! You will suddenly rise to the occasion with
a great gift, or an armful of great gifts, and you and
your recipient(s) will be much happier for it.
“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today?
Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.”
~ Babatunde Olatunji
About the author:
Suzanne Davidson works in Marketing, Event Planning
and Community Relations. She is the author and owner
of the www.thegiftgenie.comwebsite.
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