This festive time of year is about sharing the warmth and love of the holiday season. It also means gift buying for family, friends and those others that we feel deserve some special treatment, which can sometimes put the pressure on us in our search to find the perfect choice. As a result, it could leave us rushing store to store and battling crowds of shoppers to spending hours online at your computer hunting for what might please those on our gift lists. However, I have some holiday shopping tips that can simplify the process and still pick out presents they’ll love.
Conversations with family and friends through the year give us clues often about a product that they got excited over and would love to have. I like to keep track of each family member or friend and those wants in a small notebook for gift buying when needed.
A benefit of keeping a holiday shopping list going is how knowing ahead of time will come in handy if those items also go on sale. Buying a desired gift on sale or when browsing the clearance section also means I could spend more to make that person happy such as with buying two, perhaps, of that item.
Another of these tips that makes holiday shopping easier for me is thinking of gifts that I would love to receive. My theory is if that object of my desire makes me smile, it just might produce the same feeling in a family member or friend that shares my taste.
Something else to consider is the advantage of buying in bulk. A few great gift ideas may be skin care and fragrance gift sets that are also beautifully packaged at this time of year. Food gifts from healthy subscriptions for quality meat to different size containers of candies, nuts to popcorn to stocking up on cozy accessories can also help when in a pinch for what to buy.
There are those that snub anything that is not a brand-new item. Yet, there is a lot of beauty that many others like myself do appreciate such as some antiques. Perhaps, you also have a family member or friend that would also love a certain piece like an exquisite antique brooch, small painting, a first edition novel or vase that you found in an antique store, ebay or at your local flea market, swap meet or even a garage sale.
Why is it that many people just hold off on that holiday shopping until nearly the last minute? My feeling is that it is easier to start that shopping earlier in the Fall. The reason is because you don’t have to buy everything at once that would have such a negative impact on other monthly expenses. It also gives you more time to find other holiday sales before the normal Christmas shopping season begins without the crowds that may be competing to buy the same things.
