The holiday season is here, and of course, with the overwhelming joy comes the overwhelming stress of gift giving! Everybody loves a good gift, but not everybody knows how to give a good gift with time constraints. After observing my family struggle with putting time aside to get gifts, as well as having my own personal breakdowns over bad gift giving, I’m here to give you the best advice I can on how to get your shopping done efficiently and in advance! The holidays are supposed to create warm memories of you and your family, not memories of fighting over a toy train in a mall! Here are some of my best tips and tricks for getting shopping done quick and early, while still giving good gifts:
- Make Those Christmas Lists in Advance
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A large part of the delay on present buying is the fact that family members don’t know what you want. So, ask whoever you are giving a gift to make a list of exactly what they want in the beginning of November. If you are looking for a gift list for your kids, make sure they put down everything they want– not because they are necessarily going to GET every single item on the list, but because having a long list gives you enough options just in case there are some gifts that end up unattainable.
- Online Orders vs. In-store Purchases
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Let’s be honest here, online ordering can be either the easiest or the HARDEST form of gift purchasing. The internet has basically everything and more, but it can be difficult to purchase things later on because it can be marked as out of stock. So, it might be beneficial to divide your purchases methodically between in-store and online! For example, if you know your niece just wants a gift card and some candy, that is something that can be knocked out at a local store! But, there are more in-depth purchases that may require some hunting down. My best strategy is this: look online before leaving your house to see if the product you need is in any stores near you. If it is, go look in that store! Online ordering does come with extra expenses, so sometimes it is best to avoid those depending on the price. If you can’t find the product in any stores, that’s when you might want to cut yourself a break and purchase it online. However, you always want to try and purchase online earlier due to how long shipping takes! So when coming up with gift options that are you want to order online, make those a priority to purchase first!
- Remember that Gifts Can also be in the Form of Experiences
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Sometimes gifts can be seen as one-dimensional, in a sense that they are just a physical object. Remember that there are experiences that can count as gifts as well! Many gifts can be in the form of concert tickets, but there are also some less expensive options. For example, maybe this person keeps talking about some movies they want to see. So, use that idea to buy movie tickets for them! Not only is it something that they want, but it can also create some really fond memories! Along with movie tickets, you can also gift something like passes to a local museum, etc. All of these are gifts aren’t physical objects, meaning you won’t have to worry about hiding them away.
- Focus one One Big Gift
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One important thing that I’ve grown up with is the idea of “one big gift.” I was fortunate enough as a child to receive gifts during the holidays. My parents would always tell me to think about one big thing that I want, as it was the main gift. When I was younger, my “big gift” was an American Girl doll, and then my parents just bought little trinkets as other gifts. This is a gift strategy that I really encourage, because it focuses on getting kids what they actually want. Putting some emphasis on a big gift requires the kids to think more about it, therefore making it more near and dear to their hearts.
I hope these tips can make you all a little less stressed about this holiday season! I know that this season can sometimes be the opposite of fun and sometimes you just want to sit in a corner and cry. But remember that first and foremost, this is a time to prioritize family! The best gift you can give yourself is spending time with the people you love!