When holidays, birthdays, or anniversaries approach, my excitement builds only for me to be hit with the sudden realization that I forgot to get a gift, yet again. It happens every year without fail, no matter how many times I write little reminders in my planner. Even if there’s intense planning to find the perfect present or hours spent browsing cool Etsy shops, I somehow never actually buy anything until I’m really pressed for time. It always manages to work out though, but not before I’ve gone through this classic routine:
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1. Marking the date on the calendar: It’s circled with a sparkly gel pen, because who could miss anything giant and glittery? Stickers add a great effect, too. The countdown begins, and the planning can actually start! Usually this is early enough in the game to think about online shopping, because let’s be real, who has time to order anything online and wait for it to be delivered? Shipping is always tricky, so if I ever plan on buying anything specifically online, the earlier I do it, the better.
2. Investigating for gift ideas: I’m talking Facebook creeping, eavesdropping on their conversations in case they mention something they need, or noticing anything they mention they love when shopping. When I’m trying to figure out what kind of gift I want to get, I like to have all the options that I can!
3. The actual shopping part: This is the most intense part of gift buying. After I’ve done all this planning and I think I know exactly what I want to get, I have to find a store that has it. More often than not, I have this curse that makes every store in the universe stop carrying the item I’m looking for. This leads to venturing out to tons of other stores when I desperately don’t want to settle on something else.
4. Second guessing your present: Decision making is at the very top of my list of things I’m bad at, and I don’t mean that as an exaggeration. I can barely decide what kind of Poptarts to buy at the grocery store, so picking out something for someone else definitely doesn’t come easy to me! Better yet, if I’m lucky enough to find a really cool present, I’ll have to choose from different kinds. Take candles, for instance. My roommate loves candles, so I decided to get her a nice one for her birthday one year. I didn’t realize it, but the options are literally endless! I really struggled to find what I thought she would like best, and it took a lot of debating to pick one.
5. Finally giving them their gift: Success! All the efforts didn’t go to waste and they love that so much thought went into the hunt for the perfect present. Bask in the satisfaction until you realize that the next holiday is coming up sooner that you thought…
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Image credits:
http://cdn4.gurl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sneaky-gif.gif
http://cosmouk.cdnds.net/15/16/1429015568-shopping_spree.gif
http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2014/12/15/635542243858437657-208…
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/25/1301088653-andy…