Holy crap, it's that time of the year again. If Christmas or the Winter season in general happen to be a part of the year you celebrate, you know that the butt-end of November/Early December is usually the time when you start getting ready for Christmas. Ridiculous, I know. Didn't we just get finished stuffing turkey and such down our gullets? Who has time to think about decorations and what to get the people in your life? I might have a few ideas for you.
I've tried to get on top of Christmas shopping in a variety of ways over the years. Ever since my dad gave me my first 50 dollar bill and said "shop for grandma and your aunties", I've always been the type of person to try and personalize every single gift with the most thought put into it without breaking the bank. On that same note, I'm probably breaking all kinds of gifting rules despite the personalized edge. It's supposed to be all about the thought behind the gift, anyway.
Before I go into a long ramble about my gifting history, I want to get the shopping basics out of the way. Planning on the amount of people saves you a lot of money and time. Instead of shopping blindly and spontaneously spending money every time you find a gift for so-and-so, why not come prepared? Start early before Black Friday or a a little afterward when you create your gifting list. This way, you have a lot of time on your hands to remember anyone you want to include. If your list is too long (aka, it's going to be pricey to spend money on 30 people), consider gift consolidation. It's not necessarily to be mean or deliberatley excluding people. Let's be honest--how many people do you expect to see/get a visit from during the holidays?
- Gift consolidation helps you budget yourself and other upcoming holiday expenses.
- It also helps you to avoid spending money on gifts that will gather dust because friends/family weren't there to pick them up.
- If you do want to gift a large majority of people, it's also a good idea to create side-notes on gift ideas. If you've got a decent idea of what you'd like to get them, it also saves shopping trips and gas money. Remember, it's all up to you. But if you know a gift will be collecting dust because you won't see Aunt Sally for six months, it might be a good idea to consider sending her a nice card instead.
- If you ARE gifting a lot of people, consider a grab bag with affordable, but nice gifts.
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| Next to the poorly drawn tree is my actual list. To avoid gift snoops, their gift has been blurred out. This is my first list, aka the rough draft. |
How do you personalize gifts for any amount of people? Some lady on a morning talk show claimed that getting people bath sets would give them the idea that you think they're stinky. Another woman suggested that getting them food or candy was plain tacky and thoughtless. The same applied to her gifting rules for makeup and perfume. Once I reached for my remote and muted both those crazy women, I re-evaluated my own gifting habits.
- If you constantly gift people those kinds of items, sure they'll think you're sending a hint. But if your gifting party consists of women such as myself, an abundance of makeup to experiment with and learn from is a GREAT gift. Even if it's not in my palate, I don't get offended. I can also use it for art! Long story short, bath and beauty gifts should not be constant.
- Don't pay too much attention to this rule, anyway. People who shower and bathe regularly will more than likely love the saved trips to the drugstore in cold weather thanks to you. I can recall tons of Christmases as a pre-teen and teenager where my bathroom window shelves were covered in all kinds of scents. If you know what your gift-getter likes, go for it.
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| Figi's Candy bags are awesome. |
Personalized gifts also do not have to be expensive. I repeat--DO NOT HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE. Put down the overpriced catalog, step away from the high-end store. Look at it this way: if you want to break the bank, it's cool. If your money's like that, who can stop you from showing your love that way? However, if your gifting reception party doesn't like it, that high-end store might not take a return. Here are some ideas I've come across to satisfy gifting a lot/a few people.
- Amazon.com Gift Cards. They come in the basic $5, $10, $25, $50, and $100. They go all the way up to $2,000 if you're feeling ever so generous. So, say you're gonna gift in the 5 and 10 for a few folks on a big list, or a few folks on a small list. Not only are you free from worrying if someone will like it, but it's fool-proof. It doesn't expire, can be saved up towards a big gift at a later time, and you won't be out of more than $25-$50 dollars or more. Bang, boom, they're responsible if they get a crappy gift. All you did was fund it. Wink wink. ;-)
- Chocomize Candy. Now, don't be a jerk and get somebody a big ol' candy bar if you know they're on a diet. Don't go messing up Uncle Hal's intolerance for the lactose by getting him a creamy bar full of nuts and goodies. Starting at $3.95 for the milk and white chocolate, $4.95 for dark, you can literally customize the sweet goodness of these bars to your heart's content for three or four people on your list. That'll bring you up to 30 bucks for everything. You have a choice between nuts, seeds, herbs/spices, candy, edible decorations, and "other". This is a very nice gift idea to get pretty specific for a close friend or family member. If you're not sure what kind of chocolate someone would like, you can also get them a Chocomize gift card.
- Snapfish.com. This is a bit of sentimental gift. What I like about Snapfish is their affordable 8x10 glossy photos. They make great holiday gifts at an affordable price. They're only about four or five dollars at best. This would make a great gifting idea for grandparents and loved ones who are far away. If they haven't seen you in a while, send them your nicest photo via Snapfish. Earlier this year, I scanned and selected a photo to be enlarged by Snapfish to give to my grandmother. For a Christmas present, I'm sending her a veeeeery old picture us in our Sunday best that I think she will enjoy. She can put it in a nice frame and enjoy that for the rest of the year. This time of year, there's all kinds of seasonal deals.
- Figi's Gifts. Although Figi's gifts tend to be a bit on the pricey side, they have quality gourmet and home-based products that are hits year-round. However, they've also got desserts and edibles that any gift-giver would be proud to send off or share over a cup of coffee. They tend to have all kinds of sales on their website during the holidays. If you have one or two people to shop for with a less constricted budget, they make awesome gifts for the boss of the teachers in your life. They also have a great 4 for $24.99 sale on candy bags for kids. Since I have to do a little gifting for finicky kids this year, I know I won't go wrong with a small bag of candy. Everyone likes chocolate snowmen and Tootsie Rolls.
- Novelty gifts. No, don't go to Spencer's and get everyone suggestive shot glasses and giant sex toys. Respect the age bracket, if you please. Maybe your younger friends will appreciate a shot glass or a few collected items of the novelty nature. You can stock up on great items from stores like Spencer's for specific people, but there are other stores like 6dollarshirt.com , WowCoolStuff.com, or the home of the giant gummi bear on a stick, Vat19.com. If you've got a lot of fun-loving quirky people in your circle, you MUST frequent ThinkGeek. They have a huge selection of eeeeverything from Sci-fi to innovative edibles. If your gifting circle includes people who are into widgets and gadgets, they will probably enjoy something like the Credit Card Lightbulb.
- FindGift gets really particular about it. Age, relationship, occasion, price range.
- Gifts.com does the same thing, with an appeal toward high-end brands.
Keeping it simple on the holidays prevents the usual strain of stress everyone seems to be Tweeting and blogging about these days. The Holidays are supposed to be an occasion of celebration, fun, and getting together with the ones you love. You don't have to suffer with the struggles of finding perfect gifts and going to store after store for a bargain. Sometimes stores online have better deals than regular department stores. Sometimes it's better to step away from the computer and shop around. In cases such as that, I would suggest good old stores like Walmart, Marshall's, TJ Max, and Kohl's. I did a LOT of my Christmas shopping in those stores before I started shopping online. The only store I avoid is K-Mart. And that's only because I don't like their lack of electronic media and quality products. It seems to have mutated once Sears came into the picture.
Finally, when you shop online, make sure you also surf around for coupon deals. Retail Me Not is INCREDIBLE with a plethora of codes for all kinds of stores. Always check with them to see if there's something you can use. They've got about 140,000 stores under their belt. Trust me, when you've got a hefty list to shop for, every little discount is a help. I hope that my little helper guide has inspired you to tackle shopping with a clear head and a fatter wallet in the end. If all else fails, don't assume. Casually ask what someone needs/wants and try and work around that. Or, just bake cookies and start stuffing little Christmas-themed bags with themed goodies. ;-)