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Choosing The Right Gift This Holiday
Season by Vanity Daniels Choosing the right gift this holiday season
The holiday season. Make no mistake, this time of year revolves around
gift givin The thought of 'holiday gift giving' brings to mind images of happy
children, gathering around a tree or manora, ripping open gifts and
bubbling with laughter Why is it that it always seems stressful and time consuming to shop
for your loved ones? Why is it that you are always scrambling for last minute gift ideas?
Why is it so hard to get things in order? Most people don't spend the entire year practicing shopping or
gift-buying techniques - frankly, most people rarely have to buy or
choose gifts! That's why so many people are flocking towards plain,
unimaginative gifts like gift certificates, prepaid credit cards, and
so on. Even something as simple as buying a gift basket for the
holidays seems difficult!
Here's the secret - much like anything else in this world, there are
tips, strategies, and tactics for those that know where to look. The
big job of shopping is reduced to clearly defined steps and methods,
with awesome results! We all know people who give horrible-fitting sweaters that no one
wants to wear - Send them this article. We all know some other people who drive a Mercedes, but give their
best friend a $5 Starbucks Gift Card - Send them this article. It's high time that we got the word out - gift giving can be done
easily, even if you don't think you know how. Even if you have a
horrible track record, there is no time like the present (pun
intended) to gift your way back into their hearts. Besides, the better
and more memorable gifts you give this year, the better stuff you'll
get next year! Start as early as possible to avoid mall stress, high shipping, and
insane prices. We all know things get pretty wacky the closer you get
to the end of the month - and heaven forbid you go shopping at the
last minute! The key is in the system that you simplify and organize your shopping
into steps - each step is easy! Let's get started, shall we? 1. Get a piece of paper (for notes), and a computer (for research)
2. Take a deep breath. Relax! This will be fun! 3. Make a list (on the piece of paper) of the people you are gifting. 4. Write a ballpark dollar amount next to each person as a budget
(This is a sensitive topic, because some people don't like to attach
real numbers. They like to impulse buy on the credit card, and deal
with the sticker shock when the bill comes.) 5. Separate your giftees into groups - men, women, old, young, trendy,
geeky, or whatever category seems good 6. On your computer, fire up the web browser (we recommend FireFox) 7. Proceed one group at a time through your list! For each list: commercial site such as Yahoo Shopping, MSN shopping, or the website
of a print magazine like "Lucky", "Maxim", "GQ", for gifts that might
suit this group. - Don't deviate, even though you can bookmark stuff for later.
- Make sure you go to at least two sites. - If their web designers and marketers did a good job, you should have
a general idea of some general gifts that are suited for your target
group. - If shopping on Amazon.com, note that their other product
recommendations are often very VERY accurate. - Jot down a number of gift ideas from what you saw, and move on. When you have completed this for all of your groups, it's time to
start purchasing! Look for sales! - Sites like BensBargains.net, Amazon.com, FatWallet, Woot.com, and
many others specialize in extreme discounts, incredible coupons and
short-lived promotions for electronics. - Google your prospective purchase and find out what the going rate
is. It's not uncommon to find some products free after discounts, with
free shipping! Sites like VanityBaskets.com offer a specialized range of gifts that
have exploded in popularity in recent shopping seasons. Hand-made
gourmet gift baskets have swept the scene, offering a wide variety of
high-quality gift combinations that satisfy their recipients on
several different levels. While traditional 'single gifts' consist of
only one item, gift baskets blend an assortment of related, themed
items in a pleasant package, for an affordable price.
This seems like the best of both worlds, since the gift giver can pick
a unique blend of items that suits the receiver's personality.
You can often save money on shipping by purchasing multiple items from
the same site. If you have a preferred ecommerce site, like 'VanityBaskets.com' for
gift baskets, in mind, compare the prices you see with the prices on
your preferred site. Dealing with disreputable vendors just to save a few pennies will only
add to your stress, and increase the chances of a Christmas gift
mishap. Good luck in your gifting, and Happy Holidays! |
