Tips for Making Christmas Shopping More Effective, Efficient and Fun

Sure, you could go to the mall this Christmas season and just browse around, picking up random gifts for you friends and family. Or you could buy a bunch of generic gifts--like bath sets--that basically say to the recipient "Here, I got you...something. Because I felt like I should." Or you can make Christmas shopping more fun, interesting and personalized this year. I think a mistake a lot of shoppers make is going to a store with no real ideas in mind, then trying to pick things out and forcing them to feel like a good idea. This kind of approach makes no sense to me. I mean, you spend your money on someone else, buying them something they don't particularly want or need, while they spend their money on you, doing the same. It would make more sense, in this case, for both parties to simply keep their own money and use it to buy something they really like/want/need. But tradition is tradition, and exchanging Christmas gifts is not going to change anytime soon. So you might as well make the most of it.

Going to the mall and browsing around, picking up a random object that seems okay enough and trying to figure out who on your shopping list may want it is no way to go about Christmas shopping. In fact, that's a surefire way to end up buying a bunch of generic, non-customized presents that people will politely accept and then banish to storage. Instead, personalize your Christmas shopping this year to make it more effective and efficient. Start by writing a list of all the people you want/need to buy presents for (prioritizing it by putting the key people in your life at the top, and the people you just kind of feel obligated--like coworkers, for instance--to buy for). Then begin trying to figure out ideas for each person, writing all of them down as they come to you. You don't need to be too specific, just write down whatever comes to you. However, while you come up with ideas, keep this in mind: most people who have disposable income tend to buy themselves things that they want. So they have or can easily get the stuff they want. The trick for people like this is to come up with something that they wouldn't think to get themselves, for whatever reason. You have to be a bit creative. That's why you can't just go to Target and buy __________ (fill in the blank here), because they would've already gotten it, probably, had they wanted it. That's why you need to think outside the box. Is there something you think they'd like but aren't aware of that you could introduce them to? Is there something they may have wanted but felt it was too indulgent for them to buy for themselves? Is there something that never would've occurred to them to buy? Is there a way you could personalize/customize something to make it special? Is there something homemade that they would really appreciate? These are some of the questions you can ask yourself when coming up with ideas.
(for additional idea help, check out my articles Top Ten Gift Ideas for Someone who Has Too Much: www.associatedcontent.com/article/87031/top_ten_gift_ideas_for_someone_who.html, Top Ten Gifts for Your Most Eccentric Friend or Relative: www.associatedcontent.com/article/87941/top_ten_gifts_for_your_most_eccentric.html, and Top Ten Gift Ideas for Your Hippie College Kid: www.associatedcontent.com/article/86589/top_ten_gift_ideas_for_your_hippie.html )

If you have trouble coming up with ideas for certain people, call the people they're closest to and ask for suggestions. You might not know for sure what to get your niece but maybe her mom or boyfriend has some good ideas. Barring that, think carefully about how the person responded to past presents. Everyone is always polite when receiving presents, of course, but you can usually tell what a person is really excited about, present-wise. So try to think back to what gifts went over well in previous years, and see if you can glean some ideas from that. Another tricky way to get ideas is to go on the person's Myspace (www.myspace.com) or Facebook (www.facebook.com) profile (assuming he/she has one) and look around. There are usually sections there where people write about their likes, interests, and tastes in music, movies, books, etc. Facebook also has "fan pages" that a person can join when he/she is a fan of something specific, so that's another great place to look.

Once you've gotten your ideas written down you can begin shopping. I recommend starting with the internet, as you have an almost unlimited selection online for all kinds of things. It can also be *a lot* less stressful and therefore more fun. You can forget about traffic and crowds and lines, sit in your pajamas, drink hot chocolate, listen to music of your choice (that way, you won't be forced to listen to Christmas music), and relax. Sure, you'll have to pay for shipping but hey, you'd have had to pay for gas if you went out anyway. Then again, there's nothing wrong with shopping the classic way if that's what you prefer. The point is to start looking around with the help of your idea list.

That should make Christmas shopping a lot easier and more fun. But then, there are always those people who are almost impossible to shop for. Either they have everything they need, or you don't know enough about them and have no real way of finding out more, or they're incredibly picky, or...whatever. The point is, when it comes to those extra-difficult-to-shop-for people, I think the best way to go is a general gift certificate. I've never known anyone not to appreciate a gift certificate. Plus, I think they can be a better gift than just money, as when I get money I often end up spending it on boring things like bills but gift certificates give me a reason to buy myself something cool. Of course, there's still the question of where to get the gift certificate for in that instance, which is why you should go with somewhere general with a wide selection/variation of stuff. Not to rely too heavily on the internet, but Amazon.com, for example, has such a wide variety of stuff that it would be almost impossible for someone not to find something they like there.

So yeah. Go through your list, getting ideas from it or using it more specifically, find what you can, and get gift certificates for those you just can't find something for. Enjoy your shopping this year. Hopefully these suggestions will help make your shopping more effective and your recipients happier.