Christmas Shopping Made Easier
This is the season of giving and receiving gifts from everyone around you. And our skill in choosing gifts is the measure of our understanding (or even our capacity for anticipating or guiding) others desires and tastes. I don’t know about you but there are always a few people on my list for which choosing gifts is especially difficult. They either seem to have everything that they could possibly want or I have no idea what gifts they might want. And even if you find the gift that you think is perfect, there’s no guarantee someone else won’t get the same thing, or that the recipients won’t completely miss the point of our best intentions. The art of choosing gifts is a special one and also depends on whom you are giving the gift. This may sound rather obvious, but with gift-giving, as with other areas of life, we often give to others what we wish would be given to us - this is really not the best idea! As a quick plan of attack when facing a gift giving decision, consider how much you want to spend, the tone of the gift you want to give, and the message you want to convey. Narrowing down your gift choices in that order provides you a kind of “string of elimination” that discards unqualified ideas, letting you focus in on the ideal gift. Finding good gifts on time and en masse is hard. It is a lot simpler giving away gift vouchers. These are practical but are perhaps lacking in the personal touch. I buy gifts through the year when something seems just right for someone. This spreads the cost as well as the pressure - plus you can take advantage of the sales. Men are often very difficult to buy for. When choosing practical gifts for men, think of the hobbies or the profession of the person. Ideal gifts for men (or indeed anybody) are things which he could make use of for a long time to come. Try to think of things which are used every day - and maybe find a design which is unusual or fun and, of course, it doesn’t have to be expensive to bring a lot of pleasure. Shopping at Christmas is especially hard. Try to go at a time when the stores will be less busy. Leave the children at home. Take a comprehensive list. Take advantage of inn-store gift-wrapping. And remember to buy heavy gifts last to avoid carrying them around all day. And most importantly, try not to leave it all to the very last minute!
