I usually start my annual Holiday gift giving list the first part of October, so I’m a bit late, but not so much that I’ll be in a rush. I’ve accumulated a few hints to help you prepare for YOUR Holiday giving — saving you some money and at the same time being more certain to give the right gifts to each person (I certainly don’t like the idea of giving those “white elephant” gifts that immediately go into a stack of “returns”).
** Make a list of every person you’ll be giving a gift to — friends, relatives, teachers, children’s friends, office mates, etc.
** Try to think about something each person enjoys — a special hobby, their favorite sports team, color schemes in friends’ homes — and write that next to each name.
** Decide which people on the list you can “make” something for and those that will require you to “buy” something. For those on the “buy” list, you can be on the look-out for sales that will certainly be starting very soon. If a camera is at the top of somebody’s want list — you can be scouring the sale papers for the best deal — getting the best deal for the person and probably saving you a bundle at the same time.
** For those you can “make” something for — would it be a sewing project, a knitted item, kitchen aprons? There are many tutorials all over the internet, as well as patterns available for just about anything you’d want to make. Check out Patterns2Go for dozens of items you can make. Many times there are certain craft/sewing books that those on your list would be very happy to receive. You might check out the SewMachineRepair website for books for those on your list that do a lot of sewing or crafting. Do you have family/friends that are major couponers? I’m sure the gift they’d love above all things is the “designer tote” coupon clutch for carrying/organizing their coupon stash.
** I like to personalize each gift according to the receivers’ own tastes — this takes a little bit of thinking in order to get the perfect gift, but the time you spend in getting the list organized is well worth the time, and in the end actually SAVES you time during the shopping or “making” process.
** By making your holiday gift list EARLY, there’s much less chance that you’ll forget anyone! Have you ever started wrapping gifts a couple days before Christmas and somebody’s name flashed through your head — one of the MAIN ones you wanted to get a gift for and because you’d gotten in a “last minute hurry” forgot to get them a gift? To tell you the truth, I don’t know how I’d survive without my list!!
Do you have any other hints or tips you’d like to pass along? We always like to share the tips our readers have.
