Home And Family

Holidays, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, anniversaries, the list is endless. When you have a gift to buy for someone special or as a social requirement, how do pick out the best one? When the recipient opens their gift from you will they say “How perfect! I love it!” or will they say “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”? With so many choices and so little direction how do you even start on your search for the perfect gift?

Have no fear, help is here. The answer lies in learning to think like the intended recipient. For example, let’s say you need to buy a birthday present for a little girl. You look for something pink and frilly-she’ll love it, right? It may look adorable and perfect to you, but what does it look like to the little girl about to receive it? Stop for a moment and think about things from the perspective of our little girl. It’s your birthday. There is a mountain of packages just waiting for you to open. There are only two things on your mind: TOYS!!! and CANDY!!!! If you can’t throw it, shake it, push its buttons, or eat it you are not interested. Okay, come back to me now. You have just learned the secret to great gift buying. Don’t buy something you love, buy something the person getting the gift will love.

Simple solution. Simple, but not always easy. How do you know what they will love? The best way to start is to think about what that person does. What they enjoy doing. Who they enjoy doing things with. Consider our example of a little girl. What do little girls do? They watch cartoons. They love to watch cartoons and play with their dolls. They watch cartoons with their favorite doll. So now that you know how she sees life, what would make a great gift? A pink, frilly dress? No. She would love to have a new dvd full of her favorite cartoons, new clothes for her favorite doll (but none for herself, mind you), a little tea set she can use to play house, and any other number of similar items. Now you have some ideas for great gifts. The key is to examine what the gift recipient enjoys, what keeps their interest and ignore what you yourself want. In fact, you may find that as you get better at giving gifts people actually want, you start receiving more gifts that you actually want. Funny the way things work sometimes.

So in a nutshell, figure out what gift your intended recipient will want and find it. After brainstorming some great ideas, do you have to go brave the crowds a the mall? Of course not. The other secret to great gift giving is knowing where to shop.