One of the most popular Christmas carols echos the words “He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice”. Ask any kid and they will know that Santa’s Christmas list is actually two lists. The Santa Christmas list for good kids and of course all kids know and are terrified of getting placed on Santa’s naughty list for bad kids. While this idea of having good and naughty lists is a persuasive way of convincing children to behave during the Christmas period, the idea of a list is one that can help all Christmas shoppers set a plan to adhere to while buying gifts for friends and family. In fact having many lists that inter-relate with each other can be greatly beneficial over Christmas. Creating a list of all the people you are buying gifts for is a great way to get the ball rolling, if you’re about to begin your shopping. Next you can start a list of potential gift ideas and when you’ve done your first shop, that will make up a final christmas shopping list of all the gifts you decide you wish to buy.
These lists do not necessarily need to be only for the kids either, you can list the adults you are buying for, whether they are distant relatives, close friends or your intimate partner. For instance if you are buying for your wife, you could place, perfume, chocolates or even Pandora Christmas charms on your list of potential gifts along with the Christmas toys you are buying for your children.
The Recipients Christmas List
The list of all the people you plan to give gifts to this Christmas is a smart first step before commencing your shopping expedition this season. The importance of this list is so great as it forces you to think about the people on the list and to reflect on their personalities, desires and interests. It also gives you an idea of how many people in total there are on your chrismas list. Knowing how many people you are to buy for lets you set a budget from the start, you simply divide the total amount of money you intend to spend by the number of people on the list and you will get an idea about roughtly how much you should be spending for each person.
Gift Ideas Christmas List
The next logical step is to start another list. This time list potential gift ideas for each person on your first Christmas gift list. I have found over the years that having a Christmas list simple plan always makes the holiday season go a lot smoother, and the more time you spend brainstorming before you venture out to the shops, the more successful my shopping trip will usually be. So dedicate a little extra time towards brainstorming good gift ideas. Start with one person on the list and work your way down to the bottom. Try and think of more than one potential gift for each person, this way if you have trouble finding a particular gift, you have an alternative option.
I usually do this all in one session as I find I always get a flood of ideas once the creative juices are flowing. You might prefer to do it over a few days, or weeks. Just resist the temptation to start your shopping before you finish your brainstorming session or you’ll find you make more emotional purchases than rational ones and might blow your budget or spend your money on inappropriate purchases.
When you do go shopping, and you find an item on your list that is not on your list of suggestions, then it’s perfectly acceptable to buy the item. You should always remember that your list is just an ideas list and if you find something that is more appropriate than your original items, then great! There is absolutely no onus on you to only buy whats on the list.
Purchased Gifts Christmas List
The third list you can keep when you do your Christmas shopping is year is a list of items you’ve actually bought for people. While this may seem a little unusual, it is a good idea if you have a particularly long list and might have difficulty remembering every time you bought. Ensuring that this list is updated after each shopping session will reduce the difficulty of trying to remember every purchase you’ve already made. This list can come in handy later on when it comes to wrapping up all the presents that you’ve purchased, especially if there is a gap between your shops and your wrapping of presents. You may discover a closet full of gifts, but no idea as to the intended recipients. Some due diligence in maintaining your Christmas list for purchased gifts could make it a great deal more easier to recall which gift goes to who.
Other Christmas List Tips
- While some people would prefer to be surprised by their gifts on Christmas day, others would prefer to receive the gifts they want. If you are buying for the latter sort of person, you might subtly ask them what’s on their Christmas wish list this year, in the hope that they might subtly offer you a clue about what they would like this Christmas.
- If you are buying for adolescent Children it can be quite tricky, because teenagers tend to want specific things and can be quite fussy about anything they don’t want. You might have to do a little more research on this one. One way is to start a teen Christmas list that is seperate from your kids christmas list and at the same time you could even start a separate grown up Christmas list. Fill up your teen Christmas list with items you observe other teens using. What clothes are is style right now? Are they iPod users? Maybe some iPod accessories would be well received. Sweets or nice food are usually safe. Still despite your best efforts, buying for teenagers is fraught with danger, unless you think you can get inside the mind of a teenager, it is usually best to play it safe.
- Computerize your list. There are scores of free Christmas list organizer software downloads available on the internet, or if you can’t find one, general software that can serve as a Christmas list maker. You might also check the net for a good Christmas list template to see if someone has thought of a neat way to manage a Christmas list. If you are computer savvy, then by all means, feel free to put your computer to good use. Just be sure you can print out your list or use a PDA that you can take with you when you shop.
- Speaking of computers, you can even keep an online Christmas list using popular shopping websites like Amazon.Com. Amazon allows you to create your own wish lists and store them with your Amazon profile. Amazon lists just about every product under the sun, so if you’re comfortable with computers, Amazon’s features are a great way of keeping you stored in a safe location that – unlike a paper list – won’t get lost.
- Making lists and the general experience of Christmas shopping can be overwhelming. It can sometimes be so rushed that you don’t know what to do next. The solution? Yes another list. The Christmas to do list. The Christmas to do list is a list of all the things you have to do this Christmas. This includes starting lists, but also includes ever other task that needs to be done right up until the big day. The planning, the shopping expeditions, the writing of cards to the wrapping of presents.
While you have probably finished reading this and are thinking that making all these lists seems like hard work, if relax a little and take it one step at a time, you will find that using a Christmas list or two, will make the job of Christmas shopping easier to manage by far.
[...] A third way of getting on top of your early Christmas shopping is to purchase two gifts for each recipient on your list on their birthday. When their birthday arrives, you then present them with their first gift, while keeping their second gift stored away until Christmas time. This is a great example of killing two birds with one stone and of course it achieves your initial goal of avoiding the mad rush of buying last minute Christmas presents in the crowded shopping malls. If you keep doing this strategy consistently, you’ll discover when the Christmas season is here, that all of your work is just about done already and you can slow down and relax, and enjoying your holiday without the burden that of having to try and find the perfect gifts on the back of your mind. Although this strategy is effective, unfortunately a problem arises when people have their birthdays late in December. This will require a little extra planning if your intent is to avoid the Christmas rush. But chances are, this will only occur for a few of the people you usually shop for at Christmas and even if you do find yourself doing some last minute Christmas shopping, it’ll ony be for a few people and not everyone on your Christmas list. [...]
[...] and have the confidence that they will (somehow) be able to get great gifts for everyone on their Christmas shopping list this year. Almost everyone will tell you that last minute Christmas shopping is stressful, but it [...]
Nice blog, with some fascinating suggestions for Christmas gift ideas. You’ve put in a lot of time and effort in building it, and I wanted to write and say how much I appreciate you for that
Best wishes
Larissa