5 Tips to Pick the Perfect Gifts

Welcome to what feels like day hundred of Blogmas! If you’ve clicked on this post, you are most likely looking for something special to gift your friends and loved ones for Christmas. To be honest, there are too many lists out there already. Who cares for generic lists anyway? What I want to focus on more is the actual process of finding the best gifts so that you’re not just covered for this Christmas. Hopefully, you’ll have the necessary skills to get you through every holiday season that follows!

Get to know your person

This is a little obvious but very important in the gift giving game. It isn’t enough to just assume that because the person you are gifting would be happy with a generic present. By this I mean assuming that the person would be happy to receive perfume (girls) or a watch (men). In order to truly gift someone with something special, you need to know what they really like. You also need to know what they don’t like, what activities they love doing etc. Once you’ve gotten that down, we can move on to the next step.

Find out what they have and don’t have

Every human on this earth is unique with nuances specific to them. Once you have figured out that unique string of DNA in your person that makes them who they are, you need to figure out just what it is in that niche that they don’t already have. In my post on ‘Christmas Gifts for Him‘, I mentioned that if a man loves sport, he would most likely be happy with a signed t-shirt from his favourite team. If that sounds a little too hefty for your budget, don’t fret. There is memorabilia for all wallet sizes! This is a simple tip that applies to both guys and girls.

Take walks in shopping centres with your person

If you’ve come as far as to search for how to pick the perfect Christmas gift or looked at several gifting guides for him and her, then you are most likely on close terms with the person you are gifting. My advice is to to stroll through malls with the person with you detective hat. Look at specials on sites (inconspicuously of course) and just see what they actually react to. Ask lot’s of questions along the lines of “what do you think about <insert object> for <random person>? Don’t tell them that you are looking for them of course, else the gift would be ruined. To actually get away with this kind of spy work, you need to start weeks in advance of the occasion.

Pick the gift that makes your eyes roll

Gifts are meant to please the person who receives them, not the person who is giving them. We’ll let that marinate for a second. What that means is that you can’t base the decision on how the gift will make you feel. An example I will use is a playstation or a toy model car; just because it may be of little value to you and may actually cause you to roll your eyes, it does not mean that you should forgo the gift. Quite the opposite actually. I say this specifically for people in relationships – the gifts that make you roll your eyes are most likely the thing your partner would love most.

Delete any piece of evidence that may ruin the surprise

Again, a very obvious tip but you would be surprised how many times I have ruined my husband’s gifts by failing to erase the evidence. An example of this is his birthday present from 2019… during this time, I had secretly teamed up with his brother to secure a day of lessons on a motorcycling course. I deleted all the messages and even made sure to pay from a separate account. What I forgot was that the school had called me to confirm the date and time and I had saved their name in my contact list. The rest is history… So what is the moral of the story? Hide all the evidence or risk ruining the surprise!

Phew, it feels like a classroom experience doesn’t it? Don’t worry, we’ll stop here for today. Just remember, if you are able to master the above tips, your gifts will definitely be more personal and likeable.

Are there any other tips you would add to the list?

Happy shopping!