How to give the best Christmas presents ever?

Hello :)

Today, I was a little unsure what to write about, but while I was trying to generate ideas I realised, that the only thing I could think about was what to buy my friends and family for Christmas, so that's sort of what I'll be writing about, the science of finding the perfect gift.

The first photo that came up, when I googled Christmas prensent...beacause I'm lazy...

I don't know if it's so with all people, but I tend to get a bit analytical, when it comes to solving problems and when a problem is the type I feel very motivated to solve, then I get particularly excited about choosing my strategy. Finding Christmas presents is probably the best type of problem a person could face, in fact if that's the only problem in your life, then you are one lucky person, but let's get into my approach.

I always try to start buying gifts as early as possible, or at least start making plans for them, I feel like Summer is the perfect time to start, since then I have more time, usually more money and I feel more relaxed. If you feel like Summer is too early, then October should be the latest time to start making plans.

Once I have the general idea about what I wish to give to people, I draw out a little game plan that contains all of the people I wish to make gifts to, all the gift ideas I have, some of the things they have said that they want and if they have already bought something from my list, I cross it out and start looking for new ideas. It's very easy, just make sure that none of your gift targets find the list, hide it like it's your most precious belonging and maybe don't leave it on the table as Kai has, luckily I'm a very honest person and won't read what's written in it.

Once the game plan has been made I start searching for possible places that offer the goods I'm interested in, sometimes that means that I have to order abroad, sometimes I just have to walk across the street, but either way it's good to know where to get the things I need, how many are in store, should I buy now or wait for sales, maybe they'll sell out, everything has to be thought through thoroughly (that's a tonguetwister).

It's also important to have money saved, so you wouldn't find out last minute that you sort of can't afford the things that you wish to buy people, I usually set myself a budget in advance or agree with friends the amount of money that we can spend on eachother, so it would be clear and everyone would put as much in as they are getting out, I feel that's fair.

I realise that so far I've been mainly talking about how to prepare for the big event of gift buying, but how to even decide what to buy, how to find the best present, that's what this blog post is actually supposed to be about, so let's choose a test subject. I pick my teddy bear Robin, yes an actual teddy bear, not trying to hint at anything.

So Robin is a cute little bear, I write his name in my handy notebook and start writing down his hobbies, he likes to sleep, eat and let's say he also enjoys knitting, these are good points to start from, from there I start looking into what these hobbies require, for sleeping he'd need good sleepwear, so do I know his dress size, do I know what colours he likes, does he have preferences in fabrics, if any of the questions is unanswered, I try and sneakily find out answers, if I do not succeed, I go on to the next hobby and see if I can generate some ideas from there.

Another thing I can do, is think whether he collects anything, I might stalk his social media to find out if he has any particular brands that he likes, I ask him if there's actually something that he'd like to have, that'd be the easiest way out, but definitely not as interesting. It's a lot more fun to give someone something that they want, but they don't know yet that they want.

Lastly I also like to browse the shops, since they often give me ideas about what a certain person might like, I'm sure all people get that feeling that they see something and instantly think of someone who might like it, so it's another strategy to get that perfect present.

All in all buying gifts should be fun, if my super analytical, well thought through, amazing gift finding mission, doesn't suit you, then go find your way of doing it, but make it fun, Christmas should be all about fun and and as a gift reciever, you should also keep in mind that getting a gift from someone simply means that they probably care about you a bit more than they do about an average person, so whatever you get, make the most of it, so it could be the perfect present.

Also the gift of giving itself is amazing in itself, so just enjoy it.

In case some of you didn't understand it yet, then all of the above should not be taken 100% seriously, I was joking a little, but I do take Christmas very seriously, so I guess I sort of wasn't joking...

Anyway, until next post,

Kaiela :)