For anyone who is trying to stick to a low-key, basic gifting strategy, consider your guests: how much time do you spend decorating and how much time do you spend on the actual gift? By making it an experience and letting your guests go to the market, pick out the gift or order a personalized one from a website like Etsy, you could decrease the stress level considerably. Here are some suggestions for making your gifting less stressful.
Get Crafty
You don’t need to be a master crafty crafter to make your gifting gifts more special. Some best nickel free hoop earrings would go a long way for a long-time friend with a more unique taste. Make a gift basket from fruit you picked up at the farmer’s market. Let your guests pick out a piece of cheese, some crackers and some artisanal bread to go with it. Give them a card telling them all about the basket and how to make it. For a real handmade experience, visit an artisanal bakery and buy bread, cupcakes, jam, wine or even hot chocolate to mix with your friends’ dessert. You could even pick up some chocolates to make your own gift boxes. Go to a friend’s house with a few friends and get a piece of art you picked out to go in a frame. Make it a gourmet, personalized experience by buying a box of coffee or a bottle of wine and trying it out together.
Stop Buying Gift Baskets
Stop getting the crappy gift baskets from the dollar store with things you’ve picked out but have no idea what to put in them. Instead, take time to actually put together your own special gift basket with things your friends would like. Rather than adding cheap items like candy or shampoo, add something more personal, like homemade salsa or a box of local flowers. Add to your friend’s collection of La Piazza glasses, for example, as a personal touch of thoughtfulness.
Give Your Friends Something They Can Take Home
Use your creativity and make a gift box of chocolates. Make sure your chocolates are free of artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup. If you’re worried about allergies or need to know what exactly your friends are allergic to, ask them to let you know if you plan to give them anything they are not allergic to.
The Gift Wrapping Is Overrated
If you are still planning to wrap your gifts, spend time on the wrapping instead of worrying about it being perfect or packaged perfectly. A lot of time is wasted on gift wrapping at Christmas. For the most part, it ends up looking pretty crappy anyway. You could spend a couple of hours putting a pretty package together and end up with a lump of paper and a box with some twisty wire. With a little creativity, you could do the wrapping in a short time and get your gifts to their destinations quickly. Some of the best legend of zelda t shirts are those which will be worn by a friend who was gifted it by a fellow friend with a common interest, for instance.
No Matter What, Be Yourself
It is often seen that people get really flustered over what to gift our near and dear ones, often leading us down the routes of cliched ideas. It does not hurt to know what the other person likes, or what their hobbies are and gift them accordingly. For example, if your friend likes solving puzzles, you could create your personal rubik’s cube and gift them along with other things that they might prefer over the usual wine, chocolates, or jewelry! That said, it must be kept in mind that people don’t really want the gift of material things for special occasions, especially if they already have enough. It’s much more valuable to be able to spend time with friends and family than you normally wouldn’t. You’ll create memories and make your life more enriched in the process.
Gifting is a tricky business at the holidays because there is a lot of pressure on you. You want to give a present you know your friends will enjoy, but you don’t want to under-deliver in a way that demonstrates a distinct lack of effort.