5 Ways to Be Savvy During Your Christmas Shopping
Christmas is a festive season and it’s time for families to gather around the Christmas tree exchanging gifts. It’s also a time of stress and last-minute shopping for that aunt you forgot to buy a gift for. Of course, giving cash is the easiest way to solve your Christmas shopping dilemmas, especially if you’re pressed for time and your gift-wrapping abilities always end up taping your fingers together. But, if you want to stretch your dollars’ worth, giving cash is not the most economical since you can’t give $5 to your sister who gave you the latest Dyson hair wrap.
However, there are five ways you can shop for Christmas gifts without dipping in your emergency fund (no, Christmas shopping at the last minute when everything is full price does not constitute an emergency).
Bonus: Here’s a playlist of the top 100 Christmas songs of all time that you can listen to while doing your Christmas shopping.
Make a List of Who’s Naughty and Nice Before Christmas Shopping
When doing your Christmas shopping, buy only for those you want a gift to, not have to. You don’t have to buy a gift for everyone you work with. So, what if they found out everyone’s received a gift from you except them? Maybe this year, they will realize it’s a “them problem” and not a “you problem.”
Stick to Your Budget
Once you have a list of all the nice people in your life, set a budget for each gift (depending on how nice they are… just kidding!). If you have a friend who appreciates the small stuff, you wouldn’t need to buy them an expensive gift since they’ll appreciate it no matter what you get them. Set a higher budget for a friend who is high maintenance or who you know will give you an expensive gift (again: kidding!).
When it comes to deciding how much to allocate for each recipient, consider their interests and hobbies. Even if their interests are expensive, you can still give them a related gift. For example, if they play golf, instead of a pricey golf club, consider gifting them a golf glove. That way, you’re giving them something they can use for their hobby that is still within your budget.
Regift
Desperate times call for practical measures. There’s no harm in regifting, especially if it’s a gift you know you wouldn’t use. However, there are cardinal rules that you need to follow to make sure your regift doesn’t end up the topic of your family or office’s next Christmas party.
- Make sure you don’t regift to the “gifter”: Talk about awkward! Not only will this hurt the giver’s feelings, but they will also not give you a gift anymore since you’ll come across as someone ungrateful. To make sure this doesn’t happen, once you receive a gift you know you’ll regift in the future, make a list. List the item you received and who gave it to you.
- Six degrees of separation (or more): Aside from avoiding regifting to the sender, ensure that you’ll give it to someone outside of the giver’s social circle. Say, you receive a French press from your Aunt Debby, but you don’t drink coffee. You can re-gift it to your officemate stationed in Canada who only comes to your office once in a blue moon.
- Don’t regift just because: If you receive a shirt that’s your size but not your style, don’t give it to someone smaller or bigger than you. The key is for them to not notice that what they’re receiving is a re-gift.
Go Handmade
There’s no shame in giving gifts that you made. Not only is it affordable (you’ll only pay for the materials), but it’s also personal and thoughtful. You just need to sacrifice some of your Netflix time to create your gifts. If you bake, bake cookies, or whatever your specialty is, buy nice pastry boxes, tie them with a festive bow, and your Christmas gifts for this year are done.
Look For Buy 1, Get 1 Gifts…
Then give them to two different people. Boom! Two gifts for the price of one.
It’s fun and yes, stressful to shop for gifts especially if we are on a budget. However, we need to remember that besides stressing about the material gifts, we need to be reminded of the reason for the season.
