The Christmas Gift

By Philip McDonald

Christmas is fast approaching and you are yet to finalize your Christmas gift list. So many people to buy for and so little time, how are you going to get it all done? Fortunately you have two ears, two eyes, one mouth and a memory. These are the tools you can use to reduce your shopping duties to a fun excursion.

Let's start with your gift ideas, first start by making a list of all the people you want to buy gifts for. To get ideas of what you are going to get for each person start by going back to conversations you had with the people on your list over the last year or two. What one thing did they wish they had over everything else? what hobbies did they express an interest in? What hobbies are they actually involved in? What are they currently doing in their lives? are they going to school? are they taking courses at night school? Is there a course of action they are contemplating taking but have not acted on?

All these questions can act as triggers for gift ideas for the people on your list. Giving gifts based on the information you gathered above can result in unique gifts which the recipients would be only too happy to receive. The amazing thing about these gifts is that some of them can be rather inexpensive and even be homemade.

If by chance you were unable to gather information on any of the ideas listed above you can still provide personalized gifts such as monogrammed towels, bathrobes or any item which can be monogrammed and be of a practical nature. The idea here is to make a connection with the recipient of the gift. This takes the act of gift giving beyond the commercialization of Christmas gifting.

An example of this in another area is this, recently I became associated with a group of new people and one thing I did was to learn the names of the people in the group. I didn't make it obvious like going up to them and introducing myself but by glancing at their name tags as they walked by and memorizing their names. Later I would address them by using their names in normal situations, this had a great impact on my relationship with several of them. I was provided with tips and information that greatly assisted me in accomplishing several tasks. Some of this information was held in the strictest of confidence for years until I made contact with members of this group.

The point is that when your interactions with people are personalized those relationships are treasured even more, usually all that is needed is a little effort on your part. The same thing is true for corporate gifts at Christmas. The whole idea is to stand out from the crowd by giving something that recipients in the company will treasure. You may have to do a bit of research like calling up the receptionist at the company and asking what the President would like as a Christmas gift.

With the advent of the internet lots of these gifts can be personalized and delivered unseen by you the giver, specifically gifts to corporations. You can shop from the comfort of your living room or office and avoid the crowds, yet you have as big an impact as if you spent hours walking the shopping malls.

Philip McDonald has written several articles relating to the Christmas season. To purchase artificial Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas music and gifts visit his blog at http://christmas-resources.blogspot.com