Do I need to repeat this — the Holiday Season is fast approaching. And if you are like most people, you think “Oh I have plenty of time to do my shopping” and then put it out of your mind. Time goes by quickly. Before you know it your gift-giving occasions are here and you’re stressed out because you haven’t done any shopping. This year I’m going to help you become an intentional gift giver while reducing the overall stress you experience.
Copyright : Lorelyn Medina
Make A List
I want you to start today. The first step to becoming an intentional gift giver is to make a list of all the people you are thinking about giving a gift to. Make it all-inclusive: family, friends, business associates, clients, employees, the mail person, the garage attendant, teachers, etc. Now you may not give everyone on this list a gift, but what I want you to avoid is remembering at the last minute that one person you wanted to give a gift to and completely forgot about until you are going to have lunch with them or you’re invited over to their home for a Holiday event. This is what creates stress.
Now that you’ve created your list, divide it into groups. One way to divide it up is Family, Friends, and Professional/Business. Or you may want to keep your personal and professional recipients separate, so one list could be Personal: Family, Friends and Others; and the other list could be Business: Clients/Customers, Business Associates, Employees and Others.
Copyright : Ed Sweetman
Prioritize The Names
The next step is prioritize the people on your list. Go through the list and mark the names of the people you know for certain you well be giving a gift to. Put a 1 or a P for priority by their names. Review the list again and mark the names of those who are a possibility with either a 2 or M for maybe. Go through the list one more time and mark the names of those who you are not sure whether you will give them a gift or not with a 3 or U for unsure. Every name on your list should now have a number or letter by their name, thereby prioritizing your gift giving.
Copyright : amasterpics123
Answer These Questions
This next step in the process is going to take some time. However, if you do this step it will make your Holiday gift shopping so much easier. For each person on the list, start with the 1s or Ps answer these questions:
Do you want to give this person a personal gift, i.e. jewelry, or a gift that can be used in the home or the office?
If you decide on a personal gift answer the following questions:
Does the person wear jewelry?
- If yes, do they wear statement pieces or fine minimalist pieces?
- Do they wear —
- Necklaces
- Earrings
- Do they have pierced ears?
- Bracelets
- Gold or silver?
- Do they wear scarves?
- Do they wear shawls?
- What are their favorite colors?
Features
- What is their hair color?
- What is the color of their eyes?
- What is their skin tone?
- Light, tan easily, etc.
If you decide on a home or office gift answer these questions:
- What are their interests or hobbies?
- Do they like …
- The movies?
- Music?
- To read?
- To cook?
- To garden?
- To travel?
- Have they been somewhere recently?
- Other?
- Are they a wine drinker?
What is your price point?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions then you need to start paying attention. The foundation of intentional gift giving is to master the arte of paying attention. Look around. You can pick up clues about the things people hold as important, the things they enjoy and the things they care about. Listen. Friends and loved ones often speak of their dreams, hopes and interests. People constantly share unexpected hints about their likes and dislikes.
After you’ve gathered this information on each recipient you will be ready for the next step in the intentional gift giving process.
