The holiday season is great for connecting family and friends through many ways, a prominent one being gifting. It is a great experience that comes around every year but there are obstacles people may face. These can easily be diminished by learning simple strategies and tips that will almost certainly make your experience more rewarding.  Techniques such as choosing the right place to shop, planning to shop ahead of time and discovering strong gift ideas should always be addressed to make the gifting experience more manageable and joyous.

You may find that their creativity is absent when thinking of gift ideas. Fortunately, there are several methods to combat this. Broad categories such as merchandise, hygiene, technology, home improvement/lifestyle, entertainment and more are good starting points. Choose two or three that you believe the gift receiver might enjoy. Within those categories, repeat the same process with smaller subtopics until you come up with an idea. For example, if you choose health and technology and then pick a subtopic of exercise, a subscription to a fitness application or a smart step tracker could be a good option. Narrowing down like this will allow you to think of more unique gifts. Other than that, shopping in-store can help give great insight because of the ability to examine items more thoroughly and quickly compared to on the internet. Lastly, if you see a gift idea that’s appealing any time in the year, write it down in a list so you can have several options once the holidays roll around.

Whether it be online or in person, there are interesting places to explore for all kinds of gifts. Shopping online vs. in person have several differences including shipping, presentation, and pricing. Online can give more variety and there are several popular sites that will cater to that. Etsy is one where there are listings for all kinds of homemade goods so it is common to find unique creations made by small businesses and lone sellers. Uncommon Goods is also a great choice because it tailors especially to the holidays and has very interesting gifts. When looking for conventional items, Amazon comes out on top because they have some of the fastest shipping times on the internet.

Gift giving is an integral part of the holiday season so it shouldn’t cause discomfort for anyone. The best thing you can do to make your gift as genuine as possible is to choose something that’s related with the receiver’s personality, and it’s even better if it connects with yours as well. If none of these are achieved it doesn’t mean that your gift won’t be highly appreciated. The bottom line is that the intention is much more important than the item itself, so the thought that your gift choice will not suffice is irrational.