Staying Out of the Shopping Trap

This is the first post in a series to help you create a beautiful little Christmas for you and your family this year – and with the black Friday ads already being leaked and Oprah’s “Favorite Things” all over the news I thought I’d start with a post about shopping during the holiday season.

I saw an article yesterday on how to stay safe on black Friday. Meaning how to not get trampled to death at Wal-Mart and how to not get mugged walking from your car to the mall. Merry Christmas! Really?

Quick – grab a piece of paper and a pen. At the top of the paper, write “2012” and draw a line under it. Now try to list the Christmas presents that you bought last year and who they were for. Ready? GO!

Granted, I have a TERRIBLE memory, but I’m embarrassed to say that I could only remember a few things. The gifts that I remember are the ones that I knew were the perfect gifts…a telescope for my oldest son that I spent hours researching to find an affordable one that wasn’t junk…a bigger computer monitor for my younger son that is a gamer.

The small things – the “fill-in” gifts that I thought were so important – well let’s just say that I could have passed. There’s the game that hasn’t been played, the tie clip that hasn’t been worn… good ideas in theory but not necessary.

I like the idea of 4 gifts – 1 that they want, 1 that they need, 1 thing to wear and 1 thing to read. It may require a bit of customization for the guys that are in desperate need of clothes (all 3 of them) but overall, I think I’ll be better off this year skipping all of those little things and focus on the things that will mean the most.

I know that the research will take a good bit of time, but think of all the time I’ll save shopping this year – not to mention the money! And on black Friday, I’m sleeping in!