Christmas shopping: buy better gifts

You can spend all the money in the world on your Christmas gifts and they can still be a pointless waste. Good gifts do not necessarily mean that you spend half a dozen credit cards to the maximum, if what you buy is not what your mother or son wanted, the gift is useless. It’s the same as buying jewelry for your ten-year-old daughter, it won’t do her any good just like she won’t do many of the toys that people say are ‘this year’s best sellers’.

Holiday shopping should always start with a budget, but it should be followed by a list of items. The very least you should do is narrow down the type of gift you are going to get for everyone on your list and also how many gifts you are going to give to children, spouse, parents, best friend, etc. and always listen to what your kids or spouse or even your best friend are hinting at.

What is a useless gift? They are things that every house overflows with at Christmas; candles, ribbons, candy canes and photo frames. They are about as good as a fruitcake on Christmas day. Food is much more welcome in a home than a picture frame. Sweets do not count as food; real holiday food comes from holiday gift baskets; it can be anything from fruit to chocolate covered fruit arrangements.

It’s better to send something small and useful than to send a box full of nothing. Gifts for neighbors can be simple, like Christmas stockings that you can personalize by adding the names of family members, or simply taking a holiday stocking and stuffing it with some goodies.