How to be a great gift giver

Photo by Tim Brauhn used under Creative Commons license

By Ashleigh Buchanan, Staff reporter

Christmas-time is here! This means decorating Christmas trees, hearing Christmas music on the radio, seeing all the houses decked out in Christmas lights, and of course Christmas presents.

Christmas shopping can be fun, but it can also be stressful! There is a lot of pressure to find the “perfect” gift for everyone on your shopping list. Most people make Christmas lists, but that takes the fun out of Christmas when someone knows what they are getting before they open their present.

Shopping without a Christmas list is a challenge, but it can be successfully done! Here are a few tips on how to be a great gift giver:

Get Personal.

Think about the person you are shopping for. The stage of life they are in could help you figure out something they would like. Take into account if they recently bought a house that needs decorations, or if they are a student thinking about the necessities students need (coffee, junk food and Arrested Development DVD sets).

Get Creative.

Here is the most obvious statement ever: College students don’t have a ton of money. So this adds another challenge to Christmas shopping. How can we get presents for everyone we care about, without taking out another loan to cover the costs? Remember in elementary school, when our teachers would have us make gifts at Christmas to give to our parents? Things that we put time into mean more than something we go buy anyway. So think about gifts you can make with supplies you already have. Also, Pinterest can and should be used in these situations (Guys, its okay to go on Pinterest for ideas, just don’t pin girly stuff because you will get judged).

Get Thrifty.

If thrift stores aren’t your best friends by now, what are you waiting for? Thrift stores are a gold mine for funny stuff that would be great for gag gifts. Or you could combine this tip and the last one and fix up a thrift store item to make it cooler or give it a new purpose.

Get Talking.

It’s totally okay to ask other friends for ideas of what to get someone. They might have ideas or maybe the person you are shopping for has dropped some hints they could tell you about.

And finally,

Get Excited and Get Busy!

Like basically anything in the world, with gift giving you get what you put into it. So enjoying the shopping process will yield better results in the end. Christmas is just around the corner so get shopping and get crafting! Happy gifting!