This late in the game it’s hard to imagine a way to make Christmas shopping easy. If you haven’t started your shopping by now it’s most likely because you don’t have any idea where to start or your list is full of people that seem impossible to buy for. There are still a few tricks you can use to relieve the stress and quickly navigate your way thru the holidays.
The most important thing to remember is that this is just shopping. It’s not rocket science and no one is going to die if you buy the wrong present — not even you. So don’t worry about whether the designer earrings you buy for your sister are expensive enough or if the toy you pick out for a niece is the most popular one available. Just relax and remember that no amount of anxiety and worry is going to make the gift better.
Next, take your list and quickly writer one or two words that you associate with that person. It’s best if they are action words, like cooking, running, volunteering, or specific interests, such as you know that they love a certain author, movie, or tv show. That gives you a base for finding something they will either love, use, or, hopefully, both. If you do the word association ahead of time, you can zip directly to the right department in a store or the perfect website to order them exactly what they will love — even if they didn’t know they wanted it.