Stress Free Christmas

Sometimes it’s hard to choose the right Christmas present or gift for someone. Maybe you don’t know them well or you want to give someone a real surprise. Looking down someone else’s list of ideas may spark an idea of your own so you can find exactly what you want to give, at the right price. Giving can have its difficulties. It can be hard to judge the “right” cost level, to avoid embarrassment or the feeling of being “beholden or obliged”. Unusual gifts for adults might include original art, or a gift token for some kind of “experience”, such as karting or rafting. More traditional gifts might be a bottle of their favorite hooch, a gift token from a national store, or chocolates, a wallet or a purse. Children often like almost anything, especially if it has paper to be torn off and a box to rip to pieces!

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If you are buying Christmas presents, the easiest thing to do is to ask the person what they would like to have as a Christmas gift but from experience, many people will say “nothing” or “Oh, anything will do”, then expecting you to magically understand exactly what they would like to have. Unless you have been specifically asked to provide a household item for someone, do NOT give them a new iron, cooker, kitchen utensil, or anything similar and expect gratitude! I do know one person who ASKS for these items but that is unusual, as these are considered work items as opposed to something personal to enjoy for Christmas. Many children will ask for the latest toy they have seen on TV. These can turn out to be real disappointments as these toys do not always perform in the same way as seen on TV, some advertisements can make toys seem magical, when the most magical item is the child’s imagination. This can often be stimulated with the traditional types of toys such as teddies and dolls or action figures. Many children do not get outside often enough these days and sporting equipment or a ball or bike can help with this.

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There are so many items available to buy as Christmas presents that it can sometimes be difficult to choose from so much abundance, with individual hand-crafted items and unique pieces of art all available for instance. Traditional gifts can be a great fall-back if you just cannot decide what to give someone, with such items as books, a scarf, flowers, chocolates, a bottle of wine or spirits giving you the comfort of providing something and not appearing miserly. Most children, other than babies, like coloring books and crayons or something “to do”, especially if they can get an adult to take part with them too. Books are another great gift for children, provided they are age appropriate and some kind of reference book (with lots of pictures) can provide a treasure house that will be dipped into long after Christmas is over.

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