Let’s Get Personal With The Presents

It’s always nice to receive a gift; whoever it was that said, ‘it’s better to give than to receive’ undoubtedly did so through gritted teeth, or else didn’t have many friends. But we all know there are times when you tear open a gift package and your heart sinks. Your auntie has sent you a scented candle again or your cousin has put their imagination on hold and sent you yet another gift voucher – usually for a store you would never dream of using. Yet you stick on a fake smile and say thank you whilst beginning to secretly plot how to get rid of the unwanted item. Either that or you add the candle to your collection of near identical ones from previous years which are now almost filling a kitchen cupboard. Should there ever be a power cut you’ll be able to light the whole street.

Buying Front-of-Cupboard Gifts
It’s a sad truth that a gift that isn’t personalised just ends up in the back of the cupboard, being sent to a jumble sale or handed to some worthy cause as a raffle prize. Or, worse still, gets re-wrapped and sent to somebody else the following year – go on, admit it, you’ve done this haven’t you? Imagine for a moment how many gifts there are being endlessly unwrapped and stuck in a cupboard to be dragged out again whenever a birthday or other occasion involving a hard-to-buy-for relative rears its head. If you wait long enough there’s a good chance you’ll get your present back again in a year or two and you can start the cycle all over again. This might be great for your green credentials but it isn’t very exciting is it?

Unwanted Gift Cycle
So what can we do to break the unwanted gift cycle? One answer is to buy people something they really want but that isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Your nearest and dearest have probably been dropping hints, or you’ll have a good idea of what they might like, but what about the more distant relative? What about the friends and colleagues who always buy you something so you feel you have to respond in kind? We don’t all have time to spend hours plodding the high street in search of the perfect present; especially if it’s coming up to Christmas and you have a long list of people to buy for. So you end up doing what you did the year before, buying something vaguely appropriate, something inoffensive and bland, or resorting to yet another voucher.

The real answer is to get personal (stop sniggering at the back!) and choose a gift tailored to the recipient. That way they’ll treasure it rather than recycling it and you’ll have the satisfaction of being a thoughtful giver. Not so long ago it would have been hard to come up with truly personalised gifts for people unless you were into making things yourself. We’ll pause for a second here to shudder at the memory of all those hand-knitted sweaters from well-meaning relatives – most of them made for someone three-times your size. Thanks to modern technology though there are plenty of personalised gift options on offer these days. From buying someone a simple item with their name on it to having a favourite photograph turned into a truly unique present that they’ll really appreciate. What’s more this is the sort of thing that the internet was made for, allowing you to create and preview your designs on screen before you reach for your credit card. You can do your shopping from the comfort of your own computer without having to venture out of the house at all. Not only do your friends and relatives get something they want but you can avoid the crowds, stay out of the rain and won’t have to worry about parking the car or getting a seat on the train… What’s not to like?

If you want to impress your friends don’t just give a present, give a personalised gift and ensure they don’t banish it to the back of a cupboard.