Helpful Hints for Happy Holiday Shopping

It's 82 days until Christmas.  Have you started your shopping yet?

   If you have, you are not alone.  According to the 2006 Holiday Shopping Trends survey conducted by Pricegrabber.com, almost 60% of the people surveyed started their holiday shopping BEFORE Thanksgiving.  I admit that I don't like to wait until the last minute to buy holiday gifts, but I have trouble letting myself go straight from the 4th of July to pulling out my Nativity scene!  As for the stores, the fireworks are still smoking when the first wreaths and holly are draped from the fixtures.  By the time the holiday season REALLY gets here, I am sick of all of it!    Is it possible to tame the holiday shopping "beast" and actually enjoy the season and the celebrations that go with it?  Definitely.  These helpful hints will get you started...

  For whatever reasons, holiday shopping/gifts have become the main part (or a very large part) of our celebrations.  No longer are gifts small tokens or remembrances.  Rather, they are big, expensive, extravagent items.  We are looking for "just the right thing" and it makes shopping very stressful.  This year, give yourself permission to scale your shopping back so that you don't feel pressure to purchase the "perfect" gift.     Forecasts for the 2007 holiday shopping season are not good.  The fallout from the foreclosure and mortgage crises indicates that many consumers won't be spending as much on holiday shopping as in previous years.  Certainly, that is not good news for the retail owners but it may be very good news for shoppers themselves.  Shoppers that are patient will likely find lower prices and good deals the closer it gets to the actual holiday.          Last month, Toys R Us released its annual "Hot Toy List" for the upcoming holiday season.  This list predicts the top selling toys for the upcoming season.  From a marketing standpoint, issuing this list makes a lot of sense.  As a shopper and a parent, I can't help but feel like I and/or my children are being manipulated into wanting something from the list!  Pay attention to the marketing strategies of major retailers to avoid needing the "hottest" toy of the year.    The popularity of online shopping and purchasing has exploded in the last 3-5 years.  It is convenient; it is always accessible; and, in some cases, it is more economical.  It is very easy to compare prices and read opinions about certain products with many online retailers.  Additionally, some retailers make certain items available online that are not available in their retail stores.  Thus giving shoppers a greater choice in what they purchase.  For all the convenience of online shopping, consumers cannot afford to be careless when placing orders from their computers.  With shipping costs and taxes, online purchases often cost more than the same purchases would cost in a local retail store.  Exchanges and refunds are more complicated with online purchases and the requirements are not always the same when returns need to be made.  With the prevalence of identity theft, consumers need to pay special attention to the companies they are ordering from AND to the way their payments are processed.    No matter what, holiday shopping is expensive.  There are a number of ways to plan and budget for the expenses but, regardless of how you plan, you will have to have a strategy for sticking to your holiday budget when you start purchasing gifts.  To save money, think "outside the box" when deciding what to give.  Literally, think of a gift that is not necessarily a "thing".  You can give time, experiences, honorary charitable donations, family stories, etc.  That doesn't mean that you cannot have some small wrapped gift to share, but it may mean that you designate MOST of your budget to a gift that will mean more than anything you could buy.    Happy Holidays and Happy Shopping!