Christmas Gifts Shopping All Wrapped Up
It’s coming round to that time of year again. The dreaded loading of the kids into the car, driving to the shops, fighting for a parking space, ducking the rain showers in between shops. That’s even before you actually enter a shop! If you have young children and they are in a buggy or pram then that’s a whole other ball game. I know retailers have to make maximum use of every square foot of space throughout the Christmas period but do they really consider mums and dads who need to shop with their young offspring? Having to negotiate every single bit of the shop floor space to make sure nothing crashes to the floor. That’s without the tuts and disapproving looks from childless or ‘childfree for the day’ shoppers! Maybe all of this is one of the main reasons why the growth of shopping on the internet is so exponential. People have just got sick and tired of having all the odds stacked against them before they even get to the counter to pay.
Myself, I am busy at work usually right up until Christmas Eve and the thought of having to spend all of my weekends and valuable spare time up until then doing all of the above fills me with terror. I love searching for gift ideas on the web during my coffee break or on my laptop when I am snuggled up under the duvet before I put the light out of an evening. One good tip is that I sign up to newsletters from all my favourite online gift retailers. They ping into my inbox periodically with lots of ideas put together: gifts for her, gifts for grandmas, personalised gifts. You name it they nearly always have a strap line that makes for interesting reading telling me all about al their latest new gift arrivals. I hardly have to think about what to buy these days. All the latest gift tips arrive on demand in my inbox on a regular basis. I’ve always loved trying to find unusual gifts and I also love reading magazines. Once over a few years back if I saw something in a magazine it would involve placing a call to the store in some city far far away. Only to have a conversation with a shop assistant who didn’t know what I was talking about and would be surprised about the fact that they had even had something appearing in a Christmas gift guide in a well known magazine. If I had the good fortune for them to know what I was talking about either they didn’t deliver outside of London or the delivery charges would be exorbitant. As the internet has grown and every good bricks and mortar store and boutique worth their salt has an ecommerce presence then what I now discover in a magazine is usually only a mouse click away. It’s even better if the said store offers free delivery.
Certainly that is my Christmas gift shopping all wrapped up without having to move from the comfort of my desk or sofa other than to flex my credit card. I get to enjoy some valuable down time without having to stress too much about Christmas and everything arrives quickly and safely at my door.