The Secret Gift Catagory to Buy In
*The
key to gift giving is giving something that is useful (ideally used
frequently), fills a niche, and/or better yet, solves a problem (inconvenience or annoyance).
UNIQUE does not mean RANDOM
It may seem like a good gift has to be something “unique” that the person doesn't have; this however, is not necessarily the best way to go and not very easy. How hard is it to think of something unique for the person "who has everything"? Difficult. What can happen in these cases, is that you get something random that is "cool" idea, but realistically is a shelf-life novelty or gadget that is never used because is so specifically specialized that some other all-in-one gadget (like the iPhone having an alarm clock) does it more conveniently, so that while cool at first, really ends up inconvenient...(and anything that is slightly inconvenient will quickly be eliminated from anyone's life for a more convenient choice). Use "unique" as an adjective, not a noun.
THINGS BOUGHT BECAUSE THEY CAN BE RETURNED = not impressive
Another concern may be “if they will like it” because some gifts cater to taste and style, that is the trouble with buying shoes an clothes… it seems like a good idea because you know (she) like shoes and clothes, and it’s easy to buy something she doesn’t have because there’s an endless supply of fresh product available to meet the trends in flux. The BIG roadblock on this one is that it’s a coin toss if she will like it, and she has to LOVE it to wear it. So, you say “If you don’t like it you can always return it and exchange it for something else”…and in a sense you feel like it’s a win-win because even if she doesn’t like it she can go shopping for free, with birthday monopoly money. So, this whole process is kind of cop-out, you might as well hand her a gift card (Which aren’t bad…but certainly not very distinct, memorable, or thoughtful). Leave the sh*t she’s going to parade around in all day to her and her best friend, this is the most difficult category to actually succeed in.
PERSONAL GIFTS...
So, with out further ado… the best gifts often cater to convenience and can in fact be very common, everyday things. Some times SO common, they are completely overlooked. This includes household items, like pots and pans and personal use items, like a person's glasses. That may sound lame at first, but wait until you start shopping… there’s a whole world of pots and pans, in fact it’s an entire industry with competition, trends, and technological development. It’s bazaar to look at every individual thing in your house and think that it has an entire industry responsible for it’s basic-seeming creation. The funny thing is, these everyday items in fact have HUGE industries creating them with intense competition because these items are so frequently bought since everyone needs these common things; the result is a wide variety of choices creatively and leading-edge tech backing them.
Why this is a great gift category: it’s an untouched category to gift from so it’s easy to come up with fresh ideas. Bonus: You won’t have to worry so much about if they will like it aesthetically because your gifting something useful, and will not be a statement they are making to others, which is always a bit touchy. You are gift genius: often the person doesn’t even know they want it until you came up with such a good idea. Why it works: 1) While they may already have one, it's likely that it's worn-out because it is used so much, so a new one would be surprisingly convenient and useful, for example cooking pans or kitchen knives. 2) Some common things are just plain, ugly, or boring because they are “so basic”, like a shower curtain or shoe rack. The reality here however, is that this person sees and uses this item every day. In fact, she probably knows every little speck-of-dirt mark on it that won’t come off. Spice up the person’s personal living environment with something prettier or more convenient then the one they have now! Make their daily lives interesting and easier. Get online, find a cool-ass shower curtain or shoe rack and gift it…now that is unique. If you want to take it step further, make it personalized for her/him…for example measure her closet and get a custom built cool-ass shoe rack that fits perfectly, how convenient…especially since we all know the closet is too small to begin with. Plus, shouldn’t that shoe collection, which probably has been a huge investment and could be valued at some obscene number, deserve a rack that displays them properly? Give her closet a view and get her that extra couple inches (which likely may make her rearrange her entire wardrobe... which is fun, refreshing, and exciting).
In conclusion, good gifts can items that they already have, just better.
UNIQUE does not mean RANDOM
It may seem like a good gift has to be something “unique” that the person doesn't have; this however, is not necessarily the best way to go and not very easy. How hard is it to think of something unique for the person "who has everything"? Difficult. What can happen in these cases, is that you get something random that is "cool" idea, but realistically is a shelf-life novelty or gadget that is never used because is so specifically specialized that some other all-in-one gadget (like the iPhone having an alarm clock) does it more conveniently, so that while cool at first, really ends up inconvenient...(and anything that is slightly inconvenient will quickly be eliminated from anyone's life for a more convenient choice). Use "unique" as an adjective, not a noun.
THINGS BOUGHT BECAUSE THEY CAN BE RETURNED = not impressive
Another concern may be “if they will like it” because some gifts cater to taste and style, that is the trouble with buying shoes an clothes… it seems like a good idea because you know (she) like shoes and clothes, and it’s easy to buy something she doesn’t have because there’s an endless supply of fresh product available to meet the trends in flux. The BIG roadblock on this one is that it’s a coin toss if she will like it, and she has to LOVE it to wear it. So, you say “If you don’t like it you can always return it and exchange it for something else”…and in a sense you feel like it’s a win-win because even if she doesn’t like it she can go shopping for free, with birthday monopoly money. So, this whole process is kind of cop-out, you might as well hand her a gift card (Which aren’t bad…but certainly not very distinct, memorable, or thoughtful). Leave the sh*t she’s going to parade around in all day to her and her best friend, this is the most difficult category to actually succeed in.
PERSONAL GIFTS...
So, with out further ado… the best gifts often cater to convenience and can in fact be very common, everyday things. Some times SO common, they are completely overlooked. This includes household items, like pots and pans and personal use items, like a person's glasses. That may sound lame at first, but wait until you start shopping… there’s a whole world of pots and pans, in fact it’s an entire industry with competition, trends, and technological development. It’s bazaar to look at every individual thing in your house and think that it has an entire industry responsible for it’s basic-seeming creation. The funny thing is, these everyday items in fact have HUGE industries creating them with intense competition because these items are so frequently bought since everyone needs these common things; the result is a wide variety of choices creatively and leading-edge tech backing them.
Why this is a great gift category: it’s an untouched category to gift from so it’s easy to come up with fresh ideas. Bonus: You won’t have to worry so much about if they will like it aesthetically because your gifting something useful, and will not be a statement they are making to others, which is always a bit touchy. You are gift genius: often the person doesn’t even know they want it until you came up with such a good idea. Why it works: 1) While they may already have one, it's likely that it's worn-out because it is used so much, so a new one would be surprisingly convenient and useful, for example cooking pans or kitchen knives. 2) Some common things are just plain, ugly, or boring because they are “so basic”, like a shower curtain or shoe rack. The reality here however, is that this person sees and uses this item every day. In fact, she probably knows every little speck-of-dirt mark on it that won’t come off. Spice up the person’s personal living environment with something prettier or more convenient then the one they have now! Make their daily lives interesting and easier. Get online, find a cool-ass shower curtain or shoe rack and gift it…now that is unique. If you want to take it step further, make it personalized for her/him…for example measure her closet and get a custom built cool-ass shoe rack that fits perfectly, how convenient…especially since we all know the closet is too small to begin with. Plus, shouldn’t that shoe collection, which probably has been a huge investment and could be valued at some obscene number, deserve a rack that displays them properly? Give her closet a view and get her that extra couple inches (which likely may make her rearrange her entire wardrobe... which is fun, refreshing, and exciting).
In conclusion, good gifts can items that they already have, just better.
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