The Perfect Gift Does NOT Have to Be Expensive

Did you know that the perfect gift does NOT have to be expensive? I was reminded of this just a couple of months ago as Christmas rolled around. I am normally one of the worlds worst buyers of presents for reasons we will get into in a minute, but I hit gold with a bit of help from my wife here recently.

The Most Important Rule When Buying a Gift

The number one most important rule when buying a gift for someone if you are looking to save money is one that I usually break all the time. I have a feeling that most guys fall into this category for whatever the reason… The #1 rule is – DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE! Waiting until the last minute creates a time pressure that will many times force you to settle for a gift that is much more expensive than you would like. If you give yourself plenty of time to find that perfect gift, you will be sure to find a good deal on a gift sooner or later.

Know the Person You Are Giving the Gift To

This is second most important rule of gift giving. I’m reminded of one of my favorite scenes from Waynes World when Wayne’s pyscho girlfriend gives him a gunrack as a present.

So get to know that person you are shopping for. I mean really get to know them. Find out their dreams, how they like to spend their free time, what they really love in life. Obviously, for a gift to hit the mark you really need to know what that person loves. For close friends and family, this should be pretty easy. This is because we have typically spent years with the person. For others that we don’t know as well, it may take a bit of brainstorming to find that perfect gift. Don’t skimp out here! If you find a great deal on something that the person doesn’t want, you really haven’t done yourself any favors.

Try to Combine Two or Three Ideas to Find the Perfect Gift

If you are able to combine multiple things that the person loves into one gift, then you are sure to come up with that perfect gift that will be treasured for years to come.

Let me use the recent example I mentioned above from this past Christmas. So, we know our daughter loves anything that has to do with swords, ninjas, fights, or the like. Don’t ask me why, she just does :-). She’s always liked watching ninja movies and any sort of kids action movie that has fighting. Our daughter also LOVES to play dress-up. She has any number of outfits and halloween costumes that she dresses up with when we don’t have her occupied. Since we know she loves dressing up and ninjas, what better gift to give her than a ninja dress-up costume? It really only took us a minute or two to come to the conclusion on the perfect gift for her.

Wait For the Perfect Deal to Come Along

Now that we knew what the perfect gift for our daughter would be, we were on the hunt. The whole family was out at a yard sale around September when we ran across the perfect present for our daughter. Because we had done the appropriate mental prep work, it practially fell into our lap. We found a complete ninja outfit with mask, fake swords, fake throwing stars, the whole nine yards. The price? A whopping $0.50! Because we were looking well ahead of time, really knew what she would like by combining a couple of things she loved, we had the perfect opportunity. We were 100% ready to jump on the deal when it presented itself and we made out like bandits.