Keeping track of holiday shopping
Should you go low-tech or high-tech with your lists?
Tis the season for holiday shopping! But what's the best way to keep track of all the people you're shopping for? And how do you remember what things they like or dislike?
If you feel like you need the clairvoyance of Chris Kringle himself, you are not alone. It can be really complicated to keep everything in order if you have a large family to shop for, or maybe just one person has been especially good this year.
So each year around this time, I find myself testing out different ways to organize my holiday shopping. Is there a new hot app that I need to download? Should I just make lists within shopping websites like Amazon or eBay? Or do I just get out the old fashioned pen and paper to make my lists and check them twice?
Honestly, I think this is part of the fun of the holiday season. Gift giving can be extremely stressful no matter how you approach it. But if you have a system, it can make things feel just a bit more joyous. And testing out new platforms is always something I enjoy, so what do I think works best?
First, if you're really embedded in the Amazon ecosystem, they do a pretty great job of letting you create various wishlists that seamlessly link to their product pages. I understand maybe not wanting to do all (or any) of your holiday shopping with Amazon, but it's undeniable how easy they make it. And when you consider their sometimes scary fast shipping options, it can be a great choice if you're low on time. There have been years where a bulk of my shopping happened in Amazon and I was able to easily keep track via Amazon's wishlist.
But what if you're looking to shop more locally? Or (gasp!) maybe the perfect gift isn't available on Amazon. I've also had great experiences using some of the 3rd party gift list aggragators out there. Giftlist.com is probably my favorite of the bunch. It has a nice-looking interface and lets you past in URLs from all across the internet for all types of gifts. You also have the ability to be as specific or vague as you'd like with the details. And you can install a browser plug-in that lets you shop conveniently no matter where you're browsing.
It's easy to create several different wishlists for all of your recipients and you can quickly share URLs with family members who are looking to make the perfect purchase. I happen to like a platform agnostic wishlist whenever possible. The person receiving links from Giftlist doesn't have to download an app or even make the purchase from the site where you retrieved the product link. It gives buyers a good amount of freedom and that is much appreciated.
If you're looking to avoid the hassle of setting up links in a new website that you aren't familiar with, you can always just keep a digital holiday shopping list in the same place you keep your other lists. I happen to like Google Keep for this. I've had a few Keep notes over the years that I've updated with new gift ideas for people in my life. It works best for personal gift lists that you're editing, but it can also be easily shared with others if you like.
Do I ever bust out the analog paper and pen to create a wishlist? Yes! We actually think it's a fun family activity to sit around the table and write up some things that we want for Christmas on one of those ubiquitous "letter to santa" templates. Any of them will do. It's less about the actual list that you take away from the experience and it's more about just sitting around a table doing something as a family. If you want to take pictures or digitize the lists later, that works too.
He's another wildcard that I found to be pretty useful when trying to discern what my daughter wanted for Christmas. Any young child will likely rattle off a huge list of potential items that they want to find under their tree. Maybe half of those products actually exist. Or maybe they change their mind every day before you can even start shopping. I've asked my daughter what she wanted and then turned on the fantastic recorder app on my Pixel Watch 3. It just listens to all the rambling ideas and transcribes them for you to make sense of later. After several transcription sessions, I think I have a handle on what things are actually obtainable by December 25th and which are just fantabulous amalgamations of the imagination.
However you decide to keep track this year, I wish you all the best in your holiday shopping endeavors no matter how large or small they are!
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