When I was younger shopping for birthdays, for Christmas, anniversaries and so on was about finding something that worked, that didn’t cost the heart and was easy to get hold of. Don’t get me wrong, I put thought into gifts but perhaps not as much thought as I do now.
Nothing dramatic has happened to alter my way of shopping or rather my thinking about shopping in general, I guess I’m just a little older and a little wiser.
I still value good quality, best price and convenience when it comes to shopping however I’m a keen advocate for shopping locally, supporting Fair Trade and look for brands who, like UncommonGoods (where I’ll be doing some of my Christmas shopping shortly), have an ethical leaning and a strong mission statement that speaks to me. At the end of the day there are thousands of retailers both online and off for me to choose from and so I can afford to be picky who I choose to give my money to.
I don’t know about you but I like to look for gifts that are a bit different, unique or a least quirky enough to fit my “they broke the mould” set of family members and friends.
I have awkward people in my life and by awkward people I mean people who sometimes (every year) end up with toiletries and socks. These are usually men and when I buy gifts for men I want to find something more like these. An random gift choice some might say however I have a brother in law who would love these Kabob Grilling Baskets for his summer-time birthday…..
For birthdays I want something less generic, something personal to the recipient and something with a smidge of awesomeness. These Birthstone Wishing Stones for example which may be found here would suit at least two of my friends (and are something I’d be thrilled to receive myself)!
I repeat again, ROY if you are reading…. I’d LOVE these for Christmas my lovely husbeast.
I’m also a sucker for personalised items. I don’t mean bog-standard one size fits all stuff that you see everywhere, I’m talking about something a little different such as this fab find, a personalised four in one game. I love it!
Shopping for others can be a grind, a chore and sometimes downright frustrating however if you find stores that identify with your likes and dislikes it can be an absolute pleasure. So, you know what my shopping stance is, what’s yours? There’s no wrong way to answer that question but I find it interesting to hear about people’s shopping experiences and their recommendations.
Written in collaboration with the mentioned business.
