Second Cup: Choose a gift of the year

Giving everyone something similar can be thoughtful-- and fast

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to decide on a gift of the year.
You can make gift giving easier on yourself by being

(00:24):
more streamlined, but you can preserve a lot of thoughtfulness too.
My guess is that if you are the sort of
person who listens to this podcast, you want to give
gifts that people will love. You also don't want to
spend huge chunks of your life hunting through the entire
universe of gift options. If that is the case, you

(00:48):
will probably benefit from having a default plan. Just as
I have a basic structure for each Before Breakfast episode
so I don't sit down and say, hmmm, how should
I begin things today? It can be helpful to add
structure to your gift giving. For instance, you can always
give one particular thing for people's special occasions. I know

(01:12):
of a couple who give every young couple that's getting
married whatever betting they have registered for, no deliberating over gifts,
and no need to remember what they gave anyone else, sir,
whether it was equivalently priced. You put sheets on your
registry that is what this couple is going to give you.

(01:34):
You can do something similar as we go into the
holiday season. Decide on a gift of the year, choose
something you like that you think others will like too,
and then give it to most of the people on
your list in some form or another. So, for instance,
if you like those LLBean boat bags and who doesn't

(01:56):
give them to everyone on your list? You can very
the specifics by person. The family that loves picnics gets
a big, open topped bag, while your niece who commutes
by train gets a smaller one that zips up so
she doesn't have to worry about everything spilling out. You
can choose a color each person likes and get it

(02:17):
monogrammed if you prefer. You could also put stuff in
the bags to amplify the gift. The gifts are not
in any way identical, but you don't spend time wondering
what should I get my in laws? You consider which
particular boot bag your in laws would like the best,
and go with that. There are other gifts that will

(02:40):
appeal to just about everyone on your list. For instance,
you might get everyone your favorite water bottle or yet
e coffee cup in different colors. Or patterns. You could
give everyone a Christmas ornament and choose specific ornaments that
relate to each person's taste. You could give everyone stationary
with their initials, or a gift of regional food from

(03:03):
your area. I bet there is a local restaurant or
store that would be happy to have you give a
gift basket from them to everyone on your list. What
I like about this idea is that it is personal
and easy. There are a lot of presents in this world.
By narrowing things down to one small category, you keep

(03:27):
yourself from spinning your wheels. But within that category there
are probably lots of options that can speak to each
particular person. You save time and put thought into your gifts.
That is not a bad combination at all. If you
try choosing a gift of the year, let me know

(03:48):
how it goes. You can reach me at Laura at
Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Thanks for listening to before Breakfast. If you've

(04:12):
got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(04:34):
your favorite shows.