Every year someone asks us for a list of gift ideas, either for Christmas or our birthdays. For years, I would scramble last minute to try and figure out what on earth I should ask for. It was pure craziness. What ended up on my list were things in the aftermath I would look at quizzically and wonder what I was thinking. So for the past few years we’ve been taking a different approach.
I know so many people still make hand written lists, don’t give gifts, make a board on pinterest, etc. but we utilize the list feature on Amazon. Each one of us in our little family of 3 have a list. And all year long I add to them things that we think would be good ideas for gifts. I love that I can delete and add at my discretion and it definitely makes giving gifts easier.
You might wonder, but what if something I like is not offered by Amazon? Well, I downloaded their “Universal Wish List” feature to my browser bar. With the click of a button I can add things to any of our lists from any website. That makes things so much easier. I also have the Amazon app on my phone so I can scan things in the store, see if Amazon carries them, and if they do add them to the list. If they do not carry it, I just snap a quick picture to add online later. And if I didn’t have the app, then like I did for years on end, I just snap pictures in any store of the items I want to remember and then come home and manually add them to the list. I do this all the time with books I want to reserve at the library!
Amazon is not giving me anything to talk about this…I just love it! Plus I love how almost everything is cheaper on Amazon than in the store. So we can give great gifts and save money. My parent’s love it too because they can get us things we like and have them shipped usually for free. When you send so many gifts to those out of state, postage can add up quickly!
Living far from family, I wish everyone made Amazon lists. It would make it so much easier to buy gifts that need to be sent and it would help ensure that the recipient would not receive duplicates. That’s a bonus to…when someone buys something, it gets removed from your list. How great is that!
So I’m curious as Christmas gets nearer by the day, how do you try and stay organized with gift giving? Do you use Amazon lists?
Girl I LOOOOVE How much you've been blogging lately! Keep it coming! I buy the bulk of my Christmas shopping on Amazon or Kohls/ Target so I should totally look into Amazon lists this year. Organization makes my world go round:) The past year, I made a pinterest list of things I would like or I just write ideas in my phone as I think of gift ideas for other people.
ReplyDeleteI've tried Amazon lists. I like them for keeping track of stuff myself, but it doesn't seem to work very well for grandparents. They aren't as technically savvy, so I usually just send Grandpa an email with links to each individual item, and which store he can find it locally - since he doesn't like shopping online much. All the other grandparents keep it low-key or send Museum memberships, which I prefer anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteI use Amazon wish lists for saving ideas for myself and the kids, but not for the grandparents - for the same reason as Stephanie - they aren't as savvy. :) I also keep a notebook with gift ideas for everyone in our family and I jot them down as I think of them throughout the year. When my in-laws ask for Christmas ideas for the kids, I usually give them specific ideas at stores I know they have close by - Target, Kohls, Toys R Us.
ReplyDeleteStephanie and Jamie,
ReplyDeleteDefinitely understand the technically saavy part...I just end up sending them the link to our lists. That way they get right where they have to go and can just click and order. All of our parents have at least bought something online:)