The power of personalized gifts for the holidays – a guest post

Today I’ve got a special guest on the blog to help you with some of your holiday gift giving plans. Amber Brubaker is a fellow blogger who knows her way around the Internet. She’s giving us some ideas as well as ways to focus our gift hunting efforts this holiday season, namely by using personalized gifts.

Gift giving can be a very stressful affair if it’s not handled well. The last thing you want to do is give the people who mean so much to you something they aren’t going to like. However, time, ideas, and patience might get away from you, resulting in gifts of generic gift cards for all your friends and family. When they receive their cards, they’ll say thank you, but you’ll see in their eyes that the gift in no way impressed them. Pretty soon, that card will be used up and the gift will be gone.

If you want to make a more lasting impression, go for a personalized gift. A customized gift is always received more gracefully because of the very apparent thought you put into it. A good personalized gift will involve something the recipient can easily relate to, and you can make a lot of headway in a relationship with an individualized gift. However, heartfelt personalization can often take a lot of time and effort. To help you stay sane while still giving a great gift, you’ll want to remember a few of these guidelines.

Don’t Try to Make Everything

Ever heard of Pinterest? Of course you’ve heard of this DIY heaven. Every craft on the site looks perfect and there are hundreds of DIY gift ideas you can do all by yourself in your very own home. However, we advise against indulging too much in this practice for the plain and simple reason that you will go insane. Not only can crafting get very expensive, but it also takes a considerable amount of time, effort, and patience, which is often in short supply around the holidays. If you love crafting, that’s fine, but try to limit the number of crafts you do to one or two so that you have plenty of energy left for the rest of your gifts.

Remember that personalized doesn’t mean homemade and buying a gift doesn’t mean it’s not personalized. There are so many customizable gift shops out there that you’d be hard put not to find something special for each of your loved ones. Even if the customization is as simple as having a friend’s name engraved on a watch, that friend is sure to cherish the thought you put into it.

Shop Specifically for Each Relationship

It may be very tempting to have your “personalized gift” be the same homemade calendar for Mom, Uncle Joe, and your best friend Cindy, but if you’re looking to get each of them a gift that they will love and remember because of how much effort you put into it, try to avoid giving out the same thing to multiple people.

As you shop and plan, think of the things that each of your loved ones enjoy individually. If you’re shopping for your husband, for example, you might want to look into something masculine, yet romantic. If you’re shopping for your mom, you may want to give her a sentimental keepsake.

It may be helpful for you to draw a spider graph for each person you are giving a gift to with their interests and hobbies branching out from their names. These graphs will help you more appropriately narrow down the perfect gift for each person based entirely around what each friend or family member loves.

Gifts on a Budget

It’s true that personalization can quickly become very costly. There are hundreds of businesses that do custom gifts and their pricing is often not on the cheap end. However, there are always ways around this. Many of these businesses have sales to clear old merchandise. Take advantage of those and try to scoop up a deal for your loved one.

Another great way to save is to get something second hand and then give it a makeover to match the recipient’s tastes, just like this father did:

“One of our customers called us on a Monday about a small bike that he had. He wanted to give it to his son for his 5th birthday, which was on the upcoming Friday. The bike was used, worn out, but most importantly, it was red. His son’s favorite color was blue, and his son’s nickname was “The Barbarian.”

So, with a little help from Full Blown Coatings, “The Barbarian” got a personalized, new blue bike for his 5th birthday, and it was created special, just for him!”

As you can see, sometimes the best customized gifts come out of a budget find. It’s a great way to stick with your budget while avoiding the disappointed look, or, in “The Barbarian’s” case, tantrums that would have otherwise surfaced!

Personalized gifts are a powerful thing. They serve as a way to enhance relationships. Never underestimate the bonding power of a little extra thought put into the gifts you give this year.

For great personalized gifts, head over to Zazzle.com. Check out the great #BlackFridayWeek sales and use promo code ZWEEKOFDEALS for up to 60% off!