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Holiday Gift Guide – By Stef

Bonafide Welcomes Stef, our newest guest blogger! Just in time for the holidays!

With the Festive Season, officially upon us, many of us should have bought gifts, wrapped the boxes, laid the tables and have ice in the buckets, ready for the days of giving and celebration. Well, In a perfect world, maybe!

But for those of you; like myself, who tends to leave the whole charades to the list minute, here are my top 5 tips that might make shopping a bit easier this year.

When buying gifts for loved ones, we tend to overthink what they might like or need. This is great if you intimately know the person and have a preset gift in mind. Something you know they would appreciate, however, sometimes we end-up buying that one gift he/she will never use that’s just cute.

My Top 5 go-to gifts!

Don’t over think it – The number one best gift to buy anyone, is experiences.

Instead of buying someone that soap on the rope or nasty aftershave, rather go for an exciting experience.

These can range from inexpensive to very expensive depending on your budget.

Moms will be gushing about you, if you spoil her with a neck massage or a spa day, and Dad, will be up for a thrilling motor show or a day at the race course.

For siblings that may not live in the same town as you, opt for events happening in their areas and see if you can find something that might interest them.

And then, for those close friends, why not pay for their haircut at the salon they love, or get them a mani or pedi they would love to receive, especially if they can’t book one as often as they’d like.

Tone it down and get creative with – Xmas Stockings

When the budget is tight and the gift list gets too long, Xmas stockings are usually a great option! It’s one of those items we tend to use as decorations and not for gifting, however, you can use this to your advantage, this season.

Buying 6 or 7 stockings at the China Mart, filling them with bulk items you can find also at the China Mart and topping it off with that one special, personalized item for each of your loved ones.

Not only will this save you time but also a heck of a lot of money.

“A Picture is worth a Thousand Words”

With this English language-idiom, “It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image or that an image of a subject conveys its meaning or essence more effectively than a description does”.

Gifting Pictures is a classic idea. You can buy a bulk pack of frames or opt for frameless frames. Print some of your most special moments you’ve shared with each member of the family or friend group and frame them, pop a bow on it and BOOM, you have a thoughtful and perfect gift! We so often tend to turn to social media when thinking about photos, but what a better way to reflect and reflect, than having a picture on display on a wall or next to the bed on your pedestal.

Xmas in a Box – with Box sets.

No! Not the hand cream set at your local department store. But, by using small to large boxes you can create your own little “lucky packet” and again buy in bulk to save money and time. By making mixed box sets, you can even incorporate some of the gift ideas already mentioned or buying similar goodies for everyone. Then to top it off, buy that one item you think that’ll make each person’s box special and different from the others. People love gifts they can see you’ve thought about more meaningfully or extensively.

Lastly – Yes, I said it, Vouchers!

Make this year a more personalized one, instead of buying that “general voucher” at the mall or convenient store, rather think about what recent events happened in your family or friends lives, and go for a voucher they might benefit from at a specific shop. This is also great for people who are a little pickier, taking specific store vouchers, is showing them you know them well enough but still giving them the power to choose what they want, from their favorite store.

Using myself as an example, I recently moved into a new house and this year, I made sure to tell everybody to only buy me home goods or vouchers at my top 3 home stores.

Have a Merry Festive Season and Happy Shopping!!!