subject: Send An Xmas Card That Will Outshine Their Gifts [print this page] Christmas presents are big businessChristmas presents are big business. Shops roll into Christmas mode some time during late summer. Tinsel and baubles are starting to adorn their end of isle displays before the last August Bank Holiday. You might have barely finished paying for last Christmas and now you have to come up with ideas for the next one. This Christmas propaganda machine is well oiled and takes no prisoners. Big spenders are encouraged to make grand gestures with their gifts. Ideas for expensive presents abound in the media and the pressure builds. Some people leave their Christmas shopping very late, which it turns out is a bad idea as not only does it cost more but there is also less choice as the best presents have often sold out. You have to pay for being disorganised after all.
Planning presents and gifts well ahead of schedule can reduce a lot of the stresses associated with the mad crush in the high street shops. The advent of the internet helps greatly too as it means you get to let your fingers do the walking rather than fighting your way in the cold and dark outside. There is more choice the further out you are and there are bargains for those that put in the leg work. Buying artificial Christmas trees, decorations and wrapping paper straight after Christmas can make you look and feel like a right smarty pants when December finally rolls around again. The extra time also allows opportunity to plan, research and execute the perfect shopping strategy. The best most appropriate gifts at the lowest possible prices being delivered on time by a postman who has yet to feel the full force of the seasonal carnage wrought by the Xmas cards. Sorting presents out makes concentrating on other aspects easier too. The organised shopper can now arrange a big enough turkey to meet the requirements of the day itself. Following that up with stocking up on appetisers, snacks and refreshments and making sure the guests can be accommodated. What's left to do to is a doddle; simply sign off the Xmas cards list.
Contrast this approach with the shopper who decides to stay out in the sun during summer, forget about Christmas until the start of Advent and not worry that they could be travelling headlong into a last minute nightmare. You would have to admit that things are not looking good for our shopper number two the disorganised chancer. Well you may think that but one thing about modern society is that resourceful inventors keep coming up with time saving short cuts. Didn't manage to hang your wet washing out on a dry day? Never mind, here's a tumble dryer. Can't be bothered spending Sunday washing the car? Take it to the car wash and sit inside watching the machines pick up the slack. In this way it is clear that all is not lost for our intrepid individual who keeps the planning to a minimum.
What is required is some kind of gesture that will satisfy even the most hard to impress recipient. Something which will hide your dirty secret that this was a last minute gift! A personalised Christmas card could well fit the bill in this case. There are loads of different ways you can personalise a card, from entering your recipient's name on the front, including personal photos or your own graphics and message. The best thing, however, is that the card screams 'effort has been made' and can even out do some of the best planned gifts. The personal touch really does count for a lot at this time of year and with the internet as your friend as you battle to meet the 25th December deadline you could do much worse than this straightforward yet meaningful approach to giving! It's the thought that counts the most and arguably these big and expensive gifts can often be a little awkward for the recipient, especially if some kind of reciprocation is implied or expected. Christmas can be a time when relationships are strained and a large causal factor is often money. How relieved someone might be then that you were able to perform the impossible sending them an Xmas cards that outshines their largest presents whilst remaining cheap enough to prevent any yuletide unease. If they were worried about looking cheap when they get you something in return they needn't be now but they might have to work hard to make a more striking impression than a personalised card.
