Imagine it’s Christmas morning. Your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, friends and family gather around the Christmas tree, beaming with excitement to open their Christmas presents. They eagerly rip open your present and… its the same socks with jingle bells and reindeers on them that they have received for FIVE years in a row! COME ON NOW, you can do way better.
In a few more weeks, all the isles in supermarkets and gift shops will be empty leading into Christmas! Don’t disappoint your family this year!
Do you know what to give to your loved ones? Maybe a pet spider, a toothbrush, or the wrapping paper you saved from last year! The question is… are these good gifts to give?
Well, I’m here to help with the 5 P’s! There are 5 rules of thumb to remember when picking out presents:
1. Personal
Does your gift connect to the recipient? Giving a dog toy to your newborn nephew or auctioning off a used toothbrush as a gift won’t have meaning. Sure the present could be silly, but it still needs to be personal. If you know the recipient well, think about meaningful moments. Maybe one day, while on a picnic, both of you had a good laugh when a bug fell into a perfectly frosted cake and ruined it. To make up for that, you can get them a cake shaped keychain that says, “Keep calm and eat cake” to bring the moment back to life!
2. Positive
No one wants a present that brings back a negative moment, such as a nail to highlight the time your friend accidentally stepped on one (Home Alone, anyone?). Ouch!
Christmas is a time to rejoice and spread positive moments. Make sure the present you pick is uplifting.
3. Prosperous
Any present you give has to be useful. A person should be able to get something out of it. Don’t search up, “Good gifts for 15 year old girls.” Slime from Amazon isn’t going to cut it. Similarly, giving a toy pony to a 60 year old grandma is a waste of money, as it isn’t practical. A more worthwhile gift would be a fluffy throw or blanket for your friend who’s office workplace is always cold. Remember to consider the functionality of a gift before purchasing it.
4. Permanent
Maybe you are picking out a gift for someone that loves hot chocolate, so you decide to buy a hot chocolate bomb for them. The problem with this gift is that it is temporary. The good moment only lasts for a while as they digest the chocolate. By the time that toilet flushes, the memory is flushed too. The gift you pick should be permanent for the memory to last.
5. Planned
Finally, the most important step to picking out a gift is for it to be planned. Buying any gifts at the last minute can be hard with limited holiday supplies out there or not knowing what to get. You don’t want to be sweeping the leftover red and green glitter on the empty shelves in a box as a present. Plan out what to get a couple weeks in advance and get them quick.
Although these examples were a little unconventional, the 5 P’s can be applied for any occasion. “Personal, Positive, Prosperous, Permanent, Planned.” Picking presents with the 5 P’s makes them perfect.
