Timing is Everything

Attention, holiday shoppers! There is a lot of adorable Christmas paraphernalia on retailer shelves and catalog pages this year, with no shortage of Santa toys, Santa statuettes, Santa tea towels, Santa boxer shorts, snowman candles, reindeer platters, gingerbread pajamas, candy cane tee shirts, mistletoe napkin rings, elf snow globes or dancing pine trees...the list is endless.

If you find really great Christmas-themed gifts that you know your giftees will love (be honest, now!), my best recommendation is to give them ASAP, so they can enjoy it throughout this holiday season.

If you wait until December 25 to give someone a Christmas-themed gift, it will be used and appreciated for exactly one day, and then either recycled, sent to the landfill, or boxed up for 11 months. Even seemingly neutral holiday themes (including skiers, snowflakes, pine trees, peppermints or any red/green color combo) do not carry over well as attire or decor in January and beyond. Trust me.

Here are four golden opportunities for advance gift-giving of (appropriate, lovable, tasteful) Christmas-theme presents:

1. St. Nicholas Day is December 6. In many parts of the world, people share small gifts with each other in honor of this saint (known as a generous protector of children and the model for current day Santa Claus). Share your knowledge of this holiday and dazzle your giftee.

2. If you want to get creative, you can call December 14 the first day of Christmas and give a gift then. Interesting fact: the 12 days of Christmas on the Christian calendar actually are the 12 days after Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6)...but if your gift is a good one, the recipient probably won't call you on this technicality.

3. Holiday parties with friends or co-workers can be an OK time to give Christmas-themed gifts (as long as you are certain that the recipients celebrate Christmas, and the gift is one they will want to keep and use from year to year).

4. Secret Santa gift exchanges often lend themselves to more humorous, less personal gift-giving, so the funny light-up Santa hat, festive cubicle decor or popular CD of holiday music can be quite acceptable (again, be sure of what he/she celebrates in December).

Please be a smart shopper! If you find a lovely holiday-themed gift that your friend or loved one will appreciate and keep -- hooray. But a lot of the holiday-themed junk on the market is truly junk, so it is up to you to be a prudent shopper. Future posts on this blog will help you find alternatives to the caroling chipmunk toilet paper dispensers or glow-in-the-dark nutcrackers, I promise....


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A good gift? It's in the bag.

Chico Bags are the best reusable shopping bags ever. These roomy nylon bags tuck into their own little attached pouch to make a tiny little pillow you can easily stash in your glove box or pop into your purse (I carry four, and I don't have a big purse).

They also, happily, make easy and inexpensive gifts. For about $5 apiece, colorful Chico Bags make festive stocking stuffers or gift toppers, or even can be used to wrap another gift. The company does make holiday-themed Chico Bags, but I'd advise against buying them (The whole point is that the bags are reusable -- and who wants to carry a bag decorated with snowmen to buy groceries in July?).

Chico Bags are a good giftlet or gift add-on for anyone on your list who shops and/or cares about the environment (which is, of course, everyone you know...right?). Chico Bags are also a quick and easy unisex gift for low-budget secret Santa gift exchanges or those extended family gift drawings.

Check the online store locator for retailers near you, and stock up for the holidays ahead. Chico Bags will never expire or go out of style, so if you don't give away what you buy this December, you'll always be ready for future gift-giving opportunities.

Paper or plastic? Better choice: go Chico!

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