How to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away, 2022 edition
How to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away, 2022 edition
Plus a handy organizational table (because everything is easier with a table!)
Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.
Last year I veered out of my usual lanes (aka random pop culture references, small ideas for productivity, and cat photos) to write “How to start thinking about holiday shopping when December seems far, far away”. A number of Academia Made Easier readers reported that they found it helpful, so I am repeating it for another year. And, since last year’s post was on November 19, I am even more ahead of the game this year. (So suck it, Past Me!)
In normal Academia Made Easier posts, I have a “small idea to try immediately”. For last year’s holiday shopping post, I had “holiday gift ideas to consider immediately”. This year, I am merging these two to make use of a quick gift-planning strategy that I came up with this year. I found it super-helpful and I hope you will, too.
One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Create a Gift Ideas Table
In the past, I would create a list of who to buy gifts for and then try to come up with ideas. This didn’t always inspire a lot of creativity. This year, I was inspired by an idea from Kendra Adachi’s book, The Lazy Genius Way. Adachi suggests picking a gift category for people and sticking with it, year after year. For example, always buy your dad a book, or always buy your sister earrings. While the exact idea doesn’t appeal to me, it did prompt me to think in terms of gift categories. And thus, my gift idea table idea was born. 💡
Here is how the gift idea table works. For columns, include five categories: “eat/drink’, “read/listen”, “do/play/create”, “wear”, and “unique”. For rows, include the names of everyone you want to buy for. It will look like this:
When you consider people against categories, some cells will immediately bring forward ideas. (Shannon has really gotten into knitting this year!) Other cells will immediately be eliminated. (Skip the “eat/drink” category for your teetotaler vegan gluten-free sibling!)
Okay, let’s get into the categories and start brainstorming!
Eat/Drink. This category includes foods and beverages and things to make them. Some gift ideas to consider:
Chocolate gift baskets, movie night boxes, jerky samplers, and nut trays.
Charcuterie box or cupcake basket from a local vendor.
Tea gift sets, coffee gift baskets, coffee syrup sets, and hot chocolate gift sets.
Wine, Irish cream, and other liquors. (Note: many people struggle with alcohol issues, so if you are not sure certain about giving alcohol to a particular individual, find another option.)
Air fryers, coffeemakers, tea kettles, and cool microwave popcorn makers.
Gift cards to their favourite coffee shops, restaurants, and liquor stores.
Read/Listen. This category includes books, audiobooks, music, and accessories. In addition to actual books and audiobooks (see last year’s list for ideas on this front), some gift ideas to consider:
Portable speakers, noise-cancelling headphones, and earbuds.
Reading lights, portable chargers, and the Echo Dot.
Subscriptions to Audible, Amazon Music, or Spotify.
Gift cards to local booksellers, local electronics stores, Amazon, or Chapters-Indigo.
Do/Play/Create. This category includes games, puzzles, hobbies, fitness, and events. Some gift ideas to consider:
Games (I recommend checking out Pandemic, Wingspan, Five Crowns, and Cover Your Assets) and puzzles.
Passes to a local pottery centre, escape room, leisure centre, movie theatre, zoo, children’s museum, museum, or gallery.
Crochet sets, knitting sets, 3D pens, and origami kits.
Tickets to an upcoming concert, play, or (if you must) sporting event.
Gift cards to a local fitness supply store, craft store, or games store.
Wear. This category includes clothes, make-up, jewelry, perfumes, and accessories. In my experience, this is a very risky category, so plan to keep a gift receipt! Some gift ideas to consider:
Cozy socks, toques (that is a knit hat for you non-Canadians), and mitts.
Earrings, necklaces, watches, or Fitbit.
Bathrobes, pyjamas, and microfibre hair-drying towels.
Gift cards to Sephora, the local fitness store, and their favourite clothing and jewelry shops.
Unique. This category includes interesting things that didn’t get mentioned in the other categories. Some gift ideas to consider:
Scratch-away travel maps, planners, and fun planning stickers.
Bath bombs, heated throw blankets, and for the insomniacs in your life, weighted blankets and Natural Calm.
This category is almost infinite. What kind of unique stuff is your giftee into?
These are just some ideas to get you started. The main thing with holiday shopping, in my experience, is to get started. And when in doubt, chocolate is almost always a good choice!
Chipping Away: What I Have Been Up To
My last newsletter was just a few days ago. Other than online shopping, I have nothing to report!
Until next time…
My schedule kept me occupied with other things this fall and I am delighted to be connecting with all of you again. I have many things I am looking forward to writing about. Watch this space!
Stay well, my colleagues.
P.S. I am roughly two-thirds done with my own holiday shopping. If you have your own gift ideas to share, I would love to hear them!
Want to help support my chocolate habit? You are very sweet. Buy me a coffee is a site that allows readers to show their appreciation for the unpaid labour of writers, artists, and other creatives. Check it out!
--
Loleen Berdahl, Ph.D.: I am a twin mother, wife, runner, cat lover, and chocolate enthusiast. I spend far too much time on Twitter and binge-watching television, and my house could be a lot cleaner. During the work hours, I am the Executive Director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. I am the author of University Affair’s Skills Agenda column and my most recent books are Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD and Explorations: Conducting Empirical Research in Canadian Political Science.
Full disclosure: some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links, which means that if you use the link and then make a purchase, I may make a small commission that I will use to support my chocolate and book-buying habits. The cost is to the corporation and not to you, but you don’t want to use the link, no problem: just search up the item again without using the link provided. Better still: support a local business and source the item(s) that way!