Buying a gift for a loved one, such as a friend or a family member can be difficult at the best of times, especially if they are hard to buy presents for. But what if you don’t know the person very well? And what if you genuinely have no idea what you need to buy? Trailing around the shops can be very tiresome, especially during busy periods, such as the summer or at Christmas time. So why not solve your problems by buying your gifts online?
If you buy a lot of things online, such as groceries, toiletries, or big purchases, such as furniture or holidays, then buying a loved one a gift online isn’t that difficult to undertake. After all, you just need to go to a site that you know and trust, and buy them a gift. You could even buy a present that they’ve been talking about for a while, or if they have a favourite online shop, then you could get them a voucher that they could use to buy something from that site.
When you’re unsure of what the person you’re buying for would like, or if you just don’t know the person very well at all, then your quest to find a gift will be a little more difficult. What to buy? A gift hamper? A voucher? Clothing? Jewellery? Perfume or aftershave? Questions like this could be hard for anyone to answer, so as a rule, try not to buy them anything too personal if you don’t know them very well – so avoid perfume, make up, toiletries and other bath and shower related gifts, because you could very easily get it wrong. Speak to mutual friends and family members, or even work colleagues if you know them, and find a topic or something that that person is interested in, such as art, film, TV, books, music or comedy. If they have a favourite film, maybe buy them something from a film memorabilia site, or if they have a favourite artist, see if you can get an inexpensive print of one of their works. As another general rule, it’s best to avoid buying clothes and shows as a gift, especially if you don’t know the person. This is because you could end up buying an item of clothing that the recipient would never wear, but feels bound to accept, or you could commit the ultimate social faux pas and buy something that’s the wrong size, which will cause a lot of embarrassment to you and the person you’ve given the gift to.
Another thing to consider is the gift of food or alcohol, as it’s possible to buy gift hampers full of treats, sweets and drinks. If you know the person that you are buying for has no allergies, then you could go to an online hamper company’s website and see what hampers they have to offer. Or simply start by typing in a phrase like ‘ hampers online’ into a search engine. However, always double check to see if the person you’re buying for loves or hates certain foods.
When buying your gift online make sure that you pay using a credit card, because debit cards don;t offer the same amount of protection against online fraud, which does occur, but is not as common as you might think. Remember to try to find out what the person you’re buying the gift for would like, and ask for help if you get stuck.