<b>Early Bird/Late Night Bargains</b> – Well before Thanksgiving some retailers are already opening early or staying open late in order to accommodate shoppers. <b>A big lure:</b> Get ten percent back/off of select purchases over $50. Depending on the details of the offer, you can either apply savings to your <i>current</i> purchase or as credit toward <i>future</i> purchases. Variations of this lure include incremental rewards, i.e. $15 off of purchases of $75 or more, $20 off of purchases of $100 or more, etc. Read the fine print as exceptions do apply!

<b>Friends and Family Sales</b> - One big retailer is offering to their employees a way in which they can pass on their employee discount to select family members and friends. By offering the same discounts that the employee receives, the employee will then mail directly to select people a discount card allowing the customer to get the same discount as the employee. For example, if the employee receives a 20% discount, the family member  or a friend will get a card allowing them to get that discount too [for a limited time only]. Many times this discount can be applied alongside of sale prices for exceptional savings. Let’s just hope that an employee selects <i>you</i> to be part of this plan!

<b>Secret Sales.</b> Okay, they really aren’t all that secret. However, if you are a holder of a certain particular retailers’ charge card, you will be invited to a special cardholders only shopping event. Usually this event coincides with an existing sale and essentially allows “secret sale” participants the opportunity to shop one or two hours <i>before</i> the store opens for business on a particular day [usually a Saturday]. You get a “private” time to shop, at least 10 percent off of sale prices, and the opportunity to delay paying on purchases until well after the new year if you use the store’s charge card.

Not all merchant enticements are worth the bother, especially if  you are unable to pay off your charge card purchases immediately. A high APR can eat up any savings you gain in no time. So, shop sensibly to reap the maximum benefit.

• Plan ahead. Make a detailed plan for all of the things you need to do. Be thorough and try to do as much in advance as possible. The more you can get done before the holidays the less stressful the season will be. Include shopping, decorations, wrapping, meal preparation, sending cards, visiting family, and a schedule for the big day. This will help you get organized so you’ll get more done and you’ll feel less stressed. Make checklists so you can mark progress as you go. Another great tip is to have a backup plan in case things go awry.

• Delegate. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure happy holidays. The Christmas dinner alone really can be hard work for the cook! Too much work leads to stress burnout so make sure the whole family share the workload. Delegate by sharing chores amongst the whole family and get children involved too. It’s true – many hands make light work – and they also reduce stress in doing so.

• Have realistic expectations. The holidays are so exciting! Being with loved ones, Christmas decorations, lights, presents and much feasting! As the holiday approaches, expectations increase as to how the holiday will be only for them to be dashed when the holidays arrive. So, try not to place high expectations on how events will unfold. Always expect the unexpected and remember that humans can react unpredictably and surprisingly. Also, life can throw us the odd curve ball, especially when we least want it, so just have a “what will be will be” attitude and hopefully, the holidays will be perfect. Avoiding high expectations means you won’t become stressed out or upset should things not turn out the way you wanted.
• As much as the holidays are about spending time with family, having the family over can be highly stressful. Not all families get along, and stress levels can soar at get-togethers. If you have family members who are unappreciative, argumentative, aggressive, sulky – the kind of people who will spoil the day, then say “no!” and don’t invite them. The holidays are about joy and happiness, so inviting people who will ruin everyone’s day isn’t on. But a sense of duty can lead to inviting someone around against your better judgement. Your only duty is to your immediate family – your spouse and your children – not to any other family members. If your family get along, fine, but if you know there’s going to be fireworks, then make everyone’s day by not having stress as an unwanted holiday guest.

• Stick To Your Budget. I know it is tempting to spend money during the holidays and many people will rack up huge debts doing so. The debt then becomes a major stress factor after the holidays have ended. You don’t need to buy people expensive gifts and you don’t need to go into debt to impress people. The Internet is a fantastic source for finding creative and imaginative gifts that will give the receiver a highly valued special surprise because it shows thoughtfulness. Debt is to stress what pizzas are to waistlines and you can pay a heavy price for impressing people with gifts. Stick to your budget and you will reduce stress, not just over the holidays but for many months after.

Last Thursday, the prop that Mark Hamill used in the first two movies of the original “Star Wars” trilogy was sold as part of an auction of Hollywood memorabilia by Profiles in History in Los Angeles.

The auction featured other iconic props, costumes, special effects creations, scripts and posters.

Now if you are a person who likes to celebrate the wacky and unique holidays here are a few gift ideas for you. For Jump Out of Bed Month you could use slippers or sneakers as your gift basket for example. Using a new pair of slippers or sneakers you can have your gift consultant create a gift filled with great gadgets and useful items for your recipient. For Poverty Awareness Month you could have small hand out gifts that could be donated to your local homeless shelter such as goodie bags with toiletries or a gift card for a meal.

Making Your Gifts Personal – This can be a pretty easy task when its family or friends but what about when it’s a long time client or even a new client. Observation is the key. I currently have one of the best corporate clients I’ve ever had, why? He’s the best client because he takes the time to get to know his clients. On some of his corporate projects he works with his clients for months and on others it may be for only a few days. The key is that he is aware of the people he works with and when he calls to have me create a custom gift I have all the tools I need from his observations to make his gifts professional and personal.

Personal gifts for family in most cases can be a lot easier. All you would need to do is provide your gift consultant with information regarding a hobby or theme for that persons likes and pretty much anything can be used as the base for creating a wonderful holiday gift basket.

Food Gift – Food gifts can be great when you need a gift for a large party. For example a gourmet food gift basket that offers multiples of smaller food servings so that everyone in the office can have a try of the gourmet goodies. If you will be giving a food gift basket be sure to let your gift consultant know the number of people in the office it will be for to assure there well be enough items in the basket to go around. Customizing with a few added items will sometimes be needed for extra large office groups.

Here are some food gift suggestions when having a gourmet gift created: Cheeses with multiple servings with spreader knives included, jams, crackers, candies, chocolates, the larger bottles of sparkling cider or biscotti.

Gift Specialized – This is one of my favorite types of gifts to create. With specialized gifts I create every item in the gift basket for the recipient. For example the wife of a friend who is a die-hard CSI friend inspired our CSI Show gift. The CSI kit includes edible evidence including the bugs and chocolate or cookie body parts. I brain stormed with her husband to come up with a truly unique gift that was centered on something she would be delighted with and enjoy.

Over the years we have had the pleasure of creating unique patriotic, electrical and team oriented specialized gifts. You provide us the theme and we get to be creative.

So when celebrating the holidays wacky or traditional, lets skip the shelf gifts and make it personal.

Christmas shopping during big sales is definitely a good idea but it is important to remember that there are some ways to really take advantage of a big sale and some ways to have your Christmas shopping deterred by a big sale. This article will discuss a few basic strategies for doing your Christmas shopping during big sales without falling into some of the common pitfalls often associated with shopping during sales.

One of the biggest pitfalls associated with doing your Christmas shopping during big sales events is to end up purchasing many items you don’t need and would not have purchased if they weren’t on sale. This can be a problem especially if it causes you to exceed the budget you have set for Christmas shopping. This often happens when shoppers encounter a sale they think is simply too good to pass up. For some shoppers a discount of more than 50% seems very appealing and they may be tempted to buy these items just because the price has been reduced by so much but they might not really need the item. In this case the shopper may be saving 50% off of the original price because of the discount but if they wouldn’t have purchased the item if it wasn’t on sale they are really spending more than they would normally spend and are essentially losing money. To avoid this pitfall, it is wise to make a list of each person on your list and what you intend to purchase for them so you will not be tempted by big bargains.

Another problem associated with Christmas shopping during big sales is that hesitancy often causes the shopper to miss out on an item. When you are Christmas shopping during a big sale it is important to be slightly impulsive. If you see an item you think you would like to purchase for someone on your Christmas list, you have to either buy it right away or run the risk that it will be gone if you come back later to look for the item. Retailers often put items on sale when they only have a limited quantity of the item in stock and therefore once they sell out the item is gone. So it is important to remember that when you are Christmas shopping during a big sale, you have to make decisions quickly. You need to either decide to purchase an item or completely forget about the item because it will likely be sold soon after you leave the store.