Snooping for Christmas Hints
Okay, okay. We know it’s really annoying when stores are already putting out Christmas decor when Halloween hasn’t even happened yet, but we feel like we have a bit of a pass on this one since Golden Coil is all about planning and organizing your life. We’re also all about making your life easier, so we thought we’d share some of our favorite ideas for snooping and keeping track of Christmas hints.
Try to have your ears open all year round – This can be tricky, especially when you’ve got other holidays and events going on during the year, not to mention the demands of your daily schedule. But, tuning in to a year-round approach to listening for hints makes the last quarter of the year much less stressful since it spreads out the use of mental and financial capital.
Set a reminder – You can set a daily, weekly, or monthly reminder in your phone to listen for hints. Another option is to create and upload a calendar to print into your Golden Coil Planner that has a similar schedule of reminders. (If you haven’t tried this yet, here’s our tutorial on how to do so!)
Think outside the box – Broaden your mindset of what makes something a gift. Has your loved one mentioned an experience they want to have? Maybe you don’t have money for their dream car right now, but you could rent one for a day! Is there something they want to learn? You could buy them a month of lessons or classes and stick a gift certificate in their stocking. Listen for hints about things they want to do, not just things they want.
Watch for social media shares – You don’t have to steal their device and hack into their accounts for this one; just keep an eye on which posts they like and share on social media. It can be easy to just mindlessly scroll, but if you’re on a year-round mission to pick up hints, it gives your time on social media a bit more of a focus.
Keep track of hints in your planner – Our Holiday Gifting page is the perfect place to keep track of which gifts you’ve purchased (and where you’ve hidden them! Has anyone else had or been that mom who forgot where she hid a gift?!). You can also be stealthy and hide a list in your back pocket page of your planner if you know your loved one is going to snoop around a bit. :)
At a certain stage of life, giving really does become more fun than receiving, especially when it feels like you’ve successfully pulled off the stealthiest gift-giving operation. There’s nothing like watching your loved one unwrap a gift that they totally wanted but didn’t even realize you’d picked up on. We hope these ideas help make your holiday gift-giving even more of a joy! And if you still don't know what to get them, why not give them a planner? :)
