Right now is a good time to start buying Christmas gifts. I know that shopping six months out in June could seem insane or pointless, but it actually saves your time, money and sanity.

Here’s 10 reasons why it pays off to buy Christmas gifts throughout the year but definitely starting in June (if not in January)!

1. Mid-year sales. This is the ideal opportunity to save big-time on non-perishable gifts as many companies try to clear stock. Buy now, save now.

2. Time to find cool things. Now is a great time to join a few of the online shopping newsletters which list specials and feature unusual items every week. You’re bound to see something cool to make ‘em go “ooooh”. Plus, having all your Christmas shopping done by the end of November gives you plenty of time to enjoy the holiday season in relaxed style with a lot less stress.

3. Choice. There’s nothing more terrifying (at least, to me) than a sea of people in the department store, desperately grabbing at anything pre-gift-wrapped on 24 December. By taking your time now, you get to choose gifts that are really cleverly thought out, affordable, and that they’ll love.

4. Saving money. If you spend $50 per gift per person (minimum) and you have to buy gifts for at least 10 people, you’re looking at $500 which is a big chunk-o-change out of your wallet on one day. If you buy one gift per fortnight starting now until the end of November, you won’t even notice it, and you’ll have more money to blow on going out to parties in December. Promise.

5. Personalization. If you want to get someone special a personalized gift, there’s no use deciding that on 24 December. Most online personalized gift websites will cut off their ordering dates by 17 December at the latest to ensure Christmas delivery. If it takes up to 21 days to be customised and delivered, it’s better getting it done safely now, and put away. Plus, last-minute panic orders can sometimes lead to disastrous typos like a badly spelled name or address, for example and no time to get them replaced.

6. Spying/prying – otherwise known as research. Start asking now about your favourite people’s colours, flavours, fragrances, music, movies, hobbies etc. It can take a while to find out what people are really into and you can be sure of giving them something that would delight them. And by asking now, they’ll have forgotten about it so they have a nice surprise on the day. Caveat: leave asking the what-would-you-like-Santa-to-bring questions for the littlest kids and teenagers til last as their tastes change so quickly they could be into Dora the Explorer one minute and Lady GaGa the next.

7. Christmas is when retailers make money. For many retailers, Christmas is THE most profitable time for them to finally make some money so they won’t throw it away with deep discounts for procrastinating shoppers. Cha-ching! Many of them won’t have anything on sale until 26 December.

8. Benefit from off-season/different hemisphere shopping specials. The wonderful world of online shopping exposes you to sooooo many cool things and if you buy them ahead of time, you can save heaps, too. Does your cousin love diving? You’ll find great specials in southern hemisphere (winter-time) June. Ditto if you stock up on fun, out-of-season ski products from US sites now in their summertime so your mad uncle can get piste in the Alps at Christmas.

9. Gift cards/gift certificates. Pick up one or two of these next week for clothing, hardware, books, movies, or music and you’ve already gotten a couple of gifts for those hard-to-buy-for people crossed off your list. You might not be so generous with the amounts if you had to buy 10 of them in one go, though.

10. Sea mail. If you happen to choose such weight-challenged gifts as books for friends and family living overseas, you’ll have to spend a packet just to get it there in time. Shopping for it now, and mailing it in October means your gifts will get there in time, but at a fraction of the airmail cost.

Tags: bargain-hunting, Christmas gifts, gift cards, gift certificates, gift shopping, online shopping, personalised gift, planning ahead

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 6:27 am and is filed under Christmas gifts, gift ideas, gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.