Personalized Gifts

Last time we talked about getting your next quarters gifts for your gift giving list so that you are never a step behind.  So let’s assume that you do have all the gifts you’ll need in your possesion for the months of April, May, June.  You should also have those generic gifts on hand for things that pop-up and you need a small gift like a hostess gift etc. 

Now that you have your gifts go one step further and go ahead and wrap those gifts that you have for specific people.  But before you start wrapping you need to create a gift inventory list.  You’ll create two.  One for the specific gifts (the gifts you know go to grandson, mom, husband, etc) and one to keep a running inventory of the generic items you have on hand that you’ll substract from as you use them and then you’ll know exactly what you have, how many and when you need to get more.  For the gifts in the to be wrapped pile:  Say you have a birthday gift for your nephew.  Wrap or bag that gift, attach the card, bow, or gift tag (you probably have a certain way you like to present your gifts).  On your inventory sheet write down who the gift is for, describe the package and what the actual gift is.  Put that in your gift station and go to the next gift completing the same actions until you are done.  By creating the inventory sheet if you didn’t have a card or name tag handy or you just don’t use them then you’ll know who that gift is for and what the gift is by looking at your inventory sheet.  Once you’ve wrapped all your gifts for those specific on your list you’ll start the generic “on-hand” gift inventory.

Make sure you grab a new sheet and label it “On-Hand Gift Inventory”.  Don’t wrap these since you won’t know when you’ll need them.  These will be for last minute situations when you’ve been invited somewhere unexpectedly, or you need a quick hostess gift for a dinner party or you want to thank someone for helping you, etc.  But you do need to know what you have and how many.  If you did purchase notepads and pens then write that on your sheet “notepads/pen”  and how many you have.  I think a good number to keep on hand is 5 and when you get to 2 you need to re-stock, that way you’re never out. 

Now that you’ve created your inventory list make sure you keep it in a safe place.  My safe place and your safe place may be 2 different things.  I suggest keeping it with your gift station supplies (where you have the tape, scissors, etc).  If you’re using a closet you may want to use a clipboard and hang it on the wall for easy access.  You may have a filing system and add the inventory as a file in your system or you may be like me and prefer the digital world and keep a spreadsheet on your pc that you can pull up anytime.  (when the e-book is released it will include a link to a spreadsheet template!).  One more thing you’ll want to add to your gift station supplies is a ToDo or To Buy list so that when you run out of generic items you can create a shopping list before you leave your inventory/gift station.  Also you’ll want to make a shopping list for the next quarter so you should be making a shopping list now of all the gifts you’ll need for July, August, September.  When looking for your gifts a great time to go is after holidays since stores always put left over items on clearance and you can get some great deals for the next year! 

Last post I mentioned shipping items and I haven’t forgotten but I want to devote an entire post about shipping and how you can save time and money by doing it from your home computer.  I really do mean skipping the PO entirely!

Keeping it Unique,

Kristal