3 posts tagged “gifts”

Valentine's Day is only a few short weeks away.  Do you normally buy gifts for your loved ones, children, sisters?  I have purchased an array of gifts for my wife over the years, but I am still not sure what we are going to be doing this year.  I usually cook her dinner, which isn't much different than every night, but make it more special, maybe some candles on the table, definitely flowers, and specifically cook her favorite meal with favorite dessert as well.  But what about for other family members?  Do you feel the need to support a holiday like this?  I feel like it is one of those holidays where you should not feel like you have to spend a ton of money, but apparently I am not in the norm.  The National Retail Federation expects over $17 billion to spent on Valentine's Day this year with the average person spending over $120.00.  Certainly, most gifts cost money, even simple gifts like flowers, candles, dinner.

What about gift cards?  Does anyone give gift cards for Valentine's Day?  It might not sound too romantic, but what if your husband really wants to buy something that you are just not comfortable buying, like stereo equipment or outdoors gear.  Now please don't get me wrong, my wife can pick out my camping gear without a problem and she even goes along with us when we camp, she probably starts a fire better than all of my friends.  I just wanted to clarify.  I don't think a giving a gift card for Valentine's Day is a bad idea at all.

The holidays are over, but that doesn't mean you have to stop rewarding your employees or clients.  Maybe you had a great year or your team pulled together and worked extra hard during November and December.  I hope you at least gave them an extra day off or maybe a little bit of money.  However, now is the time for you to get your company off to a great 2008 and what better way of doing that than with the help of your staff.  Your employees come to work everyday to make money as well as make the company money so they have a place to come to everyday.  Keeping company moral up is key to a successful business and using rewards are great way of doing that.  I'm not saying you should throw money in every direction, but you can set-up goals or "games" to offer incentives to your employees.  This creates another reason for your employees to stick their nose to the grindstone, work hard for you, and benefit themselves.       

What a great time Thanksgiving was.  I hope everyone had fun being with family and eating great food like I did.  I even did some holiday shopping.  I am never ahead of the game when it comes to shopping and I have my wife's birthday before Christmas!  I don't wait until the last minute, but it has been quite some time since I took advantage of Black Friday.  This year is proving to be different.  I started shopping on Friday and did find some discounts on items I was looking for.  I also used some coupon codes, thanks MyCoupons.com.  Shopping is even easier with the help of the Internet, but that doesn't mean you have to pay the top price for the items you are looking for.  Internet retailers are all joining in the game when it comes to offering savings and discounts this time of year.  It makes sense for them to, they are receiving far more traffic then they normally do throughout the year and it is beneficial and enticing to their audience of consumers to offer a reason to choose them over another retailer. 
If you are looking for deals, GiftCards.com is still offering a $25 rebate when you purchase over $100 in gift cards and use eBillme when checking out.  If you are on the fence about what to get someone this year and gift cards seem like the best choice, shop at GiftCards.com and save some money for yourself.