Do you shop for them.......or You?

Really think about that question. Just for a second. What was a gift you bought that was really for the person you were buying it for?

It dawned on me after years of cleaning out kids' rooms. So much stuff! It's not like they were spoiled. They were but I always made birthdays and holidays a big deal. That leaves a huge portion of the year with no gifts. I never just randomly bought them things. So where does it all come from? They always look bored, no matter how much of anything they have. Why?

I have come to a conclusion!! We shop for us! Think about it.......How many times have you said "that is so cool, I would have loved this at their age". Ummmmm......We buy it, they don't touch it. How many times do we do this? And we don't do this with just kids. We will buy someone a sweater in a color we like even though they would never wear it.

This was confirmed when I had a customer come in. She wanted a blanket for a new granddaughter. She wanted something that she could carry around. Make it her blankey. The quilt she loved she thought was too small. I told her that as a newborn it was plenty big to lay down on. True. And when she gets too big to lay on it, she will be walking and can carry it around. I then told her a story about my youngest daughter Sophia. When she was little, she got attached to a blanket. It was so much bigger than her that she tripped over it. I told this lady that "We tend shop for us instead of for them." She was sold. I didn't say it to sell her. But she understood that I was right. Anything bigger would be a blanket and not a blankey.

This Holiday season, just take a couple of minutes to think about who you are really buying for. And if you don't like it, it is probably perfect.