Gift Profiling
Makes Easier Shopping

By Brian M. Rafferty

Buying presents during the holiday season is often pretty easy. These are the people you love, who you know well and whose closets and cupboards you have seen inside. Finding the right present for them is piece of cake, right?

Wrong!

Often the people we know best are the most difficult to shop for. What is the average gift-giver to do? First of all, don’t panic. The key to buying the right gift for any person is to think beyond what your image of that person is, and see great generalities in that person’s personality.

Eccentric

Does she love to tell stories about adventures, relish in her collection of Pez dispensers or wear hats to match every outfit? Try a bit of flash – a colorful scarf, a handsome brooch or jazzy earrings that are going to match her colorful personality.

Fancy Formal

This guy dresses sharp, drives a sleek car and presses his boxers. Organization can be this guy’s present – whether it is a new tabletop key caddy for his bureau or gift certificates to his favorite salon for manicures and eyebrow waxing.

Down-To-Earth

This hippie friend of yours wants to save the environment one soda can at a time isn’t “into materialism.” Though the best gift may be a bit of the finest holiday greenery (wink, wink), perhaps a more realistic (and legal) alternative would be an organic food gift basket or to make a donation in their name to save an acre of rainforest.

Family Oriented

For the parents on the go, try something simple like a family membership to the Queens Zoo, or to the network of Science and Discovery Centers, which includes the New York Hall of Science and the Long Island Children’s Museum.

Fitness Fearful

Getting started on an exercise program is hard. The Sane Fitness QuickStart Deck is a great gift for the exercise novice, using simple stretches and exercises to help your friend move from bloated to buff in no time at all.