7 - Rule 1: Time

Rule 1 – Give yourself a generous amount of time:

            -time to pick a gift

            -time to purchase a gift

            -time to wrap the gift (including picking paper, ribbon, adhesive tape and box)

            -time to pick a card

            -time to write something clever in the card

            -time to plan delivery

            -time to deliver the gift and the card

            The last minute isn’t just a bad time to think up a gift, it also limits your options to only items easily found and readily available. If you have to rush, it will show. This isn’t an instance where you schedule an hour on the Tuesday before your dad’s birthday, to purchase a gift and pick up a card before you go home and check to see if there is any decent wrapping paper in the house. This is where you keep on the lookout months ahead. Once you decide on the gift, you should check your wrapping options before you go shopping. Showing up with a package wrapped in the Sunday Comics and using masking tape ‘cause you forgot to get wrapping paper and tape was cute in grade school but it doesn’t cut it now that you’re grown-up. Sure, there are exceptions, but you’re reading this blog because you need help, so don’t get overly ambitious just yet.