I am absolutely terrible when it comes to figuring out gifts for people, even for my husband and daughter. What is sad is that I can think of awesome ideas just randomly, usually while I’m sitting at the computer web surfing or when hubby drops a not so subtle hit about something he wants. The problem? By the time a special occasion rolls around I have completely forgotten all the ideas I came up with, everything he mentioned and even everything Abby had shown a huge interest in. I needed a way to keep track of things better as I thought of things as well as a way for him to just make a fun list as he thought of things that I could easily take a look at and share with friends and family (he is the worst when it comes to buying gifts for and everyone calls me begging for ideas for him!).
I was so excited to discover the new website, Ziftit.com, that helps helps eliminate all the guess work and makes gift-giving easier. Ziftit is similar to a gift registry where you can create lists of what you would like to get as well as create lists of ideas of what to give others. You can share those lists with friends and family and it helps show them what you are really wishing for (plus helps give them ideas for others in your life such as your children who might be too young to make their own lists). By sharing the lists, friends and family can easily find what you are wanting and purchase the items for you right through the website! I love this because I’m horrible at figuring out what I want, especially for the holidays. Now I can just easily make my “wish” list, share it and not only can everyone see what I’m really wishing for but they can gather other ideas just from the selection of items I have picked.
Since there are no birthdays right now, I decided to go ahead and start planning for my husband’s upcoming birthday in August. I also wanted to do something special for Abby since she’s been working so hard and doing so well with her therapy. Abby is normally pretty easy to buy for but here lately she has gotten quite opinionated so I thought it would be fun for her to sit down with me and pick out a few items that could be a prize for all her hard work (keeping the theme of the items geared more towards toys/activities that will continue to help her learn). As for hubby, well… he’s the most difficult person to shop for so I thought I would just let him have fun looking for things. He has spent all weekend on the laptop looking up all sorts of tools (that I have no clue what some are and he knows he has to write down the exact name on) and gadgets he wants/needs. He told me that he had his Birthday and Christmas lists all ready, well now he can search for those items on here and just create lists to easily share with everyone instead of me typing up everything.
Okay, time to get started!
I signed up for free with Ziftit.com and created two separate lists, one for hubby and one for Abby. Ziftit already has some lists created like Valentine’s Day, Christmas. Mother’s Day and even Just Because then you can add whichever lists you want to for anniversaries, birthdays, and other special occasions. Once the lists are made all you have to do is share the link with friends and family so they can browse your selections. Something that is really neat is that instead of just one person trying to purchase a particular gift, several can “pitch-in” towards something by add funds for that gift. This way if mom and dad or grandparents wanted to go in together to get something really big (my dream camera! j/k) they can all “pitch-in” in together. I loved that feature.
Okay, back to the lists.
Abby and I had fun searching for a few items and while searching, I came across a few ideas that I hadn’t even thought of before. At her therapy, Abby often gets to use a fun app to play games that helps her learn and I have noticed that she does really well with this. I had never considered anything like this before but after seeing how well she did when using a tablet, I wondered if it was something to consider for her. It is also something that I know my husband could get some use out of, a great way to keep track of appointments that we can share together so there is no more confusion on when which appointment is and what we have to do each day. It would also help with budgeting and making quick lists for each other. Ziftit actually helped me discover this gift idea while I was browsing other ideas.
Hubby is still putting together his list, I have a feeling he will be working on it for several days. Good thing his birthday isn’t until August! I love having this list because now I can just send it right on over to my dad and there is no more of me trying to figure out what in the world my husband is talking about and which tool/gadget/gizmo he’s wanting.
… and I had a little fun playing around with a list of my own.
I plan to invite all my friends and family to give Ziftit a try and to create their own lists! It always helps to know what a person is really wishing for on their special occasion (I think I’ll create a list for our anniversary for hubby).
Oh, and after much consideration, I did choose to get Abby a simple tablet to have for all her therapy apps. I can see how much the one at her sessions is helping her and I know it will be great to have here at home to continue working with her. Plus she’ll have fun playing games as well!
The purchasing process was extremely! You simply add funds to your account, once funds are available you select the gift you would like to purchase and click “add funds”. Once you have enough funds to purchase the gift (if you were pitching in with someone else you would wait until all funds were covered), you click the “ziftit” button which takes you to the website to purchase the gift. Or, if you are just ready to purchase, click the Buy Now button and you will be taken directly to the website to purchase. Super easy, it took just a few minutes and you receive a confirmation number for your purchase. I was quite pleased when Abby’s gift arrived several days ahead of schedule! I plan to surprise her with it later so no pictures of her with her gift just yet!
*To give a second opinion, my husband thought Ziftit was awesome! He was like “finally, no more guessing at what you want”, he really like the idea of looking at a list to see what I’m really wanting and to get ideas from. He said it makes things SO much easier for him!
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Wish Lists make it so much easier to shop for gifts! This looks like a great website for creating gift lists!