Gifting as simple as it may sound, may sometimes be overwhelming. Especially with Father’s Day round the corner, well it’s on September 4^th, but time as they say, runs faster than you might imagine! So to save you some time we have put together some tips on how to choose a meaningful yet fun filled gifts for your loved ones!

1. Problem-Solving Gifts

One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying gifts for others (and for ourselves) is thinking that giving more stuff makes people happier. That’s backwards. Happiness doesn’t come from adding positives. It comes from removing negatives. So when it comes to how to pick gifts, find a problem in your recipient’s life and solve it with your generosity.

BEWARE! Don’t solve problems they don’t know they have!

Buying deodorant for a friend with bad B.O., breath mints for your stinky-breathed colleague, or a fat-loss plan for your wife who’s put on a few will backfire.

2. Let the Gift not be a problem

People don’t like having to make decisions, so don’t pick a gift that forces them to do so.

✗ Don’t Buy Gift Cards

When you buy someone a gift card, you’re giving them a problem by passing the decision-making burden to them. Give cash if you have to. “Mo’ money, mo’ problems,” sure, but most people prefer those problems’ flexibility over having to make a decision.

✗ Don’t Gift Experiences Without a Date Attached

If you gift a massage or cooking lessons, schedule it, too. Even if the recipient’s forced to reschedule, they’re forced to do so. They don’t have to decide.

About 20% of people in relationships don’t just want but need regular gifts from their partners to hold off feelings of resentment.

3. Choose Plants, instead of Flowers

Our choices in gifts tend to be selfish. We want the glory of being great gift-givers, so we buy presents with a maximum bedazzlement factor. Flashy flowers, for example.

The problem is the flash fades away and the recipient’s left to deal with what’s left.

To be selfless, a better strategy for how to pick gifts is to buy practical presents that last. Plants, for example. You may get fewer bedazzlement benefits, but they get continuous rewards. Studies have found they outweigh the one-time hit of a flashy gift.

4. Don’t be a smart ‘a$$’

As gift-givers, we want to show off how well we know someone. But you know who knows the recipient even better than you? The recipient!

So when they tell you what they want, don’t stupidly try to outsmart them. Give them what they want! It may feel thoughtless to you, but it doesn’t to them. According to surprising studies, gift recipients say the most thoughtful gifts are the ones they asked for.

5. When they, “I Have Everything I Need”

Dads & Moms are especially famous for saying, “I have everything I need. Just having you with me for my birthday is enough.” And we’re infamous for misinterpreting that as, “You better to be extra generous and creative with my gift to show me how much you love me, kiddo.” It’s not. Don’t buy him / her a new iPad she won’t be able to figure out how to play bridge on.

If you want to be extra generous, give him/her more of what they asked for: YOU.

 “Time is more valuable than money. You can always get more money, but you can’t get more time.”

If you feel compelled to spend money, too, plan quality time together over a nice dinner or a small trip, or by buying tickets to visit if you live in different cities.

6. Give Gifts that Keep On Giving

“It’s the thought that counts,” may be somewhat true, but the thought only counts once. For gifts that keep counting up brownie points, seek sentimentality.

It’s not as hard as you think:

✓ Give Something Useful

Studies show that people value a useful item more if they receive it as a gift than if they buy it for themselves because novelty wears off but sentimentality doesn’t.

My aforementioned socks are a perfect example. Others are a printed collection of your favorite recipes, or a painting, print, or ceramic work to decorate their new apartment.

✓ Capture the Moment

Make the gift of an experience more sentimental by capturing the moment.

For example, if you buy an experience like a cooking class or a weekend away, make a photo album of it with Artifact Uprising. Or make a rap video, like we did to memorialize a family Thailand getaway we did to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday:

7. Presentation is the final touch!

Even if what you’re giving isn’t particularly thoughtful (at least in your mind), you can make it extra special with how you give it. A special presentation of your present elicits emotion and forms memories that attach to the gift to give it extra value.