This time of year, many people are thinking about choosing the perfect gift–ideally at the right price and without waiting in any lines. But it’s also a good time to think about gift giving more broadly and creatively.
Universal Gift Registry Cheer
For example, My Perfect Gift appears to be on a promising track with its expanded social gift registry concept. Here, you can create not only online bridal and baby registries, but also an updatable personal registry suitable for any upcoming occasion. The idea is that if friends and family members create their own wish lists and make them available for viewing by each other, then everyone in the circle will find it easier to buy the right present.
After setting up a registry, you install a browser application that allows you to place items from online retailers from around the Web into your registry. If you’re coming up empty, you can click in items from sample registries of items from Amazon, Macy’s and Target, and celebrity registries. There also are Pinterest and Facebook sites and a YouTube video connected to the website.
When I first heard about My Perfect Gift, I thought it was a great idea, and ideally, we’d all be registered with up-to-date lists to take the guesswork out of gift giving. But once I visited the website and perused a few of the registries and ran down multiple pages of suggestions, I got a little overloaded on how much stuff there is to buy and list. My caveat is that distributing a registry like this to friends is a bit of a social frontier. You might want to test the waters with your social circle before jumping in.
When you can’t decide — Let the computer do it.
Another creative startup is Mystery Gift Machine, which is an online platform similar to Kickstarter designed to make it easier to plan and execute a group gift. Like Kickstarter, it uses the power of crowdsourcing to generate funds for a gift from a group. The organizer identifies the recipient and the occasion, and friends contribute money and ideas. The “Mystery Gift Machine” chooses the gift, making it a surprise for all–and who doesn’t like a little surprise element with a gift? This is one to watch.
Global Random Gift Giving
Some of the most innovative ideas around are about gifts to strangers. Many were inspired by “random acts of kindness,” the mid-2000s global meme about the spiritual benefits of performing selfless acts to benefit a stranger. Now the concept lives on in efforts such as World Kindness Day, Gifts For Strangers Day and Gift A Stranger, a startup website created in Belgium that allows you to register to obtain a random address of a stranger so that you can send them a gift. An online map keeps track of the givers and recipients.
As you can see, Gift A Stranger still has the look of a startup after two years, but I think I will stick around. I think they are onto something.
December 7th, 2012 by Alice in Charity, Community, Geo-Location, Holidays 0