Want the hottest gift items for Christmas 2008? Want to give gifts that are personalized or have to be made by special order? Start researching, designing and ordering now, before everything is sold out.
Last fall Robespierre tested for his black belt in Tae Kwon Doe, having attended no fewer than seven classes a week for three years. I wanted to reward his dedication with a Wii, so one pleasant October afternoon I stopped pleasantly at B*** B** and pleasantly inquired where I might find one. We're out, they said. When will you get more? I asked pleasantly. We don't know, they replied. So I left and pleasantly tried C*** C*** and T***. Sold out, they said.
I hit the phones grumpily. I grumpily called every big box, medium box and small box store I could find. Sold out, sold out, sold out. When will you get them, I demanded grumpily. Oh, sometimes we get a few on Wednesday, no Friday, no Tuesday. Can I pay for one in advance? Are you kidding? Can you call me when you get them? Heck no! Any suggestions? Well, sometimes people wait in line outside the store when they think we might be getting them.
I agitatedly resorted to the internet: S.O.L.D. O.U.T. Amazon? Nuh uh. EBay? Yeah, for double the price and no warranty. Google -- hellllp meeee ... I found some site that tracks rumors of online availability and emails you if there's any hint of a chance of Wii acquisition via the usual suspects. In theory this was a brilliant tool, but in practice, not so brilliant. I'd get an email trumpeting: "S*** may have the Wii in stock," but 11 minutes later another email would announce: "S*** sold out of the Wii." If I wasn't in front of the computer as the email arrived, which I never seemed to be, I had no chance of getting my cyber-hands on a Wii.
Meanwhile I was still pleasantly frantically power-calling the big box stores, trying to trick them into revealing when they were getting the Wii. More than one interrogee informant claimed that an angel song ad in the weekend paper could be a sign they'd have some Wiis in stock on Sunday morning, but I suspected they were just making this up so I'd take my hands off their throats.
Finally came the moment of truth: the Sunday advertising supplement swore that C*** C*** would have the Wii on Sunday. I arrived apprehensively at 7:45 a.m. with my folding chair, orange juice, bagel, cell phone and New York Times. I was the first person there. Within an hour the line held more than 20 apprehensive people. By the time the store opened there were about 35 apprehensive people waiting for only nine Wiis, but everyone stayed in line out of hope that some of us would change our minds, or forget why we came there, or be abducted by aliens. I bought my Wii, briefly considered selling it for a profit to someone further down the line, reconsidered, and went home.
Every Sunday after that, as Christmas came nearer and the weather became less hospitable, desperate parents bundled up and waited in line. Did everyone get the Wii? Who knows – after I got mine I stopped caring.
The Christmas season is crazy busy for everyone. On FeeFiFoto we start getting orders by early October for calendars, Christmas ornaments, porcelain plates and other favorite holiday gift items; orders escalate through November and December. The closer we get to Christmas the more chance our manufacturers will run out of some popular item, and then the buyers who want them are just out of luck.
Want whatever the hot gift is going to be this Christmas? Want personalized Christmas ornaments, or personalized purses or photo blankets? Start looking now, start strategizing now, start ordering now. You’ll thank me when Christmas comes and everyone else is scrambling to get holiday gifts delivered before December 25.
Need more valuable Christmas shopping advice? Look here.
