Every year around this time I begin to get really anxious for two reasons. I am going to have to try to think up things that I “want” and I will have to try to figure out what other people “want” for presents. Normally you would think it would be easy to accomplish these two, seemingly simple tasks, but as I have gotten older, I am finding it increasingly difficult.

At my age, when I want most things I buy them for myself. I am no longer an influencer of purchases as I was when I was younger, I am the decision maker. There are very few times where I find myself aiming to buy something and saying to myself, “oh no wait, hold off and let someone else buy that for you.” So when the holiday season comes around it is literally a struggle for me to come up with practical things that I want that others can buy me. You would think that over the years I would have some kind of trick for making this process easier, but I don’t. Every year I struggle with coming up with random things that, surely I want, but I am only asking for them for the sake of the other person wanting to buy me a gift.

Now, on the flip side, I admit I do enjoy giving someone a gift that they actually want or one that actually means something to them. As part of our family ritual we do a small gift exchange and outside of that I do always buy my parents, niece and nephews a gift. I also have a select few friends that I may buy a little something for or come up with a thoughtful gift. As a result, I have a handful of people that I am buying gifts for, which generally requires some insight into what they may want or like.

Now for my niece and nephews, that is usually pretty easy. When you are younger there are a million things you want when looking through a Target catalog or any other ad in the paper. The lists are usually endless with a number of options to choose from without ever worrying you will buy them the same gift as someone else. I remember those days, sometimes I wish building my list was just that easy again.

However, with the adults that are on my list to buy gifts for, it is always a challenge to find the right present. Considering that it is so difficult for me to build my list, I have a feeling that others experience the same issues. Of course, that presumes you can get a list from them in the first place which sometimes is not the case. I dread this activity, not because I don’t want to buy them gifts, but because I want to make sure I get them a great gift.

If you know the person you are looking to buy a gift you can pay attention to the things they mention in passing or look back on conversations you have had to try to pull out things that they may need/want. I still find myself scrambling to come up with gifts that are truly meaningful or are truly useful.

So what do you do? Do you have any gift getting tricks that you use during the holiday season?