I have a love/hate relationship with gift-giving. I love gift-giving for 3 main reasons:

1 – I enjoy doing something special for the people I care for most.

2 – I get excited when I find just the right gift for a great price.

3 – It makes me happy to see how the recipient of my gift feels about the thought I put into getting something just for them.

Then, there’s the other side of the coin.  I hate gift-giving for 3 main reasons:

1 – I can spend hours racking my brain thinking of just the right thing for the person I’m shopping for and still come up with nothing.

2 – I get disappointed when I can’t get a deal on the thing I want to buy most, and either spend more than I want or should or, worst yet, don’t end up getting it at all.

3 – The dreaded “oh – how thoughtful” generic response I get from the recipient if I’ve totally missed the mark on the gift I’ve given.

This is why I am an enthusiastic Giftster user.  I get to enjoy all the things I love about gift-giving while avoiding all the things that make me cringe about the task.  Here are some of my favorite parts of Giftster:

I get an idea of exactly what a certain person would like. For example, I may know that someone likes tea, but maybe they hate green tea.   I can check their list for their preference.

It’s easier to stay within a budget. If I know I only have $20 to spend on a gift for someone, I can easily look on their list to see how my money can be best spent to get them a great gift.

Where to shop is not a mystery. Don’t you just hate knowing exactly what you want to get someone and not knowing where to get it?  And, you don’t want to ask the person because then they’ll know what you’re up to.  Giftster gives list makers a place to tell you where you can find an item so you don’t have to search high and low to find it.

I don’t have to worry if someone else bought the same gift. If I buy a gift for my sister-in-law, I can mark it as bought so no one else buys it.  Oh – and she won’t see who bought it when she logs in.  That part can only be viewed by others in her group.

The next event I’m making a list for is my son’s 4th birthday.  We walked through the toy store last week and he’s all ready to make his Giftster list.  Some family members would like to get him parts to his Thomas the Train set, and Giftster allows me to communicate with them about what he has and what he’d like to add to his set.

If you haven’t made your list yet on Giftster, I  encourage you to give it a try.  It’s easy to create and share lists while being easy to use when shopping for others.  Click here to get started and create your list.

Every week, I’ll share my thoughts and experiences with Giftster to help you make the most of your list-making and gift shopping.  I hope to hear from other Giftster users as well about what you like or maybe don’t like about the application (if you don’t like something, we’ll work hard to make it better for you).

I hope others are as excited as I am about using Giftster.  Happy gift-giving!