Why should you do christmas gift shopping at the mall when you can buy your gifts safely online?

Seriously. I was reading the latest news about black Friday at the malls. A 73 year old lady was knocked down and hit her head against the floor as she was swept by a wave of impatient shoppers at BrandsMart USA. She was lucky. At West Michigan Wal-Mart, the stampede was so bad, 2 shoppers who were trampled were hospitalized for it. One was a pregnant woman. The other was a 13 year old. I mean, how ruthless can the crowd get? Trampling down a woman with her unborn baby. Right at the start of the Christmas season on top of that.

People in the queue for hours, just waiting for the stores to open. Fights breaking out because of line jumpers at a Best Buy at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando. Officers getting called into the picture to break fights. 1 person may be arrested for it. Imagine spending the start of the Christmas season in jail.

This is Christmas shopping at the malls. I mean, is it worth it risking your life for that discount, when you can get discounts that are just as good, or even better online?

That comes to my first tip

#1 Do your christmas gift buying online.

There are websites that feature discounts you can get online. http://www.cheapestsale.com is such a website which features products from various stores, showcases the best discounts and helps you pick the best price at your own time. No queues, no stampedes. Just safe shopping. Another place you can see the discounts from multiple online stores is http://www.womanht.com/discounts. Every item there is going at below the retail price. You don't have to go from store to store to search for the discounts. They are all put upfront for you right there.

#2 Think about a person's reaction before you buy that gift

Talking about safe christmas gift giving, there are a few gifts to avoid if you want to stay out of hospital this christmas.

If your wife/girlfriend is overweight, for your personal safety, do NOT give her the following

1. Diet Plan
2. Weight Loss aids or supplements
3. Maternity clothing
4. Anything that suggests that she needs to lose weight.

#3 Get organized.

Now, how do you get your Christmas gift shopping organized?

1. Make a list of all the people you are going to give gifts too. It can be quite embarassing if you miss someone out. Go by categories. If you already know what each person wants for Christmas and it is within your budget, then write it down. If you don't and you want to surprise the person, then you could use that gift giving guide for ideas as to what to get for each person in your list.

2. Think of each person in your immediate family, your extended family, your spouse's extended family, cousins, nephews, nieces and all. Decide who you are going to gift presents too.

3. Think about your workplace. Your co workers, your boss, your clients, vendors, everyone you come into contact with in the office. Who should go on your list?

4. Think about your social circle. Each social group you belong to. Who are the ones you would exchange gifts with?

5. Now how about those you missed out. To avoid embarassment, get a few generic gifts, wrap them up but do not label them. Use the color or pattern of the wrapping paper to distinguish the contents. Write down in your notebook what each contains based on the pattern or color of the wrapping paper. When you someone gives you a gift and you have forgotten to get anything from that person, you can always fish out a gift from that lot and discretely write the name.