From Tracie: How To Give The Perfect Gift Every Time With PickURGift.com

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

How To Give The Perfect Gift Every Time With PickURGift.com

*This post has been sponsored. I was not required to say nice things, or to spend hours finding perfect presents for every person I love.

Gift giving can be simultaneously beautiful and stressful. I think this is why gift cards have become so popular. It seems easier to just give someone the card, and let them buy what they want.

When I was a kid, my dad had a firm no gift card rule. He would say, "Gift cards are so impersonal. Go to the store, and choose something specific." Protestations of, "But what if she doesn't like it? I want to give her something she really wants, and this way she can pick it out," were met with, "She will be happy to get a gift, and will like that you took the time to choose it. That makes it special."

While he was probably right, and it is fun to pick out something specific, I know we have all been the recipient of at least one gift that wasn't exactly something we wanted. Like the time my husband tried to buy me a shirt - it was a nice thought, but there was no way I could actually wear that shirt out in public.

If only someone would invent a way for us to buy gifts without frustration, firm in the knowledge that the gift receiver will love our choice. Frustrated gift giver, your wish has been answered. Meet pickURgift.com, a free service that allows you to make a reverse wishlist.

pickURgift logo

What is a reverse wishlist, and how does it work? You create a list full of gifts you think your friend would love. Once the list is complete, you send it to said friend. She will look at the list, give feedback and mark the things she likes, and send it back to you. Now you know which gifts would be a hit, and you can choose one of them to buy. It takes all the stress out of gift giving.

Registering with pickURgift
The registration process is easy. They only require your name, email address, and birthday. Since you don't purchase any products through pickURgift, you will not be asked for credit card information.

The UR Button
After your account is set up, you are ready to start creating reverse wishlists. The first step is adding the bookmarklet, called a UR Button, to your bookmarks bar. It is a simple, onetime drag and drop process, but they do have instructions for every browser type if you have any difficulties. This is great for when you invite your parents, who might not be as tech-savvy as you are, to join. You won't have to spend a long time on the phone talking them through it.

adding the UR Button bookmarklet

Now that you have the UR Button in your bookmarks bar, you are ready to window shop and create wishlists. (Window shopping in your pajamas is bliss.) When you find something your friend would like, click the UR Button. A pickURgift box will pop up on the right side of the screen. You choose the gift recipient and wish list from drop down menus, click on the image you want displayed, and also have the option of adding a note or description.

UR Button in action

You can add to your wishlists easily anytime you come across something that you think might be a great fit. When you have completed your list, you tell pickURgift to email it to your friend. A notification will pop up on your dashboard when your recipient picks gifts from your list that she would like, or leaves comments on the gifts you picked.

I started this wishlist for my mom (shhhh - don't tell her, I'm not ready to send it yet), and you can see that I can easily edit or delete items from the wishlist page.

Reverse Wishlist Gift Page

Even if you don't choose to send your reverse wishlist to your friend for feedback, you will have all of your gift ideas organized and saved to make your shopping easy.

Contacts and Profiles
Within the pickURgift website, you have the ability to build a contact list. For each contact you add, you can record their personal gift dates like birthdays and anniversaries. This is great for people like me who can barely remember my own anniversary, much less anyone else's.

More wonderful than remembering the dates, pickURgift gives each contact a preferences profile that includes clothing sizes, color choices, and other important information. No more guessing if those kicky shoes will fit, or that great sweater will be too big.

You aren't limited on contacts or wishlists, so you can get started on your list building whenever you come across something you think might be perfect for a friend or family member (I'm looking at you early Christmas shoppers). I've already started reverse wishlists for several people.

This is where I really see the brilliance of pickURgift.com. My mom lives on the other side of the country, and when she wants to send gifts to Katarina, it involves a LOT of phone calls, emails, and messages asking me questions about sizes, preferences, and opinions. My mom likes to pick out gifts herself, but not being here everyday can make it hard to know exactly what to buy. I hate sending her a gift list, because I don't know how much money she is planning on spending, and it always feels a little bit awkward to ask for specific presents.

It will be fabulous for my mom to be able to build a list of items she would be able to buy, and send it to me to look over. I can pick the things that will work best, and then she can order them when she is ready. I can even show something to Katarina to get her reaction without Katarina knowing it has anything to do with a gift possibility.

If the gift is clothes (grandmas love sending cute outfits) my mom will be able to look at the preferences profile, and have all the size information right there waiting for her. That will stop those midnight phone calls to ask, "Should I get a medium or large in this shirt, and what shoe size is Katarina wearing now?" Everyone will be happy.

How does pickURgift.com work?

I love websites that make my life easier, and pickURgift is definitely one of the good ones. You can find them at pickURgift.com, on facebook, and twitter.

What is the best gift you have ever given or received?

47 comments:

  1. I struggle with this. As we are all so far apart now a days I love being able to get their feedback so I know they will love it but at the same time I still love surprises. Do you think there is a way we could send this to someone else to review. i.e. list for my sister-in-law, can I send it to my brother to review. That way I get input but it's still a surprise.

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    1. Mary, that is a GENIUS idea!! And it is totally possible.

      In fact, when you go to send the list, you can send it to up to 4 different email addresses, so you could even get a few different opinions if you wanted.

      The perfect gift, surprise intact, no stress for you!

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    2. Mary,
      Like Tracie said on the gift page you create there is an "Opinion" section that allows you to get feed back on you gift ideas. The people you are asking an opinion from will get a copy of you page and can comment back to you........NO SHE ALREADY HAS TWO OF THOSE GADGETS!!

      Rick Swenson co-founder pickURgift.com

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  2. I love the idea of a reverse wishlist, that is totally unique and a great way to really gift thing things loved ones truly want! Thanks for sharing this site, perfect timing!

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    1. You are so very welcome. I know it will make your shopping much easier.

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  3. This is a GREAT idea. I struggle so much with one friend of mine and I have no idea why. Some people are much easier to shop for than she is. I never know what she'll like but I do enjoy trying, rather than just the trusty old Starbucks gift card I often give her. And I know she enjoys it, but still!

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    1. This will be perfect for her. And you can always put a Starbucks gift card on the list - she might just pick it! :)

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  4. What a great idea. I'm going to ask my husband to sign up, because he is SO hard to shop for!

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    1. Awesome. I bet as you make wishlists for him, and see what he picks, you will find it gets easier to shop for him.

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  5. This is a perfect idea! I really wish someone would've thought of a reverse wishlist years ago!

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    1. Right? It is one of those things that seems so smart, you are sure it must have existed for forever...but then you realize that it is actually fairly new.

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  6. I hate giving gift cards but I always struggle with finding a gift that someone will actually want. This looks like a great idea. Thanks.

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  7. Don't even say another thing!! Despite begging my father for years to only give me gift cards, he INSISTS on an actual gift...I am TOTALLY doing this list right now and never again will I have to open another glass paperweight with my initials on it! ;) Thank you!!-Ashley

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    1. I think you should make a reverse wishlist for him, and send it to him with a little note that says, "Let's try shopping with pickURgift this year," and he will certainly make one for you. We can only hope that the list he builds will be mercifully free of initialed glass paperweights.

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  8. I will have to check this out. I am always preparing my Christmas gift shopping list.

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    1. Awesome. This will totally help to make that list preparing more fun and easy.

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    2. Victoria,
      The gift storage and sorting idea for the site was created by our users. Nick and I built it for the Reverse Wishlist but then we saw our users start to use it to store ideas. It was fun to see it develop into something we did not expect.

      Rick Swenson co-founder pickURgift.com

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  9. Reverse gift list! What an amazing idea :) I'm no good at picking gifts for other people, so I do like this idea.

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  10. This sounds like a great idea! I love that the gift-giver still gets to spend the time picking out the gifts, but the receiver (or someone close to them) can let you know which ones they favor.

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    1. Exactly!! It works out awesome from both sides, and everyone ends up happy.

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  11. I really like the idea of a reverse wishlist. It would make my job of picking out presents for my nieces so much easier!

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    1. Yes! Kids can be so hard to shop for.

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    2. Pam,
      The one thing we at pickURgift.com are doing is following the online child protection act. If your nieces are less than 13 years old we strongly encourage you to use pickURgift ( a lot users find it helpful) and send the page to the parents so they are involved.
      I hope you keep us in mind.
      Rick Swenson co-founder

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  12. This is a great Ideal! I need to try this with my hubby, he is so picky. I buy him stuff that just stays in the box.

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    1. Try it for sure. You can have fun picking things out, and he will get something he really wants. Win-win.

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  13. I think this is a great idea! I need to set up an account, and send the links to my husband!

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    1. Definitely. Y'all's Christmas will be so much more fun this year when you are both getting gifts you want! :)

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  14. I like this idea! It would prevent people from experiencing the embarassment of gifting something that the recipient hates and has to choke themselves just to say thank you.

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    1. Exactly. I'm all about anything that cuts out awkward embarrassing moments and makes people happy.

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  15. This is such a great idea! It is nice to give a gift, but no one wants to give a gift that is not appreciated. I will have to look into this the next time I am looking to purchase gifts for friends and family.

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    1. You've go it! I think you will really love using pickURgift, and your friends and family will love it too.

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  16. oh, i love this!! my hubby's SUPER Hard to buy for :(

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  17. This is a really neat idea. I have several people in my life that are really difficult to buy for. This would be so great.

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    1. This will definitely cut down on the difficulty in those gift buying decisions.

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  18. What a fantastic idea! I never know what to get!

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    1. I love that you can get really creative with your lists, and put random stuff on there that you aren't sure if they will really love or not - without having to risk spending money if those random gifts didn't hit the mark.

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    2. You always have ideas you just never know which one is the best. This allows you to put down your ideas and takes the stress out of gift giving. In the end you satisfy your desire to give and they get something they want and can use.

      Rick Swenson co-founder pickURgift

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  19. How fun! I want someone to do this for me! Now, how to get my friends and family to know about it...tricky.

    But I can tell my husband right now!

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    1. Wendy,
      Hi I am Rick, one of the co-founders of pickURgift.com
      We are a small operation so growing by word of mouth is big for us so we have a way to easily introduce the site. If you sign up and go to contacts we have a Introduce UR button. If you have a yahoo or gmail account you can login in send emails introducing us. The default message can easily be changed to something from you. I hope that helps.
      Rick Swenson

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  20. What a great site. Some people are easy to buy for and some are difficult to buy. This site could really be a great to to use. I love to buy what some one really wants, not what I think they want

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    1. I have far too many difficult to buy for friends and family in my life. It really is hard to find something they really really want, and not just something they will be polite about and then hide in a spare closet.

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  21. What a helpful site. I have such a hard time picking a gift out.

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    1. It is super helpful! I think you will love using it, and find that gift shopping is much more fun once you remove the stress of not knowing if the recipient will like it.

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  22. Oh wow! What a great site and a great idea. It will make it much easier to get a gift for someone who is hard to shop for!

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