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The joy of the holiday season is associated with shopping for many. Holiday season is for buying gifts to the near and dear ones, pampering oneself with goodies and refurbishing oneself with novelties to replace old and stale items around the household.

Shopping in the holiday season should not however lead one to unbridled over-indulgence leading to a long term debt trap. Here are some useful tips to make holiday shopping a pleasurable experience, both at the time of shopping as well as afterwards.

== Shopping for Holiday Should Bring Happiness or At Least Peace of Mind ==

Don't rely on your Credit Card's minimum payout amount. Plan before hand how much you want to spend and save the amount before hand. When the credit Card bill comes, pay it out fully. Thus you have both - the items as well as peace of mind!

== Find What Your Child Loves And Negotiate on it ==

After all, if your child wants a very costly item, either your should earn enough to afford it or your child should become deserving to earn it. Combine the presentation of the gift with a condition, something like "You must help your mother to clean the dining table every night, if you really want to get the gift from us".

== Avoid Last Minute Rush ==

Why should you get tensed up amidst surging crowds, irritable salesmen, hiked up prices and long and winding queues? Why don't you shop much earlier and avoid crowds and delays? Better still, why not shop comfortably sitting relaxed just in front of your computer by purchasing straight away from ebay.com, Amazon.com or the like?

== Nothing Wrong in Strict Budgets ==

Let every one in the family know that there is an upper limit for spending on gifts. Do not encourage your partner of your children to pester you or cajole you to get a costlier item than what you have budgeted.

== Make Sure the Gift Has a Longer Lasting Value ==

A bouquet gives you instant pleasure, has an emotional value, but it is fit to be thrown into the dust bin after a couple of days. A perfume is useful, perhaps for a month. A dress will remain for a few months. A Cell phone will last probably for a year (though it may still be alive for a longer period, people get attracted by latest models beyond the period). A computer software will be with you for a couple of years. A piece of gold will live much longer and it carries a a resale value.

== Make Sure the Gift to Your Children Has a Purpose (If You Really Can!) ==

Children get attracted, by nature, to novel items which live short! They are charmed by instant gratification. Instinctively, they are cautious to avoid picking up a gift that has a purpose of teaching something! But, at least make a successful sales talk to them to choose a present that has a better value.

A board game like Scrabble is better than a battery operated Car that breaks down after 3 days. A Computer game that teaches Strategical playing (like "Age of Empires", "Roller Coaster Tycoon", "Zoo Tycoon" etc) is any day better than an gun wielding and action-packed games. Even if you do not succeed in convincing them this year, at least you have made your point and it may sink into them hopefully next year!

After all Festivals come for rejoicing. We should not end up getting a bitter taste at our tongue once all the excitements of the holiday season are over.

Learn more about this author, C.V.Rajan.
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