Fighting my way through a crowded store with my arms full of packages is not my first choice of hobbies. My mother adores shopping, but I did not inherit that part of her genetic composition. The part that I detest the most, however, is trying to guess what gifts everyone would actually enjoy and appreciate. I used to have this ever present fear that all of my shopping efforts would culminate in a rushed trip back to the store or, worse, out to the garbage can. I could never develop any sort of confidence about what to get my Grandma or Uncle Arthur. Now, I can enjoy the stores, especially during the holidays, because I can walk through empty handed, unhurried, with all of my shopping already long finished. I do all my shopping on the Internet, now. Well almost all of it.
Online shopping didn’t save my life all by itself. Just because I started using the Web before any of my friends, I still had to make the decisions. And then, around five years ago, or so, I discovered food.
That wasn’t very honestly phrased, because I discovered food when I was still an infant. But I didn’t discover food as a gift idea until recently. You see, at that time I received a gift basket full of hardly edible sausages, processed cheese spreads (mostly chemicals I think) and crackers that were about as crunchy as a rock. However, the poor quality of what passed as food in that gift turned out to be my inspiration. “What,” I thought, “If I had received genuinely good food?” How different that would have been, and how much I would have enjoyed it.
Since that moment of momentous insight on my part, I have been a dedicated sampler of a variety of food gifts that I buy for myself on the Internet. I have found that the online gift food stores handle everything from shipping to the accompanying gift cards. Yes, I actually send myself a gift card to test the store’s dedication to detail. The Internet boutiques are now the sources for all of my gifts, except those gifts of my loved ones who happen to live very nearby.
These Internet shops offer everything from gourmet fruit baskets to lobster dinners (well, they won’t be alive when they are actually eaten), from wine gift baskets to cookie bouquets. The array of gift foods is really quite amazing.
I do keep gift foods around the house, beautifully or cleverly arranged, for my guests who come to my house or for those whom I visit in person during those gift giving times. The Internet provides assistance to me even in these cases, because it is packed full of great ideas for arranging and wrapping gift food.
So help me thank the Internet for allowing me to walk through an aisle of a store, empty handed, with a huge smile. I can do that, now, just to soak up the spirit of the season, whatever season it happens to be. I’m a tourist when I’m there instead of a harried shopper.
Tags: food gift, Food Gifts, fruit basket, gift idea, gift ideas, live lobster, lobster dinner, wine gift basket