Best Gift Idea If You Don't Have Time To Shop (Or Can't Face The Malls) This Year

Truly the best gift idea ever to be invented is the almighty Gift Certificate. This little beauty is to be revered for so many reasons. Here are a few reasons you should be relying on gift certificates this year:

• You would rather have hot needles placed under your fingernails than go to the shopping mall at Christmas
• You have no imagination
• Things that you wrap end up looking either scary or funny - not the reaction you were hoping for
• You would like your entire holiday shopping expedition to be finished and done with in under 30 minutes

Of course gift certificates have evolved over the years and now you can buy someone a gift certificate for almost anything. This is so adaptable and means that everyone on your list could be getting exactly what they want instead of shoving your gift to the back of the closet, asking if you kept the receipt or re-wrapping and gifting someone else with it.

Here's an example of a ingenious company that has flown in like a superhero to save the day for the huddled masses of gift-buying-challenged souls who find this time of year particularly painful. The company is "GiftCertificates.com" and you could literally do all your gift shopping at this one place. They have different ways of shopping, by occasion, by product, by recipient, by category and even by location. They can deliver your gift by email if you want and their cards can be used in physical stores or online.

This is the list of merchants they gave me when I searched by location within 10 miles of my zip:

Zales Gift Cards
Buca di Beppo Gift Cards
Sally Beauty Supply Gift Cards
Eddie Bauer Gift Cards
Bloomingdale's Gift Cards
Banana Republic Gift Cards
Old Navy Gift Cards
EXPRESS Gift Cards
Tony Roma's Gift Cards
The Sharper Image® Gift Cards
Pep Boys Gift Cards
Crate&Barrel Gift Cards
AMC Theatres Gift Cards
REI e-Gift Cards
AnchorBlue Gift Cards
Jack in the Box Gift Cards
Famous Footwear Gift Cards
Black Angus Steakhouse Gift Cards
Benihana Gift Cards
Catherines Gift Cards
Barnes & Noble Gift Cards
Sunglass Hut Gift Cards
Staples Gift Cards
Linens 'N Things Gift Cards
PETCO Gift Cards
T.J. Maxx Gift Cards
Spa Finder Gift Cards
Finish Line Gift Cards
Lowe's Gift Cards
Claim Jumper Restaurants Gift Cards
Buckle Gift Cards
GameStop Gift Cards
Bath & Body Works Gift Cards
Circuit City Gift Cards
Pottery Barn Gift Cards
Barnes & Noble e-Gift Cards
The Sharper Image e-Gift Card
Marriott Gift Cards
Pier 1 Imports Gift Cards
Boston Market Gift Cards
Best Western Gift Cards
Gap Gift Cards
Hat World Gift Cards
Restoration Hardware Gift Cards
Panera Bread Gift Cards
KB Toys Gift Cards
Best Buy Gift Cards
JCPenney Gift Cards
SpaWish.com Gift Certificates
J.Crew Gift Cards
Men's Wearhouse Gift Cards
Williams-Sonoma Gift Cards
Borders Books and Music Gift Cards
Target Gift Cards
Brookstone Gift Cards
Bed Bath & Beyond Gift Cards
Foot Locker Gift Cards

They have gift bundles, MasterCard Gift cards, Merchant Gift cards, all suited to specific preferences and all ages, even babies.

For women they have ideas like "A Day Off For Mom" which includes $50 Spa Finder Gift Card, $25 Bath & Body Works Gift Card and a $25 Ruby Tuesday; the "Workout Enthusiast Bundle" which contains a $50 Nike Gift Card and a $25 iTunes Gift Card. There is even a MerryMaids gift card so that she can have a free housecleaning done on you.

The categories worth looking at for women:

Jewelry - Merchants include Macy's, Bloomingdales, Fossil, Saks Fifth Avenue and Zales, the diamond store and more.
Health and Beauty - Merchants include Sephora, SpaWish, Bath & Body Works, Regis Salons and more
Shoes and Accessories - Some of the merchants are Famous Footwear, Express, Eddie Bauer, GAP, Foot Locker, LL Bean, Land's End, J. Crew and loads more.
Clothing - Some of the clothing merchants are Old Navy, Anchor Blue, Banana Republic, Barneys New York, Talbots, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Limited and more.
Home - Merchants include Pottery Barn, TJ Maxx, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Brookstone, Cooking.com, Crate & Barrel and more.
Travel - Send her away (in a good way) for a few days with gift cards from American Airlines, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, Best Western, Budget, Avis, Travelocity or any of the other merchants in their travel section.

Or you can just buy dinner for her and a friend at places like Buca di Beppo, Tony Roma's or McCormick & Schmick's.

There is even a section for pregnant women with gift certificates to "A Pea in the Pod" and Pottery Barn Kids, to name a few. This is a great idea for baby showers.

So, for those of us who fly into gift-choosing hypertension every holiday, birthday, wedding, shower or anniversary, or just become major crabs around this time of year (very attractive attitude to have in the season of good will to all men, by the way), we can now relax in the knowledge that we are only 10 minutes away from being in possession of the best gift in the world - the Life-Saving Gift Certificate. Check it out for yourself: "GiftCertificates.com"

Women's Perfume - The No-Brainer Gift

To buy perfume for a woman as a gift is probably the biggest no-brainer, but it's also the surest bet for success in gift buying. Women love perfume. Just find out her favorite fragrance, buy it, have it wrapped in a glamorous way and you are an instant star in her life.

Just be careful not to make these mistakes:

• Don't assume that just because she likes a certain celebrity she will automatically want to wear their latest fragrance
• Please do not buy any perfume unless you know exactly the one she loves - it shows you are not paying attention
• If you happen to catch a whiff of said perfume and think it reminds you of your 79 year old aunt, do not under any circumstances share your thoughts with her

Instead, do this:

• Sneak around and try to find out from other people such as family and friends what her favorite fragrance is. Just make sure they are not blabbermouths
• If you can't find out from other people, try to be casual about asking her without giving the game away - remember, a gift is always more appreciated when it's a surprise

If you are working with a limited budget:

There are certain ways of avoiding an inner meltdown when buying your gift:

• Try to find discount perfumes stores. Once you know the name of the perfume, do a search online and do a price comparison
• Look on eBay. Throughout this report I will be providing price information on the perfumes, i.e., what they are selling for retail or on Amazon, and then comparing those prices with eBay prices, together with a link to the perfume's specific page on eBay as a shortcut. Just click the eBay links and they will take you to Perfumes For Her, which is just a website that "channels" eBay's perfume listings, saving you time traipsing through the halls of eBay.
• Sometimes shopping malls have discount perfume stalls set up. Just make sure you know the regular price to avoid being ripped

Tips that will make you look smart:

• Know the difference between eau de parfum and eau de toilette (or toilet water in the vernacular). Basically the more concentrated a perfume is, the more expensive. The top of the line is in perfume form, then eau de parfum which is not as concentrated (hint -for gift giving, this is the most popular form). Next is the more subtle eau de toilette, or toilet water. This is the more affordable form of scent and not undesirable - even though it's called toilet water - it just has a lighter quality (lighter on your wallet, too)
• Perfume has three layers which are described as notes. The top notes are the ones that evaporate first, the middle notes next and then the base notes which are the slower evaporating fixatives. Perfume should be worn on natural heat areas such as inside the elbow, by the ears, base of the neck and the cleavage. Wearing it on the wrist crushes the scent
• Marilyn Monroe's favorite perfume was Chanel No. 5. Stars today favor perfume by Burberry, Creed and Dolce & Gabbana

So what are the most popular perfumes for women?

According to the search results in Pulse provided by eBay, after the word "perfume" there are nine named perfumes most searched for as of the date of this posting, November 2007...

1. Juicy Couture
The 3.4 EDP is retailing at $60 on Amazon and on eBay from $29 all the way up to $70

2. Chanel
eBay's not specific about which one, but it's probably Marilyn's fave, No. 5, since other celebs have given the nod to this classic. A quick look reveals Allure and Coco are up there competing with No.5. On Amazon Chanel No. 5 is currently selling for $65. On eBay the 3.4 fl.oz EDP has been sold from $23.08 to $64.95.

3. Victoria's Secret
There are so many different fragrances from VS that it's hard to pinpoint the most popular. From a quick scan on eBay it looks like gift sets of VS are selling really well, probably getting ready for Christmas.

4. Calvin Klein Euphoria
The 3.4 fl.oz eau de parfum retails for around $70 on Amazon and currently selling on eBay from $29.95 up to $54.

5. Armani
Again, there are many different perfumes for women from Armani and it's anyone's guess as to the big seller. After a quick peek on eBay, it looks like Diamonds is the clear favorite coming in at around $55 for the 3.4fl.oz EDP, not bad since it retails for around $67. There are actually 12 Armani perfumes for women: Acqua Di Gio, Emporio Armani, Mania, Armani Code Femme, Emporio, Armani White for Her, Mania Femme, City Glam Femme, Emporio Night, Sensi, Diamonds, Emporio Remix and Sensi White Note.

6. Burberry
Burberry Brit looks like the big seller here, although there are other perfumes in the Burberry line. The Burberry Brit 3.4 fl.oz EDP retails around $70 and is currently being sold on eBay from $20.50 to around $38.95 and on Amazon for $36.99

7. Vera Wang
Looking at the results on eBay it would seem that Vera Wang's self-named fragrance is the most popular, followed by Princess and Truly Pink. The 3.4 EDP of Vera Wang has been sold on eBay from $10.50 up to $67.50 and Princess has sold from $18.50 to $36 and is currently available on Amazon for $65.

8. Estee Lauder
With more than 11 different EL perfumes, only going by recent eBay sales, it seems that Pleasures is the most purchased of Estee's line. Prices for the 3.4 EDP range from $21.99 to $34.99 on eBay and $49.99 on Amazon.

9. Bvlgari
Most popular Bvlgari on eBay these days is Rose Essentielle selling from $20.50 to $50.99 for the 3.4 EDP. On Amazon I could only find the 1.7 fl.oz EDP and that was priced at $28.99.