2012

Speaking of Christmas shopping, every year, I make a mental note to do my Christmas shopping early but every year, I find myself panicking and making a mad dash down to town the week before Christmas to fight off the other 3.2 million Singaporeans who are also scrambling for last-minute Christmas presents.

We all know that panic shopping leads to gifts that look half-arsed or perfunctory, which is only marginally better than not getting any gifts at all.

This year, I’ve been good.

I’ve made lists, checked them twice and even prepared back up plans in case they’re out of stock since the start of November. And I’ve done it all without having to step out of the house. In two weeks time, while everyone else is fighting it out over last minute presents down at the stores, I’m going to be sipping my latte and admiring the boxes of presents all wrapped up and arranged neatly under my Christmas tree.

I’ve come to realize that the secret to getting thoughtful gifts is to get stuff that aren’t sold everywhere, or better yet, stuff that aren’t even retailing here. So when they open their gifts, they’ll be like “Wow thanks, this is really cool, where did you get it from?” and you can be all like “Oh, it’s one of a kind. I had it shipped all the way from this charming little store in Sausalito, California.” Then they’ll be like OMG, best gift ever in their heads.

Two words: Online shopping.

Ok, three more words: With vPOST shipping.

With vPOST, you can shop from anywhere in USA, Europe, Japan and China and have it delivered to your doorstep via a personalized vPOST address. It even allows you to consolidate the purchases from different merchants and enjoy lower shipping charges.

I’ve curated a list of awesome gift ideas from really cool stores and in the spirit of Christmas, I’m sharing them with you guys.

1. Monkey Hat – $35 USD

2. Forest Babies Puzzle – $13 USD

3. Star Wars Tee – $68 USD

4. 2 Tone Check Bow Tie – $25 USD

5. Lil Shopper Play Set – $24.95 USD

6. Flora Fest Twirly Dress $39 USD

7. Foxy Fox Organic Onesie $28 USD

8. Plaid Blazer $69 USD

9. Swoop Bag $48 USD

10. Playsilks $14.95 USD

What’s more – I couldn’t find these items in the Singapore retail stores, so they’ll be one of a kind.

*From now till 31 December, ship with vPOST for a chance to win a dream holiday in the lucky draw. Customers who pay their vPOST shipping invoice using their DBS/POSB Credit or Debit cards get double the chances and those using the DBS Woman’s card get 5 x chances.

1^st Prize: A pair of Air Tickets to New York OR London

2^nd Prize: A pair of Air Tickets to Tokyo

3^rd Prize: A pair of Air Tickets to Beijing

We don’t get a lot of toys for the kids because we’ve come to realize that the lifespan of most toys isn’t very long. I’ll admit that we did splurge on some stuffed animals, figurines and even those fancy developmental toys with lots of buttons that beeped, talked or sang when Truett was much younger. But they never lasted very long and once the novelty of the beepy sounds wore off, they all got relegated to the Box Where Toys Go To Die one by one.

So far the only toys that have some sort of longevity are those that require some creative thinking on their part and are versatile enough for different role-play scenarios.

Like Lego bricks.

The kids have been playing with Lego Duplo since they were like 1.5 years old and till this day, they’re still playing with the same bricks. They’ve just advanced from building unidentifiable blobs to slightly more advanced creations.

The awesome thing is that they’re not limited to building rational objects. They can literally make anything they want, like a flying treehouse or a helicopter rocket ship or an angry moustached man with six and a half limbs. Half the fun is having them explain exactly what they’ve built and seeing the world through their eyes.

Naturally, the kids were thrilled to be invited to attend a Lego Duplo event at Hokey Pokey, an indoor playground. We told them that they’d have access to a giant box of Lego bricks and they were like “is it really really huge, like 1 million Legos?” 1 million is their default large number of choice, which in their heads, is basically anything more than 25.

Unfortunately, Kirsten came down with a bug on that day so only Truett got to play with his 1 million Lego bricks. Which he enjoyed tremendously. Most of the kids were running around the different play areas before the programme started but Truett was like a homing device who immediately located the Lego stash and went to town with it.

During the event, the kids were all given Lego bricks and tasked to build 2 items: their dream home and their favorite animal.

Turns out my son’s dream home is the equivalent of a JTC flatted factory and his favorite animal is a turtle-snail-duck with a hump. I think another trip to the zoo is in order.

It’s almost Christmas and if you haven’t done your shopping yet, now’s the perfect time to panic. Except you won’t have to because I have just the thing to make the last-minute scrambling a little less scrambly.

Usually, when I’m in my panic-shopping mode, I start wandering the malls along Orchard Road (starting from ION Orchard and making my way down to Plaza Singapura), hoping that I’ll stumble upon the perfect gift somewhere along the way. It usually doesn’t work because I’ll start to get tired and irritable from having to jostle with the maddening crowd after 25 minutes.

No, Christmas shopping requires stamina, determination, lots of focus and most importantly, a PLAN.

Which is what the folks at CapitaMalls have come up with. A solid shopping plan.

1. Download the CapitaMalls Wishlist app on your iPhone.

It’s an app that features more than 500 gift ideas from over 90 participating retailers across 16 CapitaMalls in Singapore, allowing you to browse catalogues and get inspiration for gift ideas. Instead of having to roam the shops aimlessly for ideas, do it with the swipe of a finger.

2. Start browsing for gift ideas. 

The items are catalogued according to categories so you can search for stuff under Fashion & Accessories, Housewares & Furnishings, etc. Or you can browse Popular Gifts according to Age & Gender. Or check out curated Gift Idea lists like this one which I did “For Kids”.

3. Plan your route.

Once you’ve decided on the items to get, make use of the Shopping Planner function to locate them at the nearest CapitaMall. This way, you know exactly where to go to pick up the stuff.

4. Save with Mobile eCoupon Deals. 

When you’re out and about, make use of the app to enjoy more than 40 exclusive Mobile eCoupon deals at participating retailers.

5. Create your own Wishlist.

With this app, you can also form your own wishlist of gifts you’d like to receive and share the list with your friends. Or better yet, browse your friends’ wishlists to find out what they want for Christmas so you can surprise them with something you know they’ll definitely like.

*From now till 31 December, create a wishlist to stand a chance to be one of 10 to win $500 worth of CapitaVouchers in the Grand Draw. The first 250 shoppers every week who share their wishlists with 10 friends will receive $20 worth of CapitaVouchers to fulfill their wishes. Check out http://wishlist.capitamallsasia.com for more.

And finally, download CapitaMalls Wishlist iPhone App from the App Store and start your Christmas shopping now!