FashBlog.com

By Christina VanGinkel

You have shopped until you can shop no more. You have been to every store, every mall, browsed every online storefront and then some. All in search of the perfect gift for the teenage boy or girl on your holiday shopping list. You are almost resigned to give them a gift card, but you had sworn when you first began your holiday shopping that you would not give anyone a gift card. You want to make each of your gifts as special as it can possibly be. Not to mention that if you give them a gift card that they will end up buying some outrageous fashion that will not be something you would approve of, and you do not want to be responsible for enabling their choice of bizarre selections.

Go ahead, give them the gift card, actually a facsimile of one, keeping the original in your possession, and give them a card with a notation that the gift is a day out shopping with you! Set a date right from the start, if you are the parent this will be easier, as you already know their schedule, and your own. If it is a niece or nephew, or some other relation, then be sure to check with the parents beforehand, to see what they feel would be a good date. If you do not set the date right at the time of the giving of the gift, it will be too easy to say that it will be soon, or in a week or two. Before you know it, summer will be here and gone and another holiday season will be approaching and the gift from this year will still be on the little plastic card, with its whereabouts not even sure of!

Once the date has been set, plan to drive together to wherever you will be shopping. This will give you some time to quiz them on what styles and fashions they are into if this is not something you are specifically aware of. If they normally dress in a manner that you do not approve of, keep in mind that this is not the time to try to change their style in a single afternoon, but definitely use the time to steer them towards more basic fashions, or at least some items less dramatic than their normal stuff.

Be sure to include as much fun in the shopping as you can. Suggest trying on fashions that they may not normally wear, but be sure to let them know that you would not suggest they purchase any of those fashions, that it just is in fun. If the gift card is to a more extravagant store, call ahead to arrange the help of a personal shopper if the store offers this service, as they often are available with no extra charge. Some stores may require that a certain dollar amount is going to be spent, while some stores even offer the aid of a personal shopper without any guidelines to the amount of money being spent at all. Professional shoppers are often much more in tune to teen fashion than the typical adult will ever be, and teens are much more apt to listen to suggestions from someone other than the immediate adult in their life. If you are the parent, this may be an ideal way to get your teen to open up to some other style suggestions than the current ones they are sporting.

One note to keep in mind is that if you give this gift to more than one teenager, unless they are very close in age and of the same gender, do not attempt to combine the shopping trips. Keep them separate, otherwise, you risk having what should have been a fun shopping experience turn into a disaster. There is no better way to bore a teen than to ask one to wait patiently for hours on end while another one tries on fashions in their part of the store with promises that it will be their turn next. Teens are not patient by nature, and just do not wait well. At the least, the first teen will feel rushed to pick out their gifts so that you can hurry to get the other shopping done. In the end, you will have spent the day both connecting with the specials teen in your life, and getting them some fun, up to date fashions.