With Christmas rapidly approaching, shopping for the season looks quite different this year due to coronavirus.
Luckily we can still get our Christmas shopping done safely, with just a few adjustments.
Here is your guide to Christmas shopping safely during a pandemic:
Shop Online
First and foremost, it is a lot safer to do your Christmas shopping from your home.
Online shopping is a quick and easy way you can get the Christmas presents you want and ensure you are safe.
This also helps keep down the number of people out and about, which is safer for everyone.
To be successful in your online shopping, there are a few things to keep in mind.
You’ll want to start as soon as possible to help with delayed shipping during the pandemic, make a list so you have a game plan and get everything that you want to, create a budget because clicking can go a lot quicker than swiping a card, and have a number of trusted websites you can go to for your shopping.
One of the most popular and coveted Christmas presents are handbags.
If you are shopping for a handbag for your mom, sister or partner for example, have an idea of the type of handbag you want to get, how much you want to spend and a couple different brands that you trust.
From there, you can pull up websites and start perusing!
A really great one for this kind of gift is Mirta, that offers 100% Made in Italy handmade leather bags, so you can shop according to your guidelines and also feel great about your purchase as you are supporting small businesses.
Once you know the gift you want to purchase, you can mark the item as a gift and ship it directly to the receiver’s home.
If the retailer does not offer the gifting option, you can email them and ask what the options are.
If you are in a pinch, select ‘Curbside Pick-Up’ so you can reduce the amount of exposure.
In-store shopping
If you must go out and shop in physical stores because the items you want are not available online, plan ahead and take measures to ensure you are shopping safely.
This includes always having your mask on, bringing hand sanitizer, keeping 6 feet distance from others.
Avoid touching your face, try not to fiddle with your mask and always sanitize your hands after using a public restroom or before eating.
You also want to be as efficient as possible while in store, as tempting as browsing may be.
And again, you want to start as soon as possible!
There will always be crowds around Christmas, and the sooner you go the fewer people there will be shopping in stores with you.
This helps you feel even more relaxed as you already have gifts for your loved ones, and helps to keep you and everyone safer as well.
Overall, experts expect Christmas to be quite different this year regarding consumer’s shopping choices so it is important to be mindful of these.
Retailers are bringing Christmas early with sales happening now, and with items being delayed or even not available, consumers want to take advantage of what is available now so they have their Christmas presents ready to gift in time.