Twenty-five days ‘til Christmas. If you’re not counting, better start now. I am. Counting the number of people I yet have to buy gifts for. So far I have two people crossed off my list — Mom and Dad, and I’m sure they’ll be happy with some love, affection and a promise that I’ll go home more often. So that leaves me with pretty much a gazillion people to go and play Santa for. Ugh!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not Scrooge reincarnate. I love giving gifts. I’ve never just been really good at buying them on time for the occasion. For all the hours I spend in the mall for work, I still can’t find the time to really get down and do some serious Christmas shopping. It’s the selection process that gets to me: which one goes to whom?
So I positively go crazy over gift packs, one of those God-given blessings that make life so much easier. They’re pre-selected and pre-packed in nice colorful boxes or jazzed-up woven baskets; just tie a ribbon around it, stick on a card and you’re good to go (they also work equally well for people who need to send out every gift swathed in their own personalized wrapping paper).
This holiday season, I’ll make sure to check out Bench for their Christmas offerings. Aside from having bundled selections for everybody (Mom, Dad, sibling, boss, Kris Kringle kids), they’ve also got the some of the best bang-for-buck offerings this side of the North Pole.
Most of these packs contain small items collected together such as hair products, accessories, deodorants, hand sanitizers and their best-selling baby cologne. To give extra cheer, some of these packs contain special limited-edition items. The Baby Bench cologne, for instance, comes with either a good-sized, fuzzy-haired doll or an adorable blue teddy bear, both of which any toddling godchildren would love; their Papaya whitening lotion from the Bench Organics line comes with a potpourri set (check home-bound spinster aunt); the Bench hair gel is packed together with a sports bottle (for your boss who thinks hair and body sculpting go hand in hand).
They also went all-out with packaging: their 18K deo body spray for women is ready for giving in a gold plastic chest and colorful mugs come in equally colorfully chic “hat boxes.”
If anyone understands how crazy the holiday rush can be, Bench does. Their sweet little gift packs just make everything so much easier. And anyone who accuses me of copping out on the entire spirit of gift-giving this Christmas can go ahead and do what my column name suggests. Happy holidays!