Please include the gift receipt

Every holiday season, I am confronted with the same accusation from my family – I’m hard to shop for, especially when it comes to clothing. For years, I have heard complaints that it’s impossible to buy me anything wearable because I’m supposedly “too picky” about what I wear.

I don’t agree with this argument. I just know what I like and what works for me.
I’ve narrowed down a pretty solid sense of personal style, and if anything, buying for me should be easy because I don’t stray from that style very often.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t appreciate gifts I receive. I know that it’s the thought that counts.

But everyone has faced a time when a gifted article of clothing is the wrong size, wrong color, wrong fit or just plain wrong.

Now it’s January, and if you’ve been debating whether or not you should exchange or return a gift received during the holidays, the honeymoon phase is over.
The gaudy sweater from your aunt has been collecting dust at this point, and it’s time to take action.

Sometimes returning or exchanging a gift is not so easy, because the buyer may take it personally.

Even though you received something you know you’d never wear, keeping it hidden in the back of your closet may seem like a better option than returning it.

This way, the buyer won’t feel offended that maybe you didn’t like their taste in jewelry or their preference for pastels.

But gift receipts were made for several reasons, one of which is to help recipients make painless returns that don’t cause emotional damage.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Holiday Returns Survey, 58.6 percent of shoppers enclose a gift receipt with their presents most or some of the time.

By including a gift receipt with a present, a return or exchange is easy for the receiver, who might be able to make either transaction without involving the buyer.

Though a buyer may have the best intentions when they gift an article of clothing, it might not be right for the recipient.

In the recipient’s mind, the gift might have the wrong fit, be too flashy, too formal, too bulky or simply something that makes them feel uncomfortable.

Or maybe the buyer bought something the receiver loves, but he or she already has a similar piece.

Gifts are a way to show affection for someone, but what if the gift is never worn and is banished behind closed closet doors forever, with the tag still intact? No one wants to give a useless gift, which can make the buyer feel useless themselves.

If you feel the need to exchange or return a gifted item of clothing but worry about hurting the buyer’s feelings, be honest with them and make sure they know you’re thankful they gave you a gift in the first place.

And when giving a gift, include a gift receipt as a way to say there are no hard feelings if the receiver makes an exchange or return.

Of course, you can always tell people what kind of clothes and accessories you like. But sometimes, no matter how many times you say that you don’t need another purse, you will unwrap an over-the-shoulder bag or clutch every holiday season.

Maybe the problem is not that I’m hard to shop for, but that some people just never learn. At least anyone who gives me clothes knows to include the gift receipt.