12 Holiday Shopping Tips For Elders
The holiday is around the corner. Soon, the sidewalk will bustle with folks shopping for gifts or personal needs. Among the shoppers are seniors fulfilling promises of gifting their grandchildren and loved ones this festive period.
While we blush over this idea, we should be most concerned about their safety while shopping outside. Here are our 12-holiday shopping tips for elders.
#1. Plan for Stress-Free Shopping
Good planning precedes stress-free shopping. Being particular about where and when to shop a month before the shopping period is advisable. Seniors may find it confusing to plan and organize due to weak mental capacity (not all of them).
Encourage them to seek help from loved ones in drafting realistic shopping plans to ensure a checked-out holiday shopping experience.
#2. Set a Budget
You wouldn’t go on a shopping spree, spending as you go; that’s not what you want. What you want is shopping with intent, which is checked by a budget. What items are you shopping for, and how many?
Are you shopping for loved ones? How many would be gifted? The goal is maximizing satisfaction and reducing expenses to the lowest bearing.
“Secret Santa” is a polite way to limit the number of people you have to shop for and helps you stick to the budget.
Secret Santa: Collect the names of loved ones you wish to shop for on a piece of paper. After rumbling names in a hat, randomly pick a paper. The chosen names have a gift for the holiday.
#3. Making a List to Stay Organized
Make a list and check it twice to keep things organized and conserve some energy. It can be challenging for seniors to memorize a list of items for shopping, which may result in bad shopping experiences and sometimes forgotten purchases.
Making a shopping list will help them stay organized, have a quick recall, and curb impulse buying. Shopping lists should sync with store layout to save the elderly the stress of walking extra time for items they would have picked along.
#4. Shop the Easiest Item on the List
While preparing the list, begin with the more accessible items (in price, size, and weight), followed by the more complex buys.
About 70% of seniors who began shopping for challenging items on the list never made it to the end of the shopping list. They’re stressed by taking heavier and more complicated items before the day ends.
Shopping for the most accessible goods provides a sense of fulfillment and balance. You’ll be left with all the time to tackle the more challenging items later, which will motivate you to kickstart productivity and complete your holiday shopping fantasies.
#5. Choose the Right Time to Avoid Crowds
Allow the youngsters to handle the bustle of evening shopping; shop earlier. Remember, your concern is health and safety. Elderly people respond slower to stimuli and lack balance under their feet, making them targets for thieves and susceptible to being knocked down quickly.
Evenings are the peak shopping hours of the day, and being there then exposes seniors to all possible occurrences, from bumping into a fellow shopper to slipping and fatally falling or being the victim of theft. If you must go, get a trusted buddy, but avoid the crowd.
#6. Consider Online Shopping Options
I recommend avoiding the crowd by shopping online. By observation, prices online are cheaper compared to walk-in stores. There are no tiring queues and no plans for shipping and offloading.
Online shopping allows for easy price comparison, a more comprehensive range of products, and the convenience of home delivery service.
Some online shops include pay-on-delivery (POD) options, putting you in charge of your money. If you and yours aren’t tech-savvy, get help from 16-year-old Karl or Janet next door. If that’s not an option, get a tech-savvy caregiver.
#7. Get Help from a Caregiver
The role of caregivers to senior citizens cannot be overemphasized, especially when the caregiver is competent in driving, DIY crafts, medical and first aid, life hacks, and is tech-savvy.
Senior helpers are valuable to elders during holiday shopping, transporting them to the store, serving as guardians against minor and major accidents like slips and falls, and assisting them in navigating the shopping process.
Careful caregivers help with loading and unloading, ensuring the seniors are comfortable before driving off. Tech-savvy caregivers can also help seniors place orders online, avoiding the crowd.
#8. Focus on Comfort with Rest
Regardless of how healthy older adults are, they get tired easily compared to younger people. How long can you walk around for enlisted items? Be clear on your stamina and stick with it; don’t try to push that limit, as there’s no point to prove. Instead, focus on comfort with intervals of rest breaks.
Stay hydrated during the shopping hours and eat snacks to regain your strength before continuing. A pro tip: shop a little now and leave the rest for the next shopping day. This way, you won’t deal with many items that may expose you to prying eyes. Plus, you’ll conserve strength to achieve the holiday shopping goals for the day.
#9. Choose Accessible Stores
Easy access to stores back and forth every day will make holiday shopping fun. Shop at stores with adequate parking space. Subjecting older persons to the trouble of tight parking spaces exposes them to abuses, such as name-calling, yelling, and even robbery. Also, they’ll find it difficult to load and drive out in a congested parking lot.
Before shopping, check out the store environment online or inquire from a neighbor about the parking space to ensure accessible parking and departure. Sometimes, large parking lots are quickly occupied by other buyers, so shop after peak hours.
#10. Lock the Vehicle
“Lock the vehicle,” a three-word sentence with consequences if overlooked. Festive seasons taint the air with love, but spoilers are waiting to strike at our most vulnerable moments(during holiday shopping).
Seeing an elderly person walk out of the store to an open car with items in hand is bad, but leaving the vehicle open with items sticking through the windows is worse.
What we fear isn’t an item missing but rather what may happen in the process. Don’t turn this holiday shopping into a solemn candlelight vigil by being careless; lock the vehicle.
#11. Shop Different Locations
Spread the joy by shopping in different places. The joy of shop owners is patronage. Do you have a long list with a reasonable budget?
Visit your favorite shops for holiday shopping. Aside from the sense of exploration and adventure you’ll get, it’s a fun way of looking out for your safety.
Frequenting a spot for days will get you noticed, placing you on the target list of God-knows-what. Spend a month with a loved one before the holiday shopping and map out where and when to shop. It may be a daunting task for the elderly person, but it’s worth it.
#12. Enjoy the Experience
After all, is said and done, don’t forget to live in the moment. Nothing brings joy like spending time with family. As a senior, you’re already blessed with generations of family around your table; what else can a person ask for but their love?
Look each one in the eyes and tell them how much they mean to you and how you love them. Listen to each one sing for you and sing for them. That’s what holidays are about, right? A period to share love.
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