This is a guest post by the lovely Jess Lam of Style Says.

Holiday parties every weekend, snow is on the ground and Love Actually is stuck on repeat. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Though it’s not all bliss. Holiday shopping can be stressful, tiring and turn some people in a real Grinch. But fear not I’m here with a few of my favorite holiday shopping tips.

My name is Jess and I’m a recent college grad who grew up on a farm in the midwestern US. Christmas is kind of a big deal at my house and I’ve always been neurotic when it comes to gift giving. This has opened my eyes to a few
tricks to skip the crowded malls, save a little time and money.

I’m here to share what I’ve learned with you.

Full disclosure: this strange behavior eventually turned into a fashion site that I run with a couple friends called StyleSays. More to come on that in a sec.

5. Think Different

With so many options you should be bold, be unique and really make your friends+fam feel special. It can be hard to know where to start so StyleSays makes it easy by finding the best items from all of your favorite stores. And if
you really want to be unique look for a handmade item from one of the many online marketplaces like Etsy.

4. Use Wish Lists

Wish hard enough and it may come true. Almost every site has a wish list that makes organizing gift ideas a lot easier. But you need to have all of your wish lists in one place to really compare gifts. StyleSays makes it easy to save your
favorite items from all of your favorite sites so you can compare gifts and prices side-by-side. Shopping should be fun and easy, right?

3. Free Returns

When you’re doing all your holiday shopping at the mall this isn’t a problem but if you’re buying online it’s mega important to find stores with friendly return policies.
Here are a few stores that have friendly return policies: ModCloth, Free People, Zappos and ShopBop. ASOS has great return policies for international shipping too.

2. Shop Locally (online)

Shopping locally doesn’t mean you have to run all over town braving traffic and the cold, though that’s part of the adventure. You can check your favorite boutique’s online stores to make sure they have just what you’re looking for.
Lynn Steven’s of Vancouver has a great online selection. I went ahead and added some of my favorites to the Vancouver boutique LYNNsteven on StyleSays.

1. Treat yourself

Don’t end up with another pair of socks or a candle. Let people know you want those new Marc Jacobs bag or a pair of classic Ray Ban’s. Make it easy on them and create a collection of all the things you want to see under the tree and then send that link around to all the Santas in your life.

BONUS!

And guess what, you could win items from that Christmas List incase you don’t get everything you want.

StyleSays is playing Santa this year! Enter our Christmas List giveaway and you could win an item from your list. It’s super easy to enter. 1) Make a Christmas List and 2) Share it with a few friends.

Thank you to Jen and her lovely readers!

Happy Holidays!
Jess