Still looking for the perfect gift? Don't despair there is still plenty of time to snag a great item.
Gifts to Avoid This Year
Off Brand TVs: It may sound simple, but the best TV manufacturers make TVs all year. If the brand you’re buying only shows up at your local big box store starting in mid-November, it’s probably not a great buy. Recommended the 43-inch TCL UP130 at $399.99 or the Samsung 55-inch KS8000 at $1,297.99
Wi-Fi Baby Monitors: Lots of parents or parents-to-be are asking for these baby monitors during the holidays, and video baby monitors are indeed great.In a comparison of the best video baby monitors, the Wi-Fi models that let you view your camera feed on your phone were either overpriced, buggy, or not as good as alternative options. Recommended is the Samsung BrightVIEW HD Monitor ($199.99)
Expensive Chef’s Knives: If you’re buying a gift for a home chef, a new knife is a great choice. But while expensive knives can be wonderful tools, they often have very particular qualities that may or may not suit the person you’re giving it to. Walk into a speciality retailer, though, and you may walk out buying the wrong one—or spending two or three times more than you have to. Recommended is the Victorinox 8-inch Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife ($34.95). It cuts well, and is both durable and affordable. It’s a fantastic workhorse for anyone who cooks a lot, and will get the job done as well as many more expensive models.
Mastercard or Visa Gift Cards: If you’re buying a gift card for somebody, it may be tempting to buy one of these cards. After all, they can be used pretty much anywhere, right? Unfortunately, most of these come with activation fees that cost you more money, eating into the amount you’re actually trying to give. Recommended is an Amazon Gift Card
Must Have Gifts Out... Great Replacement Ideas
Amazon Echo: It's anticipated that the full-size Amazon Echo won’t be in stock until after the holidays. While it’s great, the Echo’s main feature is its integration with Alexa, which you can get in a number of other devices as well. Buy this instead: Amazon Echo Dot ($39.99). The Amazon Echo Dot is essentially the same as the big Echo, except it on sale for $39.99. The only downside is that its built-in speaker isn’t as good.
Hatchimals: One of the hottest gifts this year! If you absolutely must have a Hatchimal and you’re willing to pay a super inflated price you could try buying one of the lots of three or four eggs on eBay for $300-$400 and re-selling the others online to make your money back. Buy this instead: Furby Connect ($69.99). The Furby Connect is another hot toy this year, but it’s not nearly as supply constrained. Cute, cuddly, and interactive, the updated Furby is quite a bit more advanced than the one that blew up in the ‘90s.
NES Classic: The NES Classic has been very popular this holiday season, and it’s sold out almost everywhere. If you can find it you are looking at a highly inflated price ($230+). If you’re not familiar, it’s basically a very tiny game console that looks like the original Nintendo NES, except instead of cartridges it has 30 games pre-loaded. Buy this instead: Sega Genesis Classic Game Console ($49.95). While the NES Classic is a wonderful emulator, you can still play real cartridges with one of the many retro consoles available online. These play actual cartridges so you’ll need to pick up a few of those online as well, and some others can play both SNES and Sega Genesis games, putting the console wars of the 1990s to a peaceful end at last.
Shipping Dead Lines
Make sure your holiday packages reach their destination on time this year as well. The final day to ship packages via USPS is Dec. 15th and Regular First Class Letters (think holiday cards) is Dec. 19th. December 19th is the last day for most normal UPS and Fedex shipping as well. Expect to see most retailers offer Free Shipping between the 15th-19th. Find the whole list of dates HERE.
Don't Count on Your Tax Refund to Pay for Christmas
If you like to use your tax refund to pay off any Christmas purchases beware. Taxpayers who like to file early to get a quick turnaround of a refund may be disappointed this tax season. In its effort to battle fraud, the IRS has a new strategy: Delay the refunds of filers who are more likely to take certain tax credits that are frequently claimed improperly or are the target of fraudulently filed returns.
New provisions of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH) passed last year allows the IRS to hold off paying refunds to people who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). Those refunds will be held until Feb. 15, even if the returns were filed at the earliest date the IRS accepts them in January.
Thanks USA Today and CBS!
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