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As you might suspect, rich people have an enormous gift list about this time of year, and the utter task for them can be quite overwhelming.

But not to worry.  They have hired help in this area, all the way from shopping, to wrapping, to delivering or shipping. 

Secretaries, Personal Assistants, House Managers and Butlers (like me), and Personal Shoppers in their favorite department stores are all involved in this annual nightmare.

Around here, my employers usually do their own shopping for their family members and closest friends.  (Which, by the way, still doesn't exclude the house staff from wrapping, delivering or shipping.) 

But what about the vast number of acquaintances, business associates and corporate employees -- some of whom they like or dislike, or maybe even loathe?

For these perfunctory gifts they often resort to food and booze.  An expensive bottle of brandy or champagne, gourmet foods from a specialty shop or an upscale department store (ie: Harrods of London),  or a selection of expensive and fancily-packaged nuts or candies.  And lately gourmet fruits, especially pears, have become fashionable.

Meant to show respect rather than intimacy, these gifts are perfectly ok, and the recipients more or less understand the sentiment.  The trick here is how big or how much the treat package should be.  In fact, it's more about making a statement than about the cost.

For example, there's a company the rich often resort to called Harry and David that specializes in corporate gifts.  This excellent company has been around for seventy-five years, and has categories of fun and nicely-packaged goodies from $50 to over $200 per package. 

No muss, no fuss.  Just call them up and read down your gift list, including the price range for each recipient, and they'll do all the rest -- including a gift card.

And the fun thing is, if you're on the receiving end and get a gift from a company like Harry and David (or Harrods or Macy's), you can go to their websites and see exactly how much the sender paid, and where you stand in their fickle esteem.

If it's small and in the fifty dollar range, you've still got lots of work to do.  But if it's big and grand, two-hundred bucks or more, then you're moving right along, and may someday arrive on their personal gift list.  (Just be sure that's what you want.  When dealing with the rich, there's always a price to pay for their notice, kindness or generosity.)

If you haven't completed your Christmas shopping yet, as of today there's still almost a couple of weeks to get in touch with Harry and David or other similar stores, and still enough time to have your gifts shipped on time.  And yes, there's always overnight air for last minute oversights.

Here's a link to their beautiful world of gourmet treats, and their widely-famous Comice pears.  (And again, you can click on the price categories to see just where you stand if you receive something from them.  ha!)

Hope this has been helpful, but more importantly I hope you're nearing an end to your shopping chores.  Last minute rushing around can be such a pain!

Thanks for reading, and good night.

Andrew