When holiday party season rolls around, we’re a fan of buying a case of red wine as a safety measure. For what, you ask? For those times when an unexpected party invitation pops up, demanding that you show up, albeit not empty-handed.
But generic red makes for a lame gift, so thankfully someone has come up with a better solution: giftagram. It’s extremely cool. Here’s how it works.
First, you download the app and create an account. The app will ask if it can use your contacts, but that step isn’t necessary if you’re twitchy about privacy.
Next, you pick a gift. We’re going to talk about that at length in just a second.
Finally, you give giftagram the email address for the gift’s recipient so that a) they know they have a gift coming from you and b) they can arrange delivery, which arrives in a couple of days, gift wrapped. To us, this is the handiest part; we don’t really like sending gifts via Amazon because if people aren’t expecting them, there can be some delivery issues.
Of course, the real pleasure is that giftagram only deals in the kind of thing that would make great gifts. They don’t have an ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ policy. Perusing their Father’s Day section, dad could get cool stuff like a BBQ kit, a Nespresso machine, or a GoPro. Or you could get him an experience, like dinner for two at the Chase or private golf lessons (which we’re leaning towards, because we like to bug the guy while we’re being generous). Or some booze. They have a pretty fine selection, including one of our favourite tequilas, Tromba.
There’s a wide range of prices, too, so if your budget is ten bucks, you could be sending a collapsible cup keychain. Or, if your budget is around $700, your gift could be a Vitamix 750.
We also have to point out that whoever’s curating giftagram’s selection has excellent taste. We’ve seen Stolen Riches laces, Dillon’s sprits, and a LotusGrill—all of which we’ve featured on our site. Actually, we’ve featured a lot of the same stuff. Clearly, the giftagram people know taste.
Anyway, you probably won’t do all of your gift shopping on giftagram. However, when you need something for a birthday for a friend across the country, or you need something handsome for a colleague you don’t know quite well enough, or a surprise extra anniversary present, you’ll probably find yourself browsing and saying to yourself, “Know what? This works.”
