Annual gift guide: The gift that helps you give

New technology enables you to find the perfect present

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We’re willing to bet that you’ve got an Uncle Bert or an Aunt Josefina who’s impossible to find the right present for. Train calendar or a bird feeder? Ballroom dancing lessons or season tickets to the Lugnuts? Guess it’s going to be a gift certificate again. If only there was some way to find out what they actually want.

Thanks to modern technology, there is. There are free apps and websites available that enable shoppers to buy gifts for their friends and family members that they’ll actually use.

The one that seems to have gained a foothold this holiday season is Santa’s Bag. It’s a mobile app that allows users to organize gift recipients’ wish lists while managing tight budgets. Users create a recipient list by pulling pictures and names from their contact lists and match each recipient to a picture of their gift preference. Santa’s Bag then lists the stores or websites where each gift can be found and keeps track of whether the gift is purchased or not. The app acts as a checklist so gift givers don’t lose track of who to buy for.

Santa’s Bag also provides a countdown to Christmas and gives an overview of purchased gifts, gifts to pur chase, the amount of money spent and the amount of money left to spend. If users are afraid they’re forgetting someone, they can create a list of unassigned gifts that anyone would enjoy.

For those who don’t own smartphones, there are webbased tools available. Wishpot allows anyone to sign up for free, create a wish list and share it via email or social media. Most users add a Wishpot button to their browser toolbar so that adding gift preferences from other websites can be easy. Already created your Christmas wish list at Amazon.com? No problem: Wishpot is compatible with Amazon, allowing its users to import wish lists to their account.

Once a wish list is complete, the user can share the Wishpot URL via email or Facebook. Friends or family that access the shared wish list can reserve items on the list so the recipient doesn’t receive two of the same gift. And when someone reserves an item, the owner of the wish list cannot see who reserved it.

To access Wishpot, create a new account on their website or connect through Facebook.

Finding out what everyone wants is half the battle. The next step is purchasing each gift, but deciding on where to buy the most reasonably priced version can be a challenge, too. Red Laser is another smartphone app that finds the best deals for its users. Shoppers can scan the barcode of an item with their phone while they’re in a store and the app finds the best price online or in a local store. If the app is opened inside any given store, it provides coupons, specials and store maps to make shopping easier.

In addition to Amazon.com, Wishpot and Santa’s Bag, Target, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have created ways for shoppers to create a Christmas wish list online.

So while Cousin Francine may not make it easy for you, these new tools can help take a little of the guesswork out of your gift buying. And you might now have to worry if that crossword puzzle book you got her will be regifted.

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