Giving the Gift of Eyewear - Unique, Fun, and Often Overlooked

As holiday times, birthdays and other special days roll around, people often scratch their heads about what to get recipients. How about a popular choice among people of all ages today, eyewear?

At trade shows, state fairs and other events, you see table after table, booth after booth of designer frames and reading glasses. At malls and other shopping centers all over town you see display upon display, shop upon shop selling nifty sunglasses and other lenses, too. So reach out and gift the gift of improved eyesight with some eye glasses, with these tips to help with your shopping:

1) Since you may not know the exact frame size to get, ask about exchange policies and then save your receipt and store information to give along with the gift.

2) To save on possible returns and exchanges, see about giving a gift certificate from your favorite seller. Look online, too, for cyber-coupons and discount codes that can be added to shopping carts.

3) Don't forget to use some fashion sense. If you're not sure of what the recipient wears most often, ask the seller for advice. Sellers often post helpful shopping articles on their sites to help buyers pick and choose. They offer fashion tips for eyewear like matching frames to facial and hair coloring to accent features. Plus compare the face shape with the shape of the lenses, to get glasses that are complimentary, not overwhelming or too flashy.

4) Package your eye wear with accessories like an eyeglass case, eyeglass wipes, eyeglass tool kit, some comfort eye drops like a bottle or Murine or other over the counter solution. Think of clothing accessories, too, like a nice scarf and hat, to tie into a coordinating theme. Men and women like changes and welcome new a nice package of accessories.

5) When you shop, look for not only convenience but customer service and shopping safety, unless you are sure the gift recipient will not need an exchange. For example, you may not want to buy from a seasonal mall kiosk because where will the company be a month from now, if an exchange is needed? Ditto online. If you buy from a place with no complete contact info, just a private PO Box, no phone, no address, how are you going to follow up?

Also, when you check out online, look for a secure access area with "https" in the browser instead of the regular "http" for public web pages. This keeps your transaction safer. In person, get your carbons and shred them when you get home. And offline, give no one your credit card pin number, confirming it softly, if necessary, to cashiers to avoid eager listens around you. Check your credit card or bank statement to make sure the transaction is accurate, online or off.

If your gift recipient wears contact lenses, see about giving them a contact lens kit as a gift. You can often get kits with cleaning and soaking solutions in them as well as eye drops and a storage case for overnight soaking. Mall eyeglass stores and optometrists sell these.

Gordon Kaye wants you to give the gift that is remembered. For something fun consider reading sunglasses, or for that hobbyist in your life perhaps a pair of Clic readers.

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