There is no doubt that the holidays are a busy time filled with a wide range of shopping needs. One of the top needs at this special time of year is a need for clothes – and not all as gifts – though clothes do make great gifts. Rakuten is here to help with this holiday clothes shopping guide. It will explain the many reasons clothes are a necessity during the holidays and things you can do to make buying them that much easier – and more affordable.

Identify the Need for Clothes

There are so many reasons to buy clothes during the holidays. These are just a few of the main reasons people shop for clothes during this time of year.

• To Give as Gifts
• For Kids to Wear in Holiday Performances
• To Wear for Specific Events (office parties, family gatherings, church, etc.)
• For Family Photographs (families are embracing themed clothing for photographs and these often require very specific clothing needs)
• For Winter Warmth (mittens, hats, gloves, thick socks, scarves, and more all seem to need to be replaced each year as winter approaches)
• To Replace Clothes that no Longer Fit Children
• Holiday Tradition (some households, for instance, give each child a new pair of pajamas and a book to read every Christmas Eve in hopes of making the long wait for Santa a little easier for them to take)

As you can see there is a nearly endless list of reasons to buy clothes this holiday season. Teenagers, college students, and adults are often all too happy to receive clothing as gifts. Younger children, though, often prefer nearly anything to clothes – even empty boxes and discarded wrapping paper.

Knowing the purpose of your shopping trips makes things a little easier. You can choose the right clothes according to the need, occasion, or event. Once this decision is made, you can move on to deciding on the person or people you are shopping for.

Decide Who You are Shopping For

Holiday shopping for clothes doesn’t have to be a painful proposition at all – especially when you go about it in an organized way. This means knowing why you’re shopping for clothes and who the clothes are for.

Shopping for Clothing for Women

Women and teens tend to be the most selective about the clothes they wear. That fact alone can make shopping for clothes for them a little more difficult unless you have a wish list prepared by them or you are shopping for specific prescribed items. An example of that would be if you’re buying a red polo shirt and khaki pants for a school performance or you’re looking for green turtlenecks, red socks, and jeans for a family photograph.

Sometimes the safest clothing bets to give women as holiday gifts are comfortable pajamas, cold weather gear or accessories. These are items that she often desires but often will not buy for herself. They also happen to make great stocking stuffers.

Maternity Clothes for Women

One special caveat comes in the form of maternity clothes for women. In the past, stylish hasn’t been the word that would best describe maternity clothes available to women. That made gifting them at Christmas time a little painful, if not outright awkward. Today, though, stores like Gap and Old Navy are bringing stylishness to maternity clothing and that makes them perfectly amazing gifts to give. One great thing about the maternity styles available at Old Navy is that they are made to help you get through various stages of maternity. Some of them are even designed for the time after baby is born to facilitate nursing.

Some women are hesitant to purchase maternity clothes for themselves, believing it’s a large expense for clothing they’ll only wear a short while. The truth, though, is that by using Old Navy promo codes and shopping online, you can save a great deal of money on stylish maternity wear that’s suitable for any holiday function, family gathering, event, or photograph.

Women’s Plus Sizes

Old Navy has an additional benefit for shopping for the women on your shopping list as they offer a nice selection of plus sized clothing and accessories for women. This includes dresses, pants, outerwear, scarves, sweaters, pajamas, and more. This means you can literally find something special for all the women you’re shopping for this holiday season without needing to move further than your sofa.

Kids Clothes for the Holidays

Kids go through a lot of clothes. From growing like weeds to playing rough and tumble, creating rips, spills, stains, and tears it’s no wonder that the need for new kids clothes is nearly perpetual. While most kids don’t want clothes as holiday gifts, it doesn’t change the fact that they may need them.

One thing that sets Old Navy apart as a great store for buying kids clothes for Christmas is the fact that they offer such low prices. Even better, though, is the fact that they often offer special promotions and coupons. These coupons allow already tight holiday budgets to stretch even further by saving you a great deal of money on the clothes you need for your kids or the clothes you buy children on your holiday shopping list as gifts.

Holiday Clothes for Men

Men may not be as concerned with their clothes as the average woman or teen, but it’s still important to find him clothes that match his personality and personal style. No one knows the man in your life better than you. Only you can decide whether he’s a GAP man, an Old Navy man, or some combination of the two.

GAP offers a wide range of highly stylish clothes for men to wear. Old Navy, too, offers stylish clothing for men, at a lower price point. What this means is that you’ll want to take advantage of a GAP Canada coupon or two while shopping from GAP for your guy. GAP clothing for men come in high end fabrics like cotton, cashmere, and wool.

GAP doesn’t stop at sweaters, though. They offer a wide range of clothing for men including underwear, outerwear, cold weather accessories, jeans, pants, joggers, sweatshirts, and more.

Whether you’re buying him a gift, or trying to meet a specific need in his current wardrobe lineup, GAP has a lot to offer for any man on your holiday list.

How to Make Holiday Shopping Online as Painless as Possible

Shopping online for the holidays allows you to skip the crowds of malls and shopping centers. It also allows you the unique opportunity to combine sales and promotions and mix and match GAP outlet coupons with other opportunities to save, or earn cash back on your purchases.

Before you dive right in, though, there are a few things you need to consider when shopping online.

• Cutoff Dates for Shipping – this is most important if you’re ordering holiday gifts or need items by a specific date (such as for a child’s school performance). It’s not just the “order by” date you need to be concerned about though. Not all items will ship right away, which can make things even trickier. Look for items that typically ship within 24 hours to avoid unnecessary delays or risk going beyond the necessary date for shipping.
• Available Inventory – Some items may appear on the website inventory when they are actually backordered and may not be available until a date beyond the cutoff date for holiday shipping.
• Shipping Costs – Many online stores offer free shipping around the holidays. At the very least, most will offer free shipping for orders that go over a specific amount, including stores like GAP and Old Navy. If the store you’re working with does not offer free shipping, compare the costs with others that do and make your purchases with the most cost-effective solution available to you.
• Small Print for Free Shipping Offers – Don’t forget to read the fine print when it comes to any free shipping offers. Some offer the slowest possible shipping while others will only ship if you buy a certain dollar amount. Still others do not cover shipping on items that are bulky in weight. While this is not usually a problem when buying clothes, it can be a concern if you’re ordering a lot of clothes.

Finally, make sure you read customer feedback and reviews on the clothing items. This will help you avoid the need for returns that can be time consuming and expensive. You should specifically look for information on whether or not clothes run true to size and if there are quality issues or concerns for the gardens you have in your online shopping cart.

The fact is that most people are very honest when leaving online reviews about products they’ve purchased. They are sharing their experiences in order to help others, like yourself, make informed buying decisions.

Rakuten believes that holiday shopping for clothes should be as painless as possible and wants to be your one stop source for all your holiday shopping needs. This guide should help you choose the right clothes for your friends and family throughout the holiday season – whatever their needs may be.