I have to admit that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with holiday gift giving. Watching kids open up presents is usually entertaining and heart warming. That’s the part I love.

Watching adults open up presents is often awkward and even painful. In my experience adults just rarely know what to get for other adults. And of course it is the thought that counts and I am appreciative of receiving a gift. But wouldn’t it be nice if we got the gifts we wanted?

I don’t need another argyle sweater. In fact, I don’t need the first one I got last holiday season. Then there is the wonderful memory of the year that all the cousins and aunts and uncles in my wife’s family exchanged $50 gift cards. They actually agreed - this year, no presents, only gift cards. It was like everyone simply handed $50 to the person on their left. This seems to me like a system that’s broken.

Five years ago I came up with the answer. It was a website that I wanted to call GiftORama.com. It would be a universal gift registry site so that anytime - holidays, birthdays, any occasion - you wanted to buy a gift for someone you could see a list of items they actually wanted to receive.

Well, instead of creating GiftORama, I started a consulting company. I missed out on my billion dollar idea. But someone has finally put together a website that does a decent job of what I wanted to do five years ago. It is www.wishlist.com.

They are still working out some of the kinks, but it’s good enough to use. So I apologize for not getting this out in time for this holiday season, but now you have a whole year to build up your wishlist in preparation for December, 2008.

BTW, here are some of the slogans I came up with when I first hatched the idea of GiftORama:

If you want it, and you want someone else to buy it . . . GiftORama.com
If you want to give, and you want them to love it . . . GiftORama.com
If you want her to cry tears of joy . . . GiftORama.com
If you are not sure if she already has it . . . GiftORama.com
If you don’t want to give him another tie . . . GiftORama.com
If you don’t want another pair of fuzzy bunny slippers . . . GiftORama.com

And my personal favorite:

If you don’t want to spend your own money, spend someone else’s . . . GiftORama.com