UrGiftIn app helps you organize gifts or your loved ones | Review

‘UrGiftIn’ app helps you organize your last-minute Mother’s Day presents

Screen shot 2013-05-05 at 6.50.06 PM — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It happens every year. TV ads remind you to buy gifts for your loved ones, but you ignore them and put it off. Messages from siblings, friends, significant other remind you that it’s time to brainstorm some ideas and if you want to pitch in on theirs, you better act fast, but they go unheard. Flash forward to the day of Mother’s Day. You just got a call reminding you when brunch with your mother is and you’re stuck at the local drug store browsing for something that eludes any sliver of thoughtfulness. Maybe it’s time to stop putting yourself through that treacherous trip every year. UrGiftIn may very well be your solution – and it might score you some more appreciated gifts when your birthday or anniversary roll around, too.

There are plenty of gift-related services out there, and most of them revolve around the Internet’s go-to for just about everything: Amazon. UrGiftIn is no different in that regard. Structured around Amazon Wish Lists, the app has access to Amazon’s entire catalog of everything, allowing you to search it’s inventory and add items via picture or bar code scan. This functions pretty well, recognizing most items and making it extremely easy to search for or add items as you’re browsing the aisles of the store. It’s a time-saver from typing on your iPhone keyboard and trying to figure out the proper name for a product. Your own wish list is imported from your Amazon account but you’re also given access to the wants of your friends and family members, which will act as your map as you hunt for the perfect gift.

Though it’s built around the infrastructure of Amazon, UrGiftIn has plenty of additional functionality aside from just keeping lists of gifts. The value comes in what is essentially socialized gift giving. When a holiday of importance is coming up, you’ll be shown when it is and can browse the lists of people who are involved in that special day. You can add your friends, family, and loved ones and follow them through UrGiftIn to get gift ideas or to communicate about an upcoming event.

With Mother’s Day incoming, the option to pitch in on a gift through UrGiftIn can be utilized to its full effect. If you have siblings or family members who usually share the burden of putting together Mother’s Day with you, you can communicate through UrGiftIn to pick a gift, decide who wants to chip in to get it, and see who has alternative ideas. A comment and voting system gives the ability to discuss the item in question and decide if your mom really needs a porcelain elephant. It’s a feature that will likely save at least a few moms from receiving totally unnecessary gifts when May 12 rolls around. Having the connection to others also gives you a good heads up when one of your more thoughtful friends adds you to a gift discussion for a holiday that you totally forgot about otherwise.

We’re all exposed to the same ads, the same push for the standard gifts that have become synonymous with different holidays. If you haven’t gotten an email about sending a bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day, you have a better spam filter than the rest of us. It’s easy to ignore those things until the last minute and come through with some gift that meets but never exceeds expectations. Collaborating with others and having access to the wish list of your mom – or any other loved one for other holidays – can help you land the perfect gift without requiring you to do all the leg work yourself. UrGiftIn makes it easier for you to appear to be way more thoughtful than you actually are, and that’s a gift that will benefit you as much as the recipient.

You can download UrGiftIn for iPhone here.

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