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Over the past few years I have fallen in love with using Amazon wish lists for gifting. Whether it’s for Christmas, birthdays or just because, using these wish lists helps so much in sending gifts to the people you love! I want to break down how I’ve used it and gotten my family on board too, making all of our lives easier – especially when it comes to Christmas shopping and gift exchanges.
*What is an Amazon wish list, you ask? It’s a gift registry, just like a wedding or baby registry – but for any time! When someone makes a wish list, friends and family can buy gifts for them from the list and Amazon will ship them straight to their door.
Now, I want to preface this by saying that I know this is not the solution for every family or group of friends. That’s fine. But I think that it will work for a lot of people, because it definitely works for our family!
HOW TO SET UP AN AMAZON WISH LIST
If you already are familiar or have a wish list, go ahead and skip over this part, but scroll down to read the rest!
Before you can use an Amazon Wish Lists for your gift exchange needs, you need to set one up! (Before doing this step, you should already have an Amazon.com account and be signed in.)
From the Amazon home page, click the button that says ‘Account and Lists’ then hover over Your Lists. You will see some variation of this:
Choose ‘Create a List’ and then select ‘Wish List’ – follow the rest of the prompts. Giving it a descriptive name is good because down the line you may want to have multiple lists. My sister in law has a regular wish list, and a book wish list. I have a gift wish list, a home goods wish list (that I keep private) and so on.
HOW TO FIND AMAZON WISH LISTS OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY
Some wish lists are private – which means you won’t be able to find or see them. If they have public list, you can search for it by their name or email address and view it. Here’s how to do that:
Unless the person you’re searching for has a really uncommon name, it’s easier to use an email address to search for them. Once you find the right person you have the option to “Remember” them, which means that you save their profile to your friends, and then you can easily view their list whenever you want! This is awesome if it’s a friend or family member that you buy gifts for a few times a year.
HOW TO USE AMAZON WISH LISTS TO ORGANIZE YOUR FAMILY GIFT EXCHANGE
When I first discovered the ease and convenience of using the wish list for Christmas gifting, I started singing it’s praises to all of my family. It was pretty common for them to request a list from me each year right around Thanksgiving, so I started just sending them the link to my Amazon list. They loved it. Then they started to follow suit! Now, all we do each year is send out a reminder via text or email – “make sure you’ve updated your wish list!” Then, everyone does, and we can happily shop for each other, ship things straight to their door. (Amazon Prime for the WIN when you live far away from each other!!!)
If you want to get your family started with this, here’s what I suggest:
Step 1: Explain what Amazon wish lists are, and how to use them. Feel free to send the link to this post for them to read! Ask if this is going to work for everyone.
Step 2: Everyone set up their list.
Step 3: Make gift assignments, if you do it that way. In our family, we have a rotation. Some people do secret Santa. I know some people just give something to everyone – that works too!
Step 4: You can either send out your link to anyone who asks, or one person can gather each person’s link and send one big email.
Step 5: HAPPY EASY GIFTING!
I also will add that not every person has to be on board, but even if just a few are this will help streamline your holiday gifting!
WHY THIS IS SO GREAT
The obvious reason this is so awesome, is that you can get your family the gifts they actually want! The less obvious reason, is that using these lists helps other people to know what’s already been given, so you don’t have to worry about duplicating gifts. It’s amazing. The way that Amazon has this set up, is that the list owner can’t see what’s been already purchased for them – it doesn’t ruin surprises! BUT to anyone else viewing the list, items that have already been purchased, disappear from the list, leaving only the things that haven’t been bought yet.
Can I sing the praises for this enough? I can give my wish list to my mom’s side, my dad’s side, and my in-laws, and no one has to worry about getting me a gift that I already have.
LASTLY – YOU CAN ADD ITEMS FROM OTHER STORES TO AN AMAZON WISH LIST! That’s right, you heard me. Your list doesn’t have to consist of only items found on Amazon.com – you can add things from Target, Nordstrom, anywhere.
xo,
PIN THIS FOR LATER!
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I want to ask does it say who u received the gift from
Yes you can fill that out!
Hi, good article, but may I suggest adding a piece about the person searching for a list needing to have an Amazon account (or access to one). I just went 20 minutes deep into trying to figure out how to share my family wish list with my mother, a staunch “I don’t buy from Amazon” type personality, and EVERY website I tried just talks about how easy it is to share the list.
I was thinking I could share the list with her and let her visit her local dept. store without my needing to create a new list. Yes, it would seem odd to have someone access the Amazon list and NOT have an Amazon acct, but let’s just step back and think of it this way:
At one time, kids fervently circled everything their heart desired in the Sears Wish Book, but you can bet parents didn’t shop ONLY at Sears. They took the idea and hit up whatever merchant they preferred. I won’t date myself too much more, so no mention of Montgomery Ward or Woolworth.
Cheers!
When someone buys something off the list does it remove it? If not how do you know what has been bought off someones list already?
Yes, if an item is purchased it will not show up on the list anymore, except for the person whose list it is. If the list-owner is logged into their account and they have ‘don’t ruin my surprises’ option turned on they will still see all items on their list.
wait a minute they cannot see whats bought for them? cant they just log in under a different name and pretend they are a buyer and look?
or is the list private and they cannot find it cuz its under a secrete name and all that? or do they not even know the wish lists exist and have to be one of the emails on the list you have prepared?
a lot of kids have moms email and so forth and lot of wives have husbands how do you insure they cannot pretend to be someone else and check the list?
also do they get any of your vital information, name address CC #?
I really need to know this stuff please..
Thank You
Hey! I’ll answer your questions to the best of my ability!
– Nothing would stop someone from signing in with another email address and viewing what has been purchased from their list. It’s their list, and it’s ultimately up to them whether or not they want to be surprised!
– Wish lists can be set to public or private by the person who creates the list.
– Amazon protects personal information. If you buy something for someone else from their wish list, the gift is sent to them but you do not receive their address or phone number. It works the same the other way around. Unless you include a note with the gift saying who you are, or tell the person in some other way, they will not know who sent the gift nor see any names, address or phone numbers. The gift will be sent anonymously.
How do I send something to someone off of there wish list and don’t have the money to buy it right know.
When the package comes does it have the buyers name or the person who’s wish list it is name?
It arrives addressed to the person who’s wish list it is on, and usually there is a gift receipt option that you can choose an the person can scan a QR code to send an email to ‘thank’ the gift giver!
There’s no way to find a list of a friend any more – that ‘find a list or registry’ item doesn’t appear in the drop down list now. It seems the only way you can find a friend’s wish list is by sending them an email to ask them for a link. Why doesn’t the Amazon web site say this so that we don’t spend hours trying to find out how to search for it???
This is very bad Amazon customer service
Hey Helen! I’m sorry you haven’t been able to find it, but I still see it in my drop-down menu! Best of luck.
FYI, Helen A is correct. Amazon just recently made ALL wishlists private (assume for security purposes). I just complained that there should have been some notification and that they should not completely remove the public option. I understand making Private as the default, but should give customers ability to override with their choice. ATM your friends are no longer able to surprise you with a gift from your list.
If you don’t like the new policy, suggest you complain to them and hopefully they will return the option for public.
Oh my gosh! That is a bummer. I just looked and you are totally right.
I have a question, when I try to buy something off a friend’s wish list and proceed to check out, the only available address is my, is that by default to keep the other person address confidential? Thank you
Yes, it will not show the friends’ address due to privacy, but it will still send the gift to their house!
Thank you. This is the third article I have gone to that did not explain that
Hi, I also think Amazon Wish List is great however, how do you know who’s actually bought you the item when you’ve been sent it? Thanks, been trying to find out and am struggling. Thanks Rachel x
That’s a good question! I’ve had that happen before too. Sometimes there is a receipt inside that says ‘say thanks’ with a bar code, and you can see who sent it and send them a note. If that doesn’t come in it, I think the only way to know is to ask customer service.