Gift Pathways

2007-11-22

With the holidays coming up, I thought I would pass on this useful service a friend of mine is providing. Basically, it is a way for groups of family and friends to set up a private gift registry for themselves.

Here's how it works. You go to the web site and create a personal account for yourself. When you have your account, you create a private group. Let say you want a group for the Smith Family Christmas; you create a group with that name. You will then be given a group ID and a password. You give the ID and Password to everyone on the Smith family's gift exchange and they can all sign up and join the group. That's when the real usefulness begins.

When you log in you can create a wish list for yourself. Add the items that you want and, optionally, where to get them. Then you can look at the wish lists of everyone else in the group. When you buy an item on someone else's wish list, you check it off so the other members don't duplicate the purchase. Here's the really good part: the owner of the list can't see what is bought and what is not. That means you can't see what other people have bought you.

This is a really neat idea and I think you'll like it if you give it a try. You don't just have to use it for Christmas; you can use it for any gift-giving occasion. Just click on over to www.giftpathways.com and sign in.

I will note, however, that though this guy is pretty bright on the software development side of things, we are still working on his artistic talents. As a result, the site is not the prettiest, but it is slowly getting there. The functionality is good, and he is pretty good at server security, so you'll be safe. Remember to tell him that LibertyBob sent you.