Trying to give the important people in your life the perfect gift can be incredibly stressful, but random acts of kindness and generosity are both things that prolong happiness in the long term. Here are some ways to make the most out of your gift giving this year:

Be more empathetic and practice listening to the people you are giving a gift to more

Giving a gift that someone loves can give you an incredible boost of happiness, but choose poorly and it can leave you feeling worse than you were before. A great way to start to filter through what to get is by improving your listening skills when you are around those you love. Ask them questions about what activities they are enjoying at the moment. If you want to go the less subtle route you can ask them directly what they need. This will ensure that they are getting something that will truly like.

Use well-being strategies to choose the kind of gifts that prolong the enjoyment from receiving them

You can do this through experiences. It is scientifically proven that experiences provide long term benefits. One of the main reasons is that you can build a deeper connection through shared experiences.

An example Laurie Santos gave on the episode was gifting a book to someone and offering to read it with them and talk about it weekly. I have recently been cooking with my grandma weekly over FaceTime, and I can't tell you how much joy it brings both of us. It not only gives us something to look forward to, but the shared experience brings us closer.

Another way you can get more bang out of your happiness buck, is through planning an experience for someone that is in the future. They made an excellent point on the episode that we all need something to look forward to these days, and what a better way to prolong the Christmas cheer then spreading it out to an event in the future.

Time is one of the most precious gifts. Through time affluence strategies it is proven that we can actually give the gift of time.

Plan a "Dreaded List Exchange" - If you know the people in your life are short on time (and you are as well), then choose an item on your list that you are dreading tackling and exchange it with someone else's. That way you are taking something off of their plate so that they can have more time to do the things that they enjoy the most.

Pay for a service that makes their life a little easier, like a food delivery subscription.

Express gratitude

Gratitude has also been scientifically proven to boost your mood. If you aren't able to be together in person this year, write a letter of gratitude to someone. Share your appreciation for something that you have never thanked them for, and set a time to meet with them over FaceTime so that you can share the experience of them reading it together, and reminisce about all of the good times you've shared.