Finding Diamond Deals for Holiday Gift Giving

We have covered Christmas gifts of bangles, pearls, and gold in previous posts.  Since diamonds are supposed to be a girl’s best friend in the jewelry world, I thought it only right to include some ideas on that as well.

First of all, before buying you need to know if the person you are shopping for wants a noticeable gem.  The reason you need to know this is so you know what size in karats (chart link shows KT as MM size) and the type of cut or shape (can change KT size chart to show by shape) they would prefer.  The bigger the karat numbers the larger the diamond solitaire or the more diamonds set in the cocktail ring or pendant as a cluster (arrangement of multiple stones) or to create a design.  If shopping for someone who wants lots of glitter, skip jewelry that says it has a diamond accent.  However, you should consider these diamond accent items because they do make great gifts if you want to be the person who gives a girl her first diamond.

For a starter diamond or if you just want to claim diamonds on a particular type of shape, then go with diamond accents.  Many animal shape pendants may include diamond accents.  Diamond accents usually are only a single tiny chip somewhere on the gold or silver pendant, bracelet, or ring design.  The other glitter on the jewelry comes from special cutting of the metal; special coloring using overlay may also exist on the piece to accentuate color diamonds or create special effects to enhance the character of the piece.  JTV has lots of diamond accent jewelry between $20 and $50.  Most department stores also have a few diamond accent items for around $40-$50 and occasionally some even lower as loss-leaders for the holidays and special occasions to get customers in the store.  Check department store ads and websites for special deals.

If you are shopping for more high-end diamond jewelry, watch jewelry store and department store ads for what may fit your needs.  Before going to the store to pick one up, check their website to see if they are offering a discount on the items for ordering on-line.  By ordering rings on-line, you usually get a larger choice of ring sizes so you do not have to bring it back for sizing.  If you shop early (did not wait until the last minute to shop), you may want to consider doing an internet search using key words from the item description (shape, color, metal type, size) to see if someone else may be selling the same item for less.  You may be able to find an equivalent or better item by searching the home shopping sites that sell jewelry too.

If you do not have a particular item in mind and have at least 2-3 weeks for shipping time, then check out the home shopping sites like ICE, JTV, Overstock, Ross-Simons,  and ShopNBC because most will let you shop the jewelry category by how much you want to spend.  Same with many department store sites and some of those will offer free shipping if you have the item sent to a store and you pick it up there rather than have it delivered to your home.  If you are located in a different city from the person you are shopping for, using the internet can save you time since you can have the item shipped directly to the recipient.  Some websites also offer gift wrapping for an additional charge.