Dates you cannot be late for
Anyone can tell you when Mother's Day is. The useful part is the last day to order so it actually arrives — worked out from the 3-10 days the road takes, with a few days' slack.
Graduation
Four years of it. Mark the end properly.
A watch or a good pen is the traditional one, and it still lands.
Prize Giving & Results
For the one who came top, and the one who worked hardest.
Results season. A gift that marks it is remembered far longer than the certificate.
Christmas
The whole year's shopping, in three panicked weeks.
Order early. December is when the road is busiest and slowest.
Back to School
First term, new bag, and the shoes that have to last the year.
Zimbabwean schools open in January, May and September.
Valentine's Day
The one date nobody is forgiven for missing.
Flowers wilt on a bus. Send something that is still there in March.
International Women's Day
For the women carrying more than they let on.
Marked properly across Zimbabwe, and almost always under-shopped.
Mother's Day
The one she will mention to everyone she knows.
The single busiest gifting day of the year for the diaspora.
Father's Day
Hard to buy for, easy to get right.
He will say you should not have. He will also wear it every day.
Girlfriend's Day
No anniversary, no birthday, no reason. That is the point.
A gift on an ordinary day counts for more than one that was owed.
Boyfriend's Day
Because it should not always be one way round.
Watches, fragrance and the tech he keeps not buying himself.
World Teachers' Day
For the one who stayed behind to explain it again.
Marked in Zimbabwean schools, and the gifts are usually an afterthought.
How the cut-off is worked out
Gifts are bought new in South Africa and come up by road. That takes 3-10 days, so every date above counts back from the day itself and adds a few days for customs and the weekend. Pay by the date shown and it gets there.
Left it later than that? 11 gifts are already in Harare — those go out in 1-2 days, whatever the calendar says.