The holiday season just sort of sneaks up on us every year, and without advanced planning, spending can really get out of hand. Here are some of my tips for meaningful gift giving this Christmas for the adults in your life.
Consider a Secret Santa gift exchange.
Most adults would tend to agree that they would rather spend more of their gift giving budget on giving the kids a good Christmas. So, consider doing a gift exchange where each person draws one name. Set a spendign limit and have each person give a few gift ideas that might fall within that limit. Each person will get one nice gift, and no one will go broke in the process.
Consider doing a White Elephant or Yankee Swap gift exchange.
The rules for these exchanges seem to vary by family or geographical region, but the goal remains the same, lots of fun, and lots of laughs. HERE is an official guide to the way it is done. Make it work however you want. Use gag gifts, new gifts, whatever will be fun for your group. Some of our funnies moments have been with gag gifts.
Give an experience.
Let's face it, stuff breaks, clothes wear out, and trends change, but memories have the potential to last a lifetime. Giving an experience comes in many forms.
- Giving instruction: Are you known for your famous banana bread? Does your aunt love your banana bread? Why not invite her over to show her your secret recipe and bake a loaf or two? You can do this with instrument lessons, gardening or cooking lessons, really anything a person might want to learn.
- Giving service: We all have unique gifts and talents and matching our gifts with others' needs can make someone's Christmas. Some ideas to get you started: babysitting for families with children, meal preparation or household chores for folks who are always on the go, tax return preparation, car or home maintenance. You name it, your time can make a very valuable gift.
Write a tribute.
Our lives are so fast paced. With cell phones, emails, and text messages, the simple pleasure of a hand written letter seems to be slowly fading away. Who wouldn't love a heartfelt letter from a loved one sharing memories, maybe enclosing a few pictures, and generally telling that person what they mean to you? Gifts like this cannot be bought in any store, and are often regarded as more precious than the most expensive gift.
Family Pictures.
Family members will greatly appreciate a family photo, even if it is not professionally done. With digital cameras so common, it should not be a big deal to borrow one if you do not own one. Then you can print and frame the photo. Another bonus is that packaged carefully, photos are inexpensive to ship to loved ones who live far away.
Re-Gift (GASP)!
I know that this is a controversial option, but as long as you follow a few simple guidelines it does not have to be regarded as cheap or tacky. If you have, in the past, received a gift that you cannot use and you know that someone else would like it, then it is far better to give that item to a person who will appreciate it than to throw it away or have it gathering dust. Here are a few things to do to keep a re-gift from becoming troublesome.
- Don't give it back to the person who gave it to you. If you aren't sure, just don't do it!
- Make sure all tags are gone from the first gifting.
- Don't tell anyone it is a re-gift. No says that you have to spend a fortune on it for it to be special.
- Conversely, don't lie if asked about it being a re-gift. Just say something like "I really was so glad to have received that from so and so, and when I thought about how happy Jane would be to have it, I just had to give it to her."
- Freshen it up. Make sure packaging doesn't look beat up. No one wants a gift that looks like junk.
Personally, I wouldn't mind being the recipient of a thoughtful re-gift. Just don't make it a fruitcake.
Make it yourself.
Baked goods, home canned goodies, scarves, sweaters, family cookbooks, scrapbooks, blankets, you name it. If you can make it, you can gift it. Just think carefully about what folks would enjoy and you are good at.
So, those are some of my favorite gift ideas for adults.
Have any other ideas? Leave me a comment
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