Oh, You really shouldn’t have! (Christmas in General)

Member Name: gothiron

Product:	Christmas in General
Date:	28/11/01 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you more appreciated, Lasts longer than boxing day, Probably costs less than the commercial option

Disadvantages: You've got to have the ideas, People still give you naff presents, Odd looks from relatives (nothing new there then!)

A stack of beautifully wrapped presents nestling under the tree, the waiting to see the appreciation in the faces of the recipients, the frenzied unwrapping, the polite thank yous and then the trip to the charity shop to give the unwanted presents away in the New Year, the thud of the credit card bill on the mat come January. Welcome to the lifecycle of a Christmas present.

Alright, that’s a pretty cynical view, but maybe it’s time to simplify your Christmas a bit and actually rethink how and why you give presents. Wouldn’t it be better to actually give something people will use rather than just smile politely at (or not in the case of my in-laws) and if you are just buying that Body Shop gift basket because you’ve run out of ideas, maybe you need to reconsider the person you are buying for and what their needs are.

I guess debating whether my mother in law could do with a new broomstick probably isn’t the most charitable idea I’ve ever had!

One of the most valuable things you can give someone is time. Short of developing a time machine in the shed, it’s not possible to wind back the hands of time or even to stick a spanner in the works and hold it back, but it is possible that you can let somebody enjoy their time more.

One of the suggestions I see in books quite often is to give IOU Time Vouchers (which you make yourself) which promise to “donate” three hours worth of baby sitting, couple of hours worth of cooking or ironing and that perennial favourite, help with the gardening or whatever it is that someone would appreciate (Three hours housework anyone?). Well why not take it a bit further. If you are preparing to give babysitting time then combine it with Cinema Gift Vouchers – thereby giving the reason for the babysitting. Rather than promise to do the ironing, contact a local ironing service and book time with them, likewise the garden, book a couple of ho
urs worth of a local gardeners time (unless you genuinely love working in the garden) and wrap up some bulbs or packets of seeds as a small gift. Afterall, we all like to unwrap something on Christmas Day.

One of my friends gave her sister a “Pass Your Theory Test” book as a spur for her to start driving lessons, the rest of the family continued the theme and paid for lessons between them – I bet she still got that deicer and scrapper gift pack from Halfords though!

But it’s just giving vouchers you complain, well yes, but you have actually customised the idea a bit and helped someone free up some of their time for themselves so that they can de-stress and do something they want to do instead. A double present in fact.

One of the nicest things that my sister and myself do is agree not to spend loads on each other, but get something “practical” (last years gift to her was an assortment of tights, various shades, thickness and colours) and then we give a donation to a charity to the value of what we would have spent. She supports the NSPCC; I support the Humane Research Trust. I can do without stocking filler presents (White Chocolate Orange exempted), the charities will use that money to help people who genuinely need it. This idea is really good if you have to send presents by post, give a small (light!) present and the money you save on postage, donate to the person’s favourite charity and include a card to tell them this is what you’ve done.

This isn’t to say I don’t appreciate presents, of course I do, but that isn’t what Christmas is about. For me Christmas is a chance to think of others and see how I can help them. I don’t always manage the totally virtuous approach to present buying (I’m not that boring!!) but do try to think why what I’m buying is appropriate rather than just thinking “that will do, it’s only for X
YZ”

Children are easy to buy for but it’s those pesky adults that cause the brain ache. I genuinely despair of things under the heading of either “gift sets” or “novelty items” in the shops – why not make your own, that way you probably give someone exactly what they want rather than an expensive basket + the odd thing that they can’t stand. My sister did this for me one year, choosing an Italian theme and there were things like assorted packs of pasta shapes, sun dried tomatoes, porcini and pesto. All from the supermarket and therefore not costing a bomb and it decent sizes. She got into the swing of things by wrapping it in crepe paper in Italian flag colours – a similar commercial one from a well know retailer had less things in it, smaller sizes and was over £30.

As I’m a supporter of fair trade programmes, I’ve already got the components for a “Fair Trade” hamper comprising of the café direct coffees, Fairtrade chocolate (as recommended by a fellow doo-youer a couple of months ago and other assorted ethical items. The aim of this hamper to not only to satisfy the coffee/choc a-holics but also to promote the Fairtrade programme. Why do one bit of good if you can do more!

Fine idea you think, but all this is taking more of my time and causing me more stress. Well yes, it might take time to add in a few extra things to your shopping basket when you do your weekly shop if you are doing the hamper thing, and yes, if you’ve promised to babysit then you’ll going to have to do it but if you begrudge giving your time to someone, then what are you doing giving them presents in the first place?

Of course you could just buy a 3 for 2 offer of socks for the men and bubble bath for the girlies but I think I’d enjoy the personal touch a bit more, and afterall, it’s not the receiving but the giving that counts.

>Now, where’s my chocolate orange gone!

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