Does anyone have other ways to celebrate Christmas besides the usual ritual of buying presents? My family is small. Everyone comes
to my house and even if we are all here there would only be 9 people. I have tried inviting other people but this time of the year,
people usually have other plans. Nobody has much money and it really strains their budget to buy gifts. I just want something more
meaingful next year. Any ideas??
1|1|This is something my best friends family does because it is huge, but could work for small as well(more)|dlpavitt|dlpavitt@att.net|04:03:47|12/29/2012|
Instead of everyone buying for everyone one, at Thanksgiving, they put everyones name in hat, and each person picks one name. They only have to buy for that person. So everyone gets one gift. They also put a spending limit on the presents. This includes kids, adults alike. My best friend has 5 boys, so she has to buy 7 gifts total, at the spending limit. Am I making sense? If some one is not present at Thanksgiving, there name is still included, and someone else picks for them, and lets them know, who they buy for.
If you are a HONEST trader, there is nothing to fear in having a feedback link. If you do not have one, please set one up, BEFORE contacting me for a trade. If you insist on not having a feedback link, please do not contact me to trade. Feedback links protect all of us, on RS. Thanks for understanding. Donna
2|2|Another idea...|DE01740|DESimunek@yahoo.com|08:13:55|12/29/2012|
How about a re-gifting day? There are 22 of us. We have the girls wrap a present for a girl and the guys wrap for
a guy. We have all received presents that we can not use (not a white elephant!). We are glad someone thought of us
but now what to do with the still new gift. The gifts are wrapped and then labeled boy or girl. How you open
them can be a fun thing too. You can have the 1st person open their gift, then the 2nd person can steal that gift
or open up a different package. Or wait until everyone has opened their gifts and then trade.
In the past, we have also purchased $10 gifts.. again a girl buying for a girl and a guy buying for a guy.
You will be surprised what you can still purchase for $10. Hope these ideas help you come up with something
different for next Christmas.
Debbie 3|1|Here are some other ideas...|Quietwaters|Quietwaters39@hotmail.com|10:03:24|12/29/2012|
Of course there is always homemade gifts, you can change the theme each year, like on year gifts of homemade food, (one year I put together a box of freezer meals for my mom,) another year I did a dessert a month for a friend. Gifts of time are great, babysitting, gutter cleaning, house cleaning, pet walking, yard work. This year my younger daughter gave my married daughter and her husband, large candy bars, with coupons for babysitting and house cleaning inside of them.
Another idea is having every one bring a set amount of money with them on Christmas, and an idea to help someone with the combined money. Lets say your nine people pitch in 11.00, you then have 99.00 total. Then on Christmas you could talk about the different ideas on how to spend the money. You could buy groceries for a needy family, you could pay a needy persons elect bill, you could buy gas cards with the money and give them out to someone you know that has a hard time keeping gas in their car, or at a childrens hosp. Samaritans Purse has all kinds of ideas where you can buy a cow or chickens ect for a third world country family. I think giving the gift in January too, is such good timing because that is a hard month for lots of people.
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You guys can all chip in together to rent a cabin or something, or a beach house, etc for a couple days. Throughout the year each of you can save in a jar for the 'Christmas fund'. Then when the time comes, use the money you saved to go in together renting a place, and then simply enjoy your time with each other on a trip. When you rent a house/cabin it's so affordable to divvy up expenses plus you can bring in your own groceries and enjoy nature in a ski area or beach or wherever you choose! Those memories would last longer than any crappy present, anyway! :) 5|2|Christmas ideas|JUDY18|tulip-bulb@hotmail.com|09:30:34|01/04/2013|
Thanks for the input. We will definitely put more thought into next year.