New Tradition for the 2012 Christmas season that doesn’t wreck the budget
can help make it a less stressful time of year.
According to madeinusachallenge.com
the average American spends over $700 annually on holiday shopping.
However, if just $64 of this was spent on gifts made in the USA, the economic impact would equate to the creation of 200,000 American jobs.
Want to get off the hamster wheel with all the “materialism madness” at Christmas but don’t want to be a Scrooge? Would you like to have great gifts to give…. for FREE?
Most people have an unused gift or two in their gift closet that they received or bought that doesn’t match anyone on their gift list. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to trade for what they do need/want? Turn your annual party into a re-gift exchange where everyone is welcome to swap new, unused gifts for ones that will work better for them to give to family and friends.
“Re-gift”…. the gift that just keeps giving!
Parties held before Christmas are a perfect excuse for friends to gather, while providing a wonderful solution to ensure that those gifts (which someone spent good money on ) are recycled to someone who would be thrilled to have them…. instead of cluttering one’s home. (Hint: Throwing a joke gift into the mix provides more holiday cheer than an expensive item and makes it even more fun.)
One man’s junk is another man’s “no cost” treasure…at these parties! Remember that there are no bad gifts, just gifts that haven’t gotten to the right person yet. Let’s help them on their way to getting there.
No matter what YOU think about the item, it will delight someone– in fact, it may just be their favorite gift!
Of course, some gifts make annual reappearances until they find just the right fit. (A bride regifted a set of dishes she to at her wedding. The recipient hung on to it for two years before it ended up re-gifted for a male friend’s house warming. He loved it.)
At the party….
Each guest brings a few things they don’t want are are given “scrip” (credit) for the same number of items. (Think about the many items that you have never used, despite best intentions. Clothing, books, household items, beautiful coffee mugs, serving platters, picture frames, artwork, candles, lamps, cozy throws movies/CDs, wine, jewelry, hats or scarves, figurines, plants, (or über-practical toilet paper, spiral cut ham the vegetarian’s boss gave for Christmas …that big bag of Reeses miniatures from your Secret Santa at the office.)
Guests bring holiday foods to share as they “shop” for Christmas gifts as they easily mingle, chat and laugh the comfort of the host’s home. Inevitably people find items that are perfect for loved ones, without spending a dime.
Anytime throughout the year when you receive unwanted gifts that you cannot return, hold on to those items until the annual re-gifting exchange.
Besides the FREE holiday fun, some other benefits of regifting includes :
- money doesn’t have to be spent to have nice gifts to give, allowing you to start the new year without adding new debt from Christmas.
- declutter your home of those gifts that well-meaning friends and family members spent good money on which are too nice to donate or throw away yet no one in your home will ever use.
- you are not giving more money to buy from China!
- it is good for the environment as it keeps stuff out of landfills
Who wouldn’t want to host a party like that not only to make sure they are invited but with everyone bringing food and getting some holiday shopping done without spending money!
See Thats a Wrap……
- Cookie Exchange at Christmas
- Christmas Gift Ideas made by you
- Christmas-Helping Others Even When Money is Tight
- Christmas 2011 — Birth of a New Tradition
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
tulsage
That future garage sale in the spring never materializes because we all know that it only wastes valuable days preparing for it – pricing items, making signs to put out way too early in the morning to even be up, dragging that junk all out just to sit out there all day in the heat to make a pittance in return as items are sold for pennies on the dollar. I could be doing many other things however for all my effort I end up being stuck with a mess when it is all over, leaving me wondering why I even bothered.
I love bartering and swaps that encourage reuse of the unwanted items people hold on to because they are too good to donate or throw away.
Japanese New Year tradition: To observe oosouji the final week of the old year is devoted to a top-to-bottom cleaning, decluttering and organizing of Japanese homes business offices and children’s school desks. This is done in order to create a clean state of mind to welcome the New Year, and invite prosperity in the year to come.
I’M EXCITED AS I SEE LOTS OF PARTIES IN MY FUTURE.
And certainly before Black Friday next year. I’m not doing that silly thing ever again.
Would love to have one!
Published: 2/4/1992
DEAR ABBY
Who among us is so pure that he or she has
not sent a recycled gift a time or two? I still maintain
that a set of matched luggage, though previously owned,
is quite a splendid gift.
DEAR ABBY: One of the best gifts I ever received was a wallet
from my 90-year-old aunt, a wonderful lady named Nellie
Bennett of San Diego. It appeared new, but I did find a
few things inside which she had apparently overlooked.
I pictured this wonderful old lady in poor health, unable
to shop and possibly short on funds, emptying her only wallet
to send to her niece with great love. She is gone now, but
that wallet will always remind me of her love for me, and
mine for her.
If one is not able to shop, or to afford a gift, there can
be no greater gift than to take something of one’s own and
give it to another with love.
I hope the recipient of that set of luggage reconsiders,
and realizes that someone sacrificed their luggage out of
love and generosity, not to get rid of an old cast-off.
JUDY W. VASILIAUSKAS,
ESTES PARK, COLO.
(This could make a great thing to do at a family gathering.)
Touching story of a teacher Sister Mrosla at a Catholic school in Minnesota who describes an unforgettable elementary student named Mark Eklund who had been likeable but frustrating because of his inability to stay quiet in class. One day she had all the students in the class write down each student’s name and also write the nicest thing they could think of about that person.
Mark died in Vietnam. At the funeral Mark’s family showed Sister Mrosla the piece of paper from junior-high with other student’s kind remarks about him that he carried in his wallet until the day he died.
Other students who had come for the funeral had also saved their pieces of paper from that day and told how much it had meant to them.
This true story encourages us to tell others how much we care for them and how special they are to us while there is still the time to do it.
To read the whole story go here: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson012.shtml
Here is a picture of Mark:
http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/14790/MARK-J-EKLUND