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Simply Thrifty

Simpler Christmas Giving

by Kevin Humphrey on December 14th, 2005

Christmas SkatingLike I said in my Frugal Decorating post yesterday, I’ve never been much for the commercialism and over-the-top gift giving that many folks go for at this time of year. I prefer just spending time with friends and family, having some good food, and taking time to relax.

There’s a fairly new magazine on the scene called Worthwhile that’s about the belief that you can’t live a meaningful life if you’re not doing meaningful work. They’ve got a great blog on their website with a bunch of cool contributors like Curt Rosengren, Anita Sharpe and Tom Peters to name just a couple.

Another contributor, Kate Yandoh, did a post a couple of weeks ago entitled Shop Less, Be More that presents some cool ideas for holiday alternatives to just giving people stuff. Among them…

  • Don’t give a present, give an experience - Instead of giving somebody something, take them out and do something. An afternoon of skating or tobogganing, a trip to the museum, invite over everyone you’d normally gift and have a potluck.
  • Make it mandatory to make it - Declare that all presents within your gifting circle must originate in the hands and brains of everyone. No ifs, ands or buts. Declare an arts and crafts revolution!
  • Swap it, don’t shop it - We’ve all received gifts we haven’t used and we’ve all bought stuff that doesn’t fit or we don’t use. Redistribute it all. Regift and recycle.

Kate’s got a couple more ideas over at Worthwhile so head on over and check them out, and while your there, take a look at Worthwhile. It’s a cool blog and magazine.

POSTED IN: General, Reusing and Recycling, Simpler Thinking

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