Gift-Giving

Ok, so despite what you've been seeing in the grocery and department store aisles, the holidays are still a ways away ;)  Nonetheless, new babies+budgeting usually make their way around to the holidays and travel and GIFT GIVING.  Gift giving relates to the last post on Toys - but it deserves its own post.  Principles of minimalism tie in nicely for any occasion for gift-giving, not just "The Holidays".  We've been trying to start talking with Eddy about how gift-giving is really supposed to be the giving of the best of your self to a person you care about.  Now this could be in the form of that perfect book that you know this person would LOVE, or the beautiful shawl that you know matches the dress they just bought for that upcoming wedding.  But it could also be a gift of your time/effort/attention - perhaps in the form of a homemade craft, piece of artwork, bar of soap, or jar of fancy granola - we've gone that route for several holiday seasons (possibly to the chagrin of our family members!).

 It could also be a gift in the form of an experience - like tickets to a comedy show, ballet, foodie tour of the givee's hometown . . . possibly even to be used as a "date" between the giver and the givee - this form of gift-giving emphasizes relationship over accumulation of stuff. And isn't that what gift-giving should be about?  The relationship between yourself and the person you care about?  If it is an object, shouldn't it be about quality over quantity (or quality over oh-i-just-have-to-pick-up-one-more-little-thing-to-make-sure-everyone-is-getting-the-same-dollar-amount-of-gift)?  Even the opening of the gift should be about a true exchange between gift-givers, an exchange of attention, appreciation, of self - rather than a frenzy wherein there are so many people tearing into so many packages at once that thank yous have to be shouted across the room and gifts are tossed aside as soon as they are opened in order to make way for the next package to be opened aka every Christmas since grandkids arrived on the scene! 

My dad's family has been getting together every Christmas for decades - and over time the family has grown larger and larger, causing the potential shopping list to explode in order to get "something" for everyone.  At some point, we began the tradition of putting everyone's name on a list and getting ONE gift for ONE person - this cut down on the frenzy, was easier on the wallet, and allowed the gift-giver the option of focusing on the quality of single gift for that particular person.  Now of course each year we have "cheaters" (ahem, Grammie the Great and Great Grandpa!), but in general the whole thing seems to have worked out well.

So in the spirit of this experiment in Minimalism, I put this out to you, our family members (those of you who read this blog! haha) - what do you think?  This year could we put our names into one pot and get a gift for the ONE name we pick out of the pot?  We'd love to try this out if our family members are amenable :) Please leave your comments below!!

(And yes, we realize we have no idea what the holidays are going to look like this year, but at least in theory this would be something that would be nice for gift-giving.)

Whether yay or nay, this year we would love to put in a humble request for gifts that emphasize you, the friends and family members that we love, over the accumulation of more stuff :)  In general, this is what that might look like:

• experiences over stuff (tickets, gift certificates, lessons, etc)
• promote relationship (the gift of yourself! your time/effort/attention, or a 'date night' for the givee and their sweety, etc)
• quality over quantity

 Thanks for reading folks, and don't forget to leave your comments/thoughts below!