Hey guys,
Since September and October starts the gift-giving season for me, I needed to figure out what I would do for all of the events coming up. I believe that we shouldn’t spend a bunch of money on gifts of the latest gadgets and current fashion trends because they are just feeding consumerism. So I usually figure out ways to give meaningful, necessary and helpful gifts to my loved ones.
I decided that I would share my thoughts on this topic in hopes to inspire and help you guys to also give more meaningful gifts and hopefully indirectly help the environment at the same time!
Meaningful gift ideas
1. Bake sweet treats
I did this for Christmas 2017. I decided to bake all of my loved one’s sugar cookies. My husband and I used a simple recipe that was really tasty. What made it even better was that we already had all of the ingredients in our pantry. We didn’t have to go shopping all over for different gifts, and it saved us a ton of money! We decorated them with festive colored sprinkled and wrapped the cookies up and finished them off with some holiday colored ribbon. To my relief, everyone loved their gifts on Christmas day!
This idea works out because we can say that almost everyone would eat some sort of sweet treat. Decide what everyone on your list likes and bake according to that. The gift will be much appreciated and will most likely not go to waste since everyone will eat the goods.
2. Buy something that the person needs
This might be easier for closer loved ones than just acquaintances since you would probably know what they need by being around them often. My general rule of thumb when going with this option is:
- Buy the item that your loved one needs instead of wants. An example of this would be buying your mom the cake mixer she has been eyeing instead of more “I love you mom”knick-knacks to put in her house. She would probably love both just as well but she will get more use out of the cake mixer than the ornaments.
- Buy the item that will get more use out of it. An example of this would be buying an article of clothing that can be worn every day for someone rather than something extra fancy that can only be worn on some special occasion (leave that for when that person has an event to go to).
- If you have to think whether the item is a splurge or not, you might as well forget about it. If it were a necessity, you would probably not be second guessing it.
3. Spend quality time
I prefer to spend quality time with my loved ones any day rather than buying them something for their birthday or Christmas. I know that this is not always the easiest option but will be much more appreciated and meaningful. If it is my nephew’s birthday; I take him out to the movies and go to the beach instead of buying him the latest gadget he wants. I have lunch with my sister rather than buying her perfume and watch funny videos with my dad instead of buying him a card or a shirt. These may be regular everyday things, but I feel so much better knowing that I connected with my family on this special day!
4. Give them money
I know this one might seem a little impersonal, but there is much more thought put into it instead of just picking something up at your local store. Sometimes you may not be able to spend quality time with your friend or know exactly what they may need but you can give them money in hopes that they know what they need. And look at it this way, at the end of the day they will spend the money on something that will bring them happiness in some way or another!
5. Write them a letter
Not all of us can spend these holidays with all of our loved ones. It is a difficult thing when they aren’t always around, but you can show them that you care for them by writing them a letter. It may be a little old fashion or even unnecessary since we have text messages and phone calls but I look at it like this: A letter takes more effort and time and can be cherished for years after it has been written. For example, I recently found letters that my aunt wrote to me when I was a child that brought tears to my eyes. So this shows that a written letter is an everlasting token of love that your loved ones can always look back on to remember you!
Final thoughts
I enjoy doing all of these gift-giving ideas for family and friends. I have had only good things come from it also. Like happy memories, feeling useful and knowing that I am not contributing to a lot more unnecessary waste.
I hope that this post will give you guys ideas to be more thoughtful and helpful, not only for the holiday gift-giving season but in your everyday lives. If any of you guys have ideas or useful tips to go along with my list, please leave them in the comments below. I’m sure we can all use them to better our lives!
Until next time,
yasmin rose xo
