I know these days after the holidays can be a drag--especially for parents and grandparents, the ones expected to buy all of the gifts, host the holiday parties, bake the christmas cookies, and make the holidays extra special for their family and children. This year, as I watched my mom stress over what presents to buy, as I went from store to store with my exhausted Nana (my grandma) to buy supplies for Christmas dinner, I felt sorry for these overworked women. The holidays had become a time of tiredness and anxiety for them. There must be a better way to do this, I thought.
For the past few months, as I have been reading frugality blogs and books like the Tightwad Gazette, I've picked up a few tips and tricks for making the holidays more simple and enjoyable. Since I'm not at a point in my life where I have to host parties or parent kids, but I do enjoy giving gifts, the concepts I learned about gift giving stuck with me the most. I'll share with you my refined process of gift giving this year.
I decided I wanted to change my process in these ways:
1. Simplify my gift recipient list. Instead of giving presents to a lot of people, I wanted to give a few, meaningful presents.
2.Plan ahead. Instead of doing all my shopping in December when I got home from school, I wanted to start early. That way, I would have more time to spend with my family and friends during my short month break.
3. Look out for sales and coupons. I wanted to get quality presents while saving as much money as possible.
4. Be conscious of where my money is going. Instead of sending money to large factories in China that under pay and exploit their workers, I wanted to support businesses and causes of integrity.
5. Avoid making extra trips to the store, specifically for buying gifts. Shopping trips waste time and energy which could be expended in better ways.
6. Give a gift the recipient will actually appreciate. Oftentimes my siblings get gifts and want to return them. This also wastes energy and time. I want to give gifts that are cherished, not rejected.
In summary, I wanted to be thoughtful about my gift giving. In my mind, this is the most important part of gift giving, yet it is often lost in the frantic shopping around the holidays. Gifts become thoughtless obligations. In following the listed guidelines, I thought I could renew the thoughtful meaning behind gift giving and make it a more simple, enjoyable process.
How did I do? I'll let you be the judge.
For my mom, I bought these "Infinite Dance" earrings from Novica.
Novica is an organization associated with National Geographic that supports artisans around the world, providing them with fair compensation and loans to build their business. Some of the products on this site are pricey; however, they are quality handmade products. I feel good about supporting these artists in need, as opposed to sustaining large corporate factories. The jewelry is also much more unique than anything you can find at department stores, so I got to get my mom something really special!
Because Novica jewelry isn't cheap, I looked around for deals all through the fall season. In October, The Frugal Girl posted an awesome Novica coupon at Living Social Deals--buy the coupon for $20, and get $40 towards your Novica purchase. Though I didn't know what I was going to get my mom at the time, I knew I could find something for her at Novica in my price range thanks to the coupon I found. Instead of paying about $48 for the earrings, I paid only $28.
I was a little mad at myself for not looking around for more coupons when I made this purchase. A few days later, I saw a $5 off coupon. Though not a huge savings, every little bit helps!
For my sister Lacey, I decided to buy silk long underwear.
While this might seem like a boring or too practical gift, these are quality garments and a necessity in the cold Minnesota winter she has to endure at school. They are also more expensive than she or my mom could typically afford--at prices of about $50 for the top and $50 for the bottoms, totaling a hefty sum of $100.
If you know me at all, you know I would not pay full price for these. While she really needs them, I can't really afford $100 presents. Just when my mom had given up on this gift, I found that Lands End was having an awesome before christmas sale--40% off your entire order plus free shipping. In addition, certain colors of these silk long underwear were a reduced price--the lavender was $25 instead of $50. Though Lacey would have preferred black, she completely understood my choice of lavender when she found out it was half price! With all of these discounts, my total ended up being about $31--a savings of almost $70! This was by far my best Christmas steal. The only downside was that the product was Made in China from an unknown source. I didn't realize this until after I bought it.
I left Nancy's gift a little more open ended. In November, a group at Haverford had a fair trade sale, selling products from an organization called Serrv (similar to Novica). Again, I could feel good about supporting artists who were hand making their products and getting fairly compensated for them. At the sale, I discovered this elephant puzzle box:
I was immediately intrigued by it--I couldn't open it! The puzzle has four separate parts. Since Nancy loves elephants, this was a no-brainer. Though it isn't practical, I thought it was special and a good price at only $15. Before I wrapped it in my homemade cloth gift bag, I put a note inside redeemable for a $15-20 present that she really wanted but didn't get for Christmas. I think this made the gift a little more fun and interesting. It also helped me achieve my goal of spending similar amounts on each family member's gift.
I think I did a pretty good job of addressing my goals--to simplify my recipient list, to get gifts ahead of time, search for sales, know where/how the gift was made and feel good about it, avoid extra time consuming shopping and return trips, and most importantly, be thoughtful about my gifts. This has definitely been the most enjoyable Christmas giving experience that I've had. Next year, I plan to start my gift search in January--to maximize my thoughtfulness, conscientiousness, and savings!
What process or system do you use for gift giving? How do you maximize the quality of your gifts while minimizing the cost? Comment below!
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