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The Twelve Tips of Gift Giving: Give without Going in Debt

By on December 11, 2012
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The Twelve Tips of Gift Giving: Give Gifts without Going in Debt

             The holiday season is finally here and it’s the time of cheer, family gatherings and gift giving. A lot of people are excited about the cheerful family gathering part about the holidays. But many people are anticipating Christmas to be over because they just loathe the gift giving part. Between Secret Santa at the office and children with Christmas lists as long as an arm along with the necessary bills that need to be paid, a lot of us are heading towards bankruptcy. But with these twelve persuade tips of gift giving you’ll be able to give gifts to family and friends as well as save pocket change.

1.     Give from the heart. If you give totally from your heart it is guaranteed that you will not spend a lot of money. Most people give expensive gifts to impress someone or to show off.  However, if you give the gift your heart tells you to give whether giving someone a simple Happy Holidays card or a simple Happy Holidays phone call you will be a much happier person without being broke.

2.     Give a gift that is needed. You can never go wrong with giving people what they need as gifts. People spend so much money on what they want and not what they need that you would spend little to nothing on a needed gift. If you have a friend that is always borrowing your favorite sweater buy them a simple sweater from Wal-Mart. If you have a cousin that is always getting cheating on give her/him much needed advice as a gift.

3.     Set a Budget. The wonderful thing about gift giving is that you can set your own budget. So if you want to set your gift giving budget from zero to one dollar, you can totally do that. If you want to set your budget to one hundred dollars you can do that as well. Set a budget that you are comfortable with to make sure your bank account is not tapped out.

4.     Give Non Monetary Gifts. You do not have to spend money to give a gift. You can put your creativity to use and make gifts. Go to the arts and crafts store buy supplies on sale and make gifts for your family and friends. If you are not an artistic person, give the gift of help. Rake your neighbor’s leaves, wash your mom’s car, or take your grandma to her doctor’s appointment. Giving the gift of help goes a long way and leave impressions on the heart.

5.     Give Gift Cards. You can never go wrong with giving gift cards for Christmas. You can put an affordable amount of money on a gift card to the person’s favorite restaurant or store. For example, if you have a family member or friend that lives off of McDonald’s then giving them a five or ten dollar McDonald’s gift card is a great idea.

6.     Host. When you host a gathering at your place or a venue for the holidays, no one will expect you to give anything. They would actually bring you something for inviting them and taking the time out to host the event. You could also put on the invite that bringing a gift is optional.

7.     Give out Groupons. Groupon’s are the best inventions ever. Paying twenty bucks for half off of a hundred dollar spa package is such an awesome deal. Giving the gift of groupon’s will save you and them a lot of money.

8.     Give needed contributions.  Most people show up to Grandma’s house for the holiday dinner, eat, and leave her with dishes stacked to the ceiling. A great gift would be to come over early and assist her with cooking or stay late and help her clean the kitchen. Another idea would be if you have that one cousin with multiple children and no car, you could give her ride to the dinner or give her ride home after.

9.     Volunteer.  If you don’t want to be around your family or other materialistic people for the holidays, the best thing you can give is time. Adopting an Angel Tree kid to give a gift to or volunteering at a soup kitchen is a great idea. Not only will you feel good about yourself but others will feel good that there are some decent people still in this world that love to help out.

10.  Give Love. Love is a wonderful gift to give. It is free, warming and beautiful. Buying a homeless person lunch or a cup of cocoa is displaying love. Hugging someone who has had a bad year is showing lots of love. You can never go wrong with giving love.

11.  Greeting Cards. Give everyone greeting cards for Christmas. They are inexpensive and sentimental. Inside of the greeting card tell that person how they have impacted your life and what they mean to you.

12.  Give a Hug.  Hugging is actually very healthy. It releases endorphins and relieves stress. Giving out free hugs is the best gift you can give because it impacts anyone in a positive way. 

I hope these twelve tips of giving relieve your anxiety about finances during the Christmas season. Not only will you save a chunk of change but you will also have fun and change lives. Happy Holidays!

Tanisha M. Monroe