Good Gifting: Spend Time Instead of Money
By Patricia Charles
Instead of breaking the bank shopping for holiday gifts, give your family members what they really want: more time. More than four in five Americans (83 percent) wish they had more time to spend with family, according to a New American Dream poll. The question is how do you do it, when so many of our traditions are centered around opening gifts? Here are some ideas to help you to shift the focus from giving stuff to sharing an experience.
Get Crafty
Get together with family and friends for an afternoon to make your own soaps, potpourri, cards, baked goods, decorations, jewelry, or other crafts. You don't need to be Martha Stewart. Some activities, like soap-making, can be as easy as using a microwave to melt glycerin and letting it harden in a mold; or with jewelry making, stringing beads on a nylon thread and adding a clasp. Kids can express their creative side, then give the finished products as gifts.
The experience of doing projects together can also be a gift in itself. "Last year my wife and kids gave me a big box of edible decorations (fruit, nuts, seeds, peanut butter) which we hung on a tree in our back yard for the birds and animals," says New American Dream member Mike Giles of Amherst, Massachusetts. "We have a tradition of making edible bird feeders and hanging them on trees to mark the winter solstice as well."
Plan an Event
Instead of giving a material gift, take a loved one to a concert, cultural performance, museum, or sports game. Or create a new tradition by organizing an event such as a sports game at home. Get together a group of neighbors, family, or friends for a football match or reserve an indoor basketball court for an evening. (Or, if you're less athletically inclined, try a night of Scrabble, karaoke, or ping pong.)
"One year we took our family to see A Christmas Carol instead of just buying presents," said New American Dream Director of Operations Nancy Smith. "The kids really enjoyed it and remembered it more than anything they opened Christmas morning."
Take a Trip in Nature
Think the winter weather means you need to stay bundled indoors? Think again!
"We take an annual trip to Mt. Hood at Christmas with our son and granddaughters," said former New American Dream Board Member and Northwest Earth Institute founder Dick Roy. "The girls and I spend a great deal of time 'tracking' in the snow and trying to figure out what animals left the tracks and what the critters were doing at the time. The girls really get into it! When we started this tradition in 2001, I thought young girls (now 5 and 7) would get cabin fever being with us for five days. In fact, this is as much fun for them as our week each summer on the Oregon coast where the weather is warm and they have free rein to run without being dragged down by heavy clothing."
Being in nature doesn't have to mean traveling far or renting a cabin, either; it can just mean appreciating what's nearby. "When I'm with my parents, we walk on the beach," said New American Dream member Kim Robinson of Brooklyn, New York. "We love discovering the tidal pools full of urchins and other creatures."
Redecorate
Sure, it's fun to decorate for the holidays and make popcorn and cranberry garlands or homemade menorahs with the kids. But what about offering to redecorate a child's room as a gift in itself?
Let your child pick out his or her favorite color of paint (we have a list of the best eco-friendly options on our website) or choose a new decorative trim for the walls. Go to thrift stores together for new end tables, a wacky vintage lamp, shelving, or overstuffed armchairs. Look for interesting pieces of potential art, like old record covers to frame and hang. Have your child help with the hands-on work, too, like painting and moving the furniture.
Marketers are always telling us to spend, spend, spend during the holidays season. Why not find more ways to spend time instead of just money? After all, it's not money that makes lasting memories. For additional suggestions on nontraditional gifts and ways to spend more time with family, visit www.simplifytheholidays.org.
Patricia Charles is Communications Fellow for the Center for a New American Dream.