Not Sold in Stores: Ways to Save Money, Protect the Planet, and Spread Cheer
By Jennifer Errick
With all the stress, expense, and expectation surrounding the holiday season, it can be a challenge to get through “the most wonderful time of the year” with our values and our wallets intact.
Here are a few fresh additions to New American Dream’s eight years of holiday resources. For more tips and ideas from past seasons, download a free copy of our “Simplify the Holidays” booklet (or order a printed version) at www.simplifytheholidays.org.
Laying the Groundwork
As someone who has attempted and failed to hand-knit every gift for an extended
family of 14, I know that trying to do too much, even with the best intentions,
will make those mile-long checkout lines at the mall seem like a spa vacation.
Starting slow and making gradual changes to entertaining and gift-giving rituals
is the best rule of thumb. It may be too late to significantly re-think your
family’s routine this year, but you can still set realistic goals (like knitting
just two or three gifts!) and make other seasonal tasks more fun.
* Host a cookie swap. Everyone loves cookies, but who really enjoys the giant, goopy mess of mixing a gazillion different kinds? Instead, bake in bulk and share. Six friends who each make six dozen of the same kind of cookie can meet for coffee and go home with a dozen of each kind. (Minus one or two, perhaps.)
* Have a card party. Skip the poker and invite friends over to fill out your holiday cards instead. It won’t save you time, but it will turn an often tedious activity into a social gathering at a time when you might otherwise be too busy to see your friends!
Noncommercial Gift Ideas
In the past, we’ve promoted several types of noncommercial gifts, including
gifts of time (such as babysitting or massages), consumables (like bread, soap,
or candles), donations to charity, and homemade presents. Here are more clever
ways to add meaning to your gift list while keeping costs low:
* For distant friends and relatives who can’t make it home for the holidays, frame a picture of their family home as a special reminder of where they’re missed.
* Take a friend off of junk mail. Generate automatic forms with your
recipient’s name and address at www.newdream.org/junkmail to reduce unwanted
mail by 50 percent. Present the forms in stamped, addressed envelopes ready to
sign and mail.
* Make an emergency kit. Do you know someone with an unreliable car? Create a gift basket with a blanket, flashlight, gas can, jumper cables, and flares. Does your friend walk home from work or class after dark? Give peace of mind with pepper spray, a whistle, and a prepaid calling card.
* Buy renewable energy for a friend burning fossil fuel. Purchase “renewable energy certificates” (RECs) to offset travel or household energy use and promote the development of cleaner sources of energy. Online calculators can help you figure out how much it costs to offset typical energy use. Find regional energy providers at Green Tags (www.greentagsusa.com), the U.S. Department of Energy (www.eere.energy.gov/ greenpower/buying), or Green-e (1-888-63-GREEN, www.green- e.org). The Bonneville Foundation also has seasonal giving programs at www.b-e- f.org.
* Want to make a donation in someone’s name, but not sure where? The nonprofit
Charity Checks (1-800-854-5601, www.charitychecks.us) allows recipients to
choose which organization(s) receive the funds.
* Give the gift of forgiveness. Call an estranged friend or write a letter to
someone you haven’t seen in a few years. Real friendship is sweeter than any
other gift you can give.
Creative Reuse
Here are a few ways to make the time-honored tradition of secondhand giving
easier and more fun:
* Have a re-gift swap. We all have gift-quality things in our closets that we don’t actually use. Get together a few like-minded friends and trade tchotchkes -- the singing fish plaque that would be totally tacky in one family could be a laugh riot in another.
* Share a love of reading. Give away the last great book you bought and enjoyed to someone who shares your taste. You’ll get to talk about the story the next time you see each other, and you can always reread a copy at the library.
* “Shop” for secondhand items online at www.freecycle.org (organized through email listservs), www.throwplace.com, or www.craigslist.org. You’ll be amazed at what folks are giving away free or selling for peanuts -- everything from pickup trucks to spatulas.
* Get crafty. Our Communications Director Sarah Roberts never throws out corks anymore. Instead, she skewers them on strands of wire, alternating them with different kinds of beads, and twisting them into ornaments and “wino garlands” which she hangs around her home and gives away as clever novelty gifts for fellow wine-lovers. With creative flair, other items that reflect your interests can give a unique twist to holiday fare.
Fun for Kids, Without the Presents
Kids look forward to rituals year after year, but they don’t all need to be
about presents. Find fresh ways to emphasize humor, nature, fun, and
togetherness.
* Several weeks before the holidays, ask your children to write down what they most want to do as a family (aside from shopping and gift-giving), and act on some of their suggestions, whether it’s having snowball fights, baking desserts, or watching favorite movies.
* Storytelling is a powerful way to preserve family memories, especially if you exaggerate a few details for posterity. Maybe you didn’t really win a dreidl- spinning championship on ESPN, but your kids will enjoy retelling the details of your miraculous come-from-behind victory.
* Designate an amount of money to donate, and let your kids pick the charity. Older kids can research different types of organizations and learn more about causes that match your family’s values.
Wrapping
Don’t add to the glut of pricey papers and bows in landfills this year. A few
beautiful alternatives you probably already have around the house include: kids’
artwork, maps and travel brochures from favorite vacations, magazines, old
comics, silk scarves, and fabric remnants. Gifts for the kitchen can be folded
in cloth napkins or collected in a picnic basket and wrapped in a tablecloth.
Gifts for Your Karma
One of the best aspects of the holiday season is the kindness it can engender
among strangers -- when they’re not wrestling each other to the ground for the
last dancing Elmo doll. After a divisive political season, a few acts of
goodwill can be truly restorative to the giver and recipient. And what goes
around comes around!
* During holiday road trips, pay for the car behind you at the toll booth.
* Shovel snow for an elderly neighbor.
* Leave potted flowers or herbs anonymously on a friend’s doorstep.
* Clean the cat box (et cetera) without being asked!
* Send a card to a soldier overseas or an injured veteran spending the holidays
in a military hospital.
Scaling back at the holidays takes a little effort at first, but can be deeply
rewarding, leaving more time for family, faith, or just some extra sleep.
Regardless of what you celebrate, best wishes keeping it simple, sane, and truly
fun.
Jennifer Errick is Communications Associate for the Center for a New American Dream. Many New American Dream staff members enthusiastically contributed to this story.