Shop Less and Give More

Give and Watch Your Soul Ignite

When asked to describe their ideal holiday season, most people don’t put shopping for gifts at the top of the list.

Instead, they list spending time with loved ones, having fun with friends, enjoying holiday food and taking some time away from work to relax.

Unfortunately, the reality is often something quite different.  The pressure to shop, spend money and entertain leaves many of us feeling both exhausted and tapped out.

According to a poll taken by the Center for the New American Dream, 75% of Americans would like to have a less materialistic Christmas or Hanukkah holiday.  More than 85% feel that the holiday season should focus on family and taking care of people in need rather than on shopping and giving gifts.  The survey also found that 4 out of 5 people wish for a simplified holiday season.

If the majority of Americans say they would like a simpler and less materialistic holiday season, why don’t they just make the change?

Unfortunately, many of us feel pressured to spend more than we can afford on gifts and entertaining.  It seems too hard to tell family and friends that we would like to cut back.  This doesn’t have to be as hard as it may seem.  In advance of the holidays, let everyone know that you’d like to start some new traditions, including spending less time shopping and more time enjoying the company of family and friends in the month of December.

By ramping down your holiday shopping and spending, you can create new, simpler holiday traditions that center around family celebrations and the rituals of the season.

One alternative to spending time shopping is to make homemade gifts.  You can do this with family and friends, which fits right in with the goal of spending more time together during the holiday season.

Instead of fighting the crowds at the stores or spending time on the computer shopping online, try some of these gift ideas:

• Homemade baked goods or home-canned fruits or vegetables.
• A personalized photo album or scrapbook.
• A book of favorite family recipes.
• A gift basket filled with inexpensive soaps and lotions.
• A houseplant in a decorated pot.
• A no-sew fleece blanket.

Besides handmade items, you can also give the gift of your time or service.  Create a gift certificate that promises that you will help someone with gardening or a home repair.  For parents, give the gift of some free babysitting.  If you have a special talent or skill, such as personal training or computer maintenance, give someone a session of your time.

You can also give experiences as gifts.  This is a great idea for children who already have many toys and video games.

Gifts of experience can include:

• A day spent at a museum or zoo.
• A picnic at a park.
• A camping trip.
• Tickets to a concert or play.
• An adventure like kayaking, whale watching, horseback riding or paint balling.

Perhaps one of the most significant changes you can make in your holiday traditions is to give more to those in need.

You can give money to charities in the name of friends in place of gifts.  Making charitable donations for the holidays is more important now than ever since non-profit organizations have reported that charitable donations are down in 2009.

You might consider giving the gift of TOMS shoes. The “One for One” concept behind TOMS shoes is that for each of pair of shoes sold, a pair is donated to a shoeless child living in one of the world’s poorest countries.  Entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie, a former contestant on The Amazing Race, became aware of poverty throughout the world while traveling for the show.  Although he and his sister missed winning the million dollar prize by four minutes, he was inspired to create a foundation that targets the problem of children without shoes.  The foundation has given away more than 150,000 pairs of canvas shoes and is targeting 300,000 pairs in 2009.  You can find out how to help at the TOMS shoes website.

Another way to give more during the holiday season is to spend less time shopping and find more time for volunteering in your local community. An infinite number of charity projects ranging from small to large can be completed in the holiday season.

Charity projects are great for families and groups of friends and co-workers.  Everyone comes together in a common spirit of giving.  When children are involved, they learn the how to express gratitude for the riches in their own lives by giving to others.  Families can create new holiday traditions that center around charitable acts.

Some of the simple acts of giving that are perfect for the holiday season include:

• Caroling at a nursing home or hospital.
• Preparing food baskets for the needy or gift boxes for the homeless.
• Cleaning up trash in a park or nature preserve.

If you’d like to take on a larger charity project that requires a commitment beyond the holiday season, there are sponsorship opportunities that allow you to connect on a more personal level with those in need.

An organization called Face-to-Face links families living in poverty with people who accept the responsibility of buying one week’s worth of groceries at the end of each month, which is the time when food banks run out of food.  Face-to-Face encourages families who are linked by this act of giving to write letters to each other and establish a personal connection.  The charity currently has 600 families across the country linked to each other by the bond of giving and receiving.

The international charity World Vision provides a variety of ways to help people in 100 countries around the world, including the U.S.  You can donate an animal to a family or sponsor a child on an ongoing basis.  The good thing about this type of contribution is that you can visualize the results of your donation.  To find other charity organizations, visit CharityNavigator.org or Guidestar.org.

Small or large, every charitable contribution is important.

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than to spend less on gifts this year for family and friends who already have so much, and give more to the needy of the world?

“You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” Unknown

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