How to Give Meaningful Holiday Gifts

Every year we wrack our brains trying to figure out what gifts to give to the special people in our lives. If you take the time to give some meaningful thought to whom you are giving gifts to you will find it really is easy to find that perfect gift for that special person.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Pen and Paper
• Time to think
• Your imagination

1. Family, Close Friends, and those who serve us. First, determine who you will be giving gifts to. Make a list of the absolute most important people in your life. You should be very careful not to include everyone you've ever met. This can cause you go into debt and cause stress. You do not have to go into debt or run yourself ragged during what should be a very special time of year.
2. Postal worker, mancurist, hair dresser, mechanic, etc..... Find a quiet place to make your list of all the people you want to give a gift to. You should categorize your list into three groups; immediate family, extended family, and those who provide services to you, fellow group members, co-workers, fellow students, etc. You will have to determine the size, budget and time you will want to put into each gift for each person on your list. If you have a hair dresser, manicurist, massage therapist, etc. who are more than just an acquaintance that you might like to extend some holiday cheer to you should think back to conversations you've had with them and try to remember interests that they spoke of that made them smile. If your hair dresser mentioned that she likes to read, then you could get him/or her a gift card from Borders, Walden Books, or Barnes & Noble. Place the gift card in a Christmas card and write a warm "Thank You" for all the quality service that they have provided you. If you have a large group of co-workers you could purchase a tower of sweets from a store such as; Target, Walmart, K-Mart, a warehouse club, etc. A tower of sweets are boxes going from small to large filled with various cookies, candies, or chocolates. For a kindergarten teacher wanting to give a little something to his/her students, you could purchase inexpensive toys or coloring books from a dollar store and wrapping paper and have a Santa Sack for the children to reach in and pick a present.
3. Gifts, gifts, gifts. For fellow co-workers, I tend to keep things very simple as not to show favoritism or to spend money that I do not have. You can buy a pizza for lunch a few days before the holiday, bring in a cold cut tray, or even a desert tray. This will ensure that no ones feelings are hurt and everyone gets to socialize for a change instead of working. If you are ambitious you can make large batches of chocolate chip cookies and place them in holiday tins or holiday gift bags with tissue paper. You can usually find inexpensive tins and gifts bags at Michael's or Joanne's or your local craft store. Some of the catalogues such as Harriet Carter, Collections.com, Carol Wright, etc. have a collection of holiday gift bags at this time of the year very inexpensively.
4. Photo Journal For family members who have everything, try being personal with them. If you are a photography enthusiast you can find a favorite photo that you have taken, blow up the photo to at least a 5x7 or an 8x10. Frame the photo in an elegant black frame with white matting and sign the photo (making the photo into black and white gives a more elegant touch to your gift). Wrap the photo in a box and add ribbon and a bow with a card tag. If you have some relatives that you do not get to see often you could purchase a small photo journal book and find some old photos of yourself and your relative as kids. Make copies of the photos using a scanner and your computer or you can go to your local Walgreens and scan your photos there. After you have placed your photos in the album you can then write captions on the lines provided near the spine of the pages.

Tips & Warnings

• For the animal lover in your life you can make a monetary donation to a wildlife charity such as WWF. At this time of the year the WWF will send you a plush animal of your choosing along with a certificate of adoption in the reciever's name.
• Use your imagination and creativity, do not over extend yourself by using your credit cards buying expensive gifts that people, more often than not, will not use or even remember that you bought for them. Have a memorable holiday!