How to Have a Buy Nothing Christmas

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By coachmac4
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homemade gift ideas

Are you ready to get off the treadmill of over consumerism connected with this wonderful, meaningful holiday? Has the downturn of the economy impacted you, your relatives and friends? Do you yearn for the days of "Little House on the Prairie" type Christmas? Just follow these few ideas to downsize your Christmas consumerism, and add the joy of homemade gift ideas.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

homemade gift ideas

Go to http://www.buynothingchristmas.org. Read about the reasons this organization has decided to have a buy nothing Christmas. Everyone knows a family probably can't get through an entire Christmas season "buying nothing". But this site gives excellent ideas about how to rethink our traditions and consumerism.
Step 2

homemade gift ideas

Continue to give gifts, but rethink the idea of rushing to the store and loading up on useless stuff. Try giving a family heirloom to your children. Give them something from their grandparents, or great-grandparents. Those things are priceless memories and will be cherished forever. Compile a list of memories and arrange them artistically. Any thing that can make their life better--cleaning, yard work, chores, fixing something--anything that you are good at and they are not. Get your creativity juices flowing. Brainstorm! This isn't about giving less, this is about giving more of yourself.
Step 3

homemade gift ideas

Give the gift of your time. Time is always a bigger gift than money. Give lessons for something you can do. I am not a handy, crafty person, but I can give computer lessons, or offer to do research on someone's family tree! Record a favorite book on tape for a preschooler. Record favorite love stories for a teenager. Record simple Bible devotions for a senior. The people get to hear your voice over and over. My husband shoveled the sidewalk for every person in our cul-de-sac as a Christmas gift!
Step 4

homemade gift ideas

Draw something for someone. Write a story, write a poem, create a video, make up 10 reasons why you love someone. Get the entire family together and do a play and record it. Go around with a video recorder on Thanksgiving and ask people why they love Grandma, then give her that priceless gift. Pictures, photos are priceless. Dig out a long, lost photo of someone and send it to them. What a gift of remembering! If you sing, record a favorite hymn or praise song for your family. Or have all the family sing something special and send it to a long-distance relative!
Step 5

homemade gift ideas

Make a craft. (See my article in Resources on a candy sundae). Bake a meal for someone on your list. Give them a night off of cooking. Or invite them over for dinner, either way is an enjoyable. memorable gift. My sister-in-law brings her brothers pumpkin bread and that gave them memories about when she did all the cooking for the family when times were tight.
Step 6

How to Have a Buy Nothing Christmas

Use Freecycle.org. One man's trash is another man's treasure! This wonderful recycling site is wonderful to get rid of perfectly good stuff and to get new stuff! What a wonderful way to keep things out of the landfills.
Step 7

debt free

Do something for someone else. Adopt a family either close or in another country and together give them things they would never have. Do something for someone else, instead of buying things you won't remember next year! There are many websites that allow you to give to others.