Skip to main content

A new Christmas tradition

Image
By
What do you do when the extended family gets together for Christmas. Does everyone buy everyone presents? Do you just get presents for the kids? We did the Christmas Draw.

Christmas Draw

When a family gets large, buying everyone a gift gets expensive. To be frank, the amount of thought that goes into each gift shrinks. Enter the Christmas Draw.

Each person drew a relative's name from a hat. All gifts were from "The Family" so you didn't know who got it for you. Everyone had a meaningful gift to open but it wasn't super-materialistic or super-expensive.

But what to get?

Over the years, it became trickier. Especially if you only saw your niece / uncle / cousin once or twice a year. Gift cards became increasingly popular when the buyer had no ideas.

One Christmas at least 3 people opened a gift card for a particular hardware chain. At least one person both gave and received one of these.

Stats show that 30% of these cards are never used - they're lost or expire. So it's really a present for the company, not the loved one.

Also, living in a rich western country we have all we need. Probably more than we need. So what is the point of driving around town purchasing near identical gift cards to swap with each other?

In the final year of "the draw" my aunt (who knows me rather well) made half of my gift a donation to a developing country overseas. Well done by her. That gift will bring much more joy than many gifts that go unused.

It was these kind of thoughts that led my uncle to suggest a new Christmas tradition.

What we do now

Here's what we do now - in my uncle's words:

This is what I thought about gifts... making a donation rather than purchasing a gift. My suggestion is...
  • We each choose a charity that has some significance to us.
  • We each individually (or as a couple if you prefer) make a donation to your chosen charity, of any amount that you choose.
  • On Saturday night, we take time during dinner to each tell the group what charity we chose and why we chose it... we don’t share the amount of our donation.
 I think it's fantastic. Apart from being much less materialistic, it helps out those who are really in need - which is surely more what Christmas is about.

- - - - -

Post-Christmas update:

So how did it go? Refreshing, uplifting and meaningful.

The extended family gathered for a restaurant dinner on Christmas Eve. Between courses we took turns to tell about the cause we donated to, and why it was important to us.

Particularly on Christmas Eve - after all the commercialism of the pre-Christmas period - it was uplifting to hear the range of causes that we had collectively helped. They included the Big Issue, Guide Dogs, cancer foundations (in memory of relatives we have lost), animal welfare, Ozharvest, several mental health organisations, TEAR Australia and AIME.

It was also interesting to hear of the volunteering that some relatives do that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. Overall, it was far more meaningful and much better value for money than previous present-swaps.
Read more about:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are you missing out on your $5,200

By
According to research by Gumtree, the average Australian household has $5,200 of unwanted goods sitting around the home. Why not cash it in? I'm sure we'd all much prefer to have a few thousand dollars rather than all that clutter we no longer use. So far we've made over $1,630 We didn't have many valuable items - just a fridge and a lounge suite. Most of the cash came from lots of little items (around 170 of them) for 2, 5 or 10 dollars. It all adds up - to a surprisingly high amount.
Post a Comment
Read more

Inheriting Clutter

By
This book stood out on the library shelf. Massive clutter can create anxiety at any time, let alone when it has to be dealt with during one of the toughest points of life. Author Julie Hall deals with estates for a living. Her book covers the nitty-gritty of dealing with all that stuff. It also covers caring for parents while they are here and what to do to make life easier for them, your siblings and you. Parent Logic We may wonder why parents keep so much stuff. Julie explains that our parents (having grown up in a different time) have their reasons. Often they had to 'go without' as kids and so don't want to 'go without' again. Sometimes they think items will become valuable with age.  Also there's the thought "the more I leave the kids the more they will have" . This is obviously mathematically true - but whether that's a good thing is questionable. Ironically, this admirable quality of aversion to waste often ends up causing waste. Items get s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Monopoly, money and you

By
One of the most well-known board games can also be a great way to learn about money and investing - according to this book. Perhaps one way to teach kids (and maybe ourselves) about finance is to play a board game. In so many ways, the game parallels our own financial life - and we can practice financial decision-making without losing any real money. Is monopoly like life? Yes and no. We manage our cash, negotiate, make deals, make choices, go through tough times, make investments, pay tax and reap rewards. To do well we have to make investments. It's very hard to win just by collecting $200 each time you pass go. There are rules, and wise moves. The better we know them, the better we do. However, in real life, you can win without forcing others into bankruptcy. Principles that work in the game and life Diversify. You might have hotels on the two most expensive properties on the board, but if no-one lands on them, you still might lose. Investments have a price and a value. They are...
Post a Comment
Read more