By Sarah Kempson
Christmas truly is my favourite time of year. It’s warm, you get to eat a lot with no real concern for calorie intake (although I do this most of the year anyway) and there are all the catch ups with friends and family you might not have seen since the Christmas prior. Laughter, merriment and joy are in abundance. But there is one thing that quite often stops us in our tracks around this time of year.
The gift factor.
Before you even start agonising about what to get any one person, there are so many other unknowns that in turn cause queues for returns on Boxing Day, and result in many a friendship in tatters by New Years or a family fight over the Christmas pudding that may or may not involve throwing food. Inevitably, there are also the bills that come pouring in around the end of January and you wonder if all the gift buying was in fact worth the effort and resulting hip pocket pain.
Gift giving can be very rewarding. I’m not going to say I don’t love receiving gifts – who doesn’t? – but a random present in July means a lot more to me than a forced effort because the calendar deems December an appropriate time to exchange stuff. Gifts where the person has seriously considered the recipient and their likes and interests are thrilling for the receiver and ensure the giver also gets satisfaction knowing the gift will be enjoyed rather than re-gifted or buried at the base of a closet.
Present buying is almost a scientific art these days. How much to spend? What if the recipient spends more or less? How much thought to put into a gift? How much time to spend searching? What if they don’t like it? Will you be offended if they ask for the receipt to return it? And on it goes…
I recently wrote out my list of gifts to buy for 2009, and this is a really good place to start when running the Christmas present gauntlet. I had over 30 people on my list, and considering I am not married, I have no children or nieces and nephews and I have ‘arrangements’ with many friends, this is still a pretty major list. What’s that I hear you thinking? Haven’t done your list yet? It’s November already! I recommend you stop reading now (just for a moment) and go and get yourself a pad and pen. Use your address book, mobile phone contacts and email – write your list. Write everyone you think might possibly have a gift for you, and everyone you think you might see before d-day. Be warned: it is likely this list will be long, but don’t worry, this is just the beginning.
Now take your list, and a big, fat, red pen. Attack. There are so many ways to shorten this list, and this in turn will save your sanity and your dollars. The guy who sells you your Metcard does not make the list. Nor the barista who makes the best coffee in your city. Tom in accounts probably won’t have you on his list, so don’t think buying him something will curb favour come end of year bonus time. Ditto Rosemary, the CEO’s PA. Running into her in the kitchen occasionally does not a best friend make. Your personal trainer, your manicurist, your hairdresser? No.
Now that you have gotten rid of the frivolous, it’s time to deal with more important matters. Family. I belong to quite a large family – there are aunts, uncle, cousins and others that all claim to be related to me. I might not see some of them from Christmas to Christmas, but I do enjoy the fact that Christmas is the one time we all get to be together. I really love it. But, in essence, should I be buying gifts for so many people that I don’t see from year to year? Christmas is, after all, about getting together – not presents, and especially presents that would be meaningless as I don’t know some of them particularly well.
Solution? The simply named Kris Kringle. One gift. One value. E.A.S.Y. Names go in a hat, and just like that, half of your Christmas present list is wiped out. Two sides to the family still only means two gifts and will save you hours of time at the stores and hundreds of dollars in gifts that are likely to end up on eBay anyway. All it takes is for one person to speak up and make the suggestion – you will probably find the others are more than enthusiastic and just didn’t have the courage to be the one to introduce the system. You can also place age limits on this system so that small children do not get to miss out on the kind of fun we had as kids. High school (around 12 years old) is a good age to stop but each family should assess their own situation.
Having taken care of family, we move onto friends. Kris Kringle works for this too – I do one with the three girls I still see from High School, but I only have two very close girlfriends in addition to this that I buy for each year. I have had ‘the talk’ with everyone else and we have stopped the present buying cycle, preferring instead to enjoy a dinner out and each others company. As discussed in last fortnight’s column, dinners out can be expensive, so treat yourself and your friends to a restaurant and make that your gift. You will all get to enjoy something wonderful and the memories of these nights will last forever, unlike the bath salts and hand creams you might end up with otherwise.
How is your list looking now? Notes in red pen strewn about the page? Names crossed off and others annotated? Hopefully what you have left are the people who are really important to you. And chances are you know them pretty well. You should have a good idea about what to get them, a thought about how much they might spend, and this will give you an indication of a reciprocal amount. Take some time to think about the person and what they like. Gift cards and vouchers scream last minute and show you really don’t know the person very well. You might think you are letting the person ‘choose what they would like’ but a gift you have truly considered means so much more.
Just in case you are one of those people who feel the need to buy for your team at work, or the local bowls club, baking is a cheap and cheerful way to enjoy something Christmassy. There are lots of Christmas themed cookies, cakes and mince pies that are suitable to make in advance and dish out to your colleagues and teammates on the last day in the office, or on the green.
Ultimately, Christmas is about bringing people together and celebrating life and you will enjoy life so much more when your credit card isn’t in the red. Don’t think too much about what other people will think – everyone is in the same boat at Christmas when it comes to finances, and even more so as we ride out the Global Financial Crisis. Years of abundance have simply created a pattern of overbuying and excessive giving – it’s time to break this habit and get back to the basics. Shop smart, but plan smarter and enjoy this festive season.
The Girl Without A Platinum Card columns are about places to go, activities to do, things to buy, and ideas to explore on a budget. If you have any suggestions, please email me on:
and we will find the coins under the couch together.
