Gift Giving at Christmas is meant to be joyous ... isn't it?
Yet giving the right gift to the right person can cause incredible stress and anxiety for everyone involved.Here are strategies to help make this gifting season as stress free as possible...dare I say it could even be joyous!
- Set Gift Giving Boundaries amongst Family and Friends
Fundamental to reducing gift giving stress is to set your own personal budget and gift giving boundaries.
Discuss your gift giving ideas with family and friends and decide on a common gift giving strategy
Decide who you'll gift to this Christmas:
- children only - under a certain age
- immediate family - children, parents
- extended family - grandparents, aunts , uncles, cousins
- close friends,
- work colleagues,
- business associates
2. Create Gift Giving Rules
Families and friends agree on certain rules for the coming festive season.
Some rules you could choose include:
- children get individual gifts from everyone and adults receive a group gift to a set amount (Secret Santa or similar)
- everyone in the family gets gifts from everyone else but each gift is limited to a set amount.
- Instead of giving gifts donations why not donate to an agreed charity or worthy cause
- Create a secret Santa Circle - Gifts valued up to a certain value are gifted to the person whose name you draw from a hat
- Open or Steal a Gift Coin Toss - This is a fun game to play where everyone wraps a a unique fun gift (usually up to an agreed upon value) and brings it to the great Christmas gift Swapathon.
- All the gifts are placed on a table.
- The first person in the group chooses a gift at random from the gift table and opens it. They can keep it for the moment
- The second person tosses a coin.
If they toss - heads - they get to keep their gift - for now.
- tails- then they must steal a gift from another person (in this case of person 2 they must steal the gift from person 1.)
- If a person has a gift stolen from them then they have a turn at tossing the coin and according to the results gets to either choose a gift from the table or steal one from another person
- The game continues with each person tossing a coin and either Choosing and opening a gift from the table or Stealing an already opened gift.
- The game continues until all the gifts have been unwrapped
- Note: If person 1 didn't have their gift stolen on the first round then the game ends when person 1 has the opportunity to toss the coin in the last round and have the opportunity to steal a gift.
3. Make A List
Gift Giving Lists are a fantastic idea.
List each person you will be giving to this Christmas along with a list of ideas of what you would like to gift them.
Carry this list with you wherever you go.
Then if you find a suitable gift - buy it and tick the persons name off the list.
You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll be able to tick names of the list and how it will reduce your gift giving stress!
