One of my favorite things about the holidays is giving gifts. I can’t decide which is my favorite: seeing family and friends that I haven’t seen in a while, eating a lot of amazing food, or giving gifts. They are all so amazing. One of my favorite gifts to give are homemade candy boxes full of homemade candy. They are simply amazing for every occasion, and everyone always appreciates homemade candy.
Recently, I’ve found a lot of really great ideas on the internet to get me thinking outside of the box, if you will:
- Use unusual materials for gift wrapping. Your kids’ artwork, newspaper, calendar pages, paper bags…
- Cards are expensive and immediately disposed of (usually). Have your kids make a homemade card, use cardstock to make your own, or keep on hand a stack of blank, multipurpose cards.
- You don’t always have to give some”thing” as a gift. AKA clutter, AKA why I usually decorate candy boxes and fill them with homemade candy (they are guilt free). Aside from homemade edibles, gifting an experience is right up there. Take someone out to lunch. Take someone to a concert. Take someone somewhere that you know they love.
- Keep a bottle of random stuff around for the time when you need an impromptu gift. Those DIY candy boxes take time to put together! Sometimes I have to reach into the tub labeled “gifts” and pull out that candle from Bath and Body Works, or grab a ten dollar gift card to Chik Fil A. That’s okay too!
- One of my absolute favorite gifts is to make a donation in someone’s honor. Every other Christmas my husband I purchase ducks, or a goat, or put money towards a well through charitable organizations like Samaritan’s purse, and that organization will send a card to whomever you are honoring, letting them know.
- Be sure to provide gift receipts, especially if you are giving a toy or clothes. People tend to be picky and exact about what they want, and it would be better for someone to exchange what you got them than for your money, and gesture, to go completely to waste.
- When it comes to Christmas shopping, have a set budget and stick to that budget. I start my gift-buying early in the year, especially if I see something on sale that I know someone will like.
- You don’t have to join the Black Friday rush, and ruin your Thanksgiving, in order to reap the benefits. By the afternoon of Black Friday most of the crowd is gone and all of the sales are still available. They are usually available for the rest of that weekend, and now there is Cyber Monday, so there is plenty of time to get good deals while still respecting the holiday.