How to Prepare for Holiday Gift Giving

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Giving gifts can be stressful, especially in these economic times.  It is important to talk to your family, friends, and coworkers, if you normally exchange gifts, and make sure that everyone is on the same page with gift giving.

There are quite a few creative, fun ways to enjoy gift exchanges without spending lots of money. Here are just a few suggestions:

Have a wacky gift exchange: Have everyone bring one wrapped gift with a value at or less than an agreed upon dollar amount.  Put numbers in a bowl and have everyone select a number.  Put all the gifts in a pile.  #1 picks a gift first and opens it.  #2 can either choose from the pile or take #1’s gift.  If he takes #1’s gift then #1 gets to pick another out of the pile.  #3 can take from either #1 or #2 or pick out of the pile and so on.  It’s always fun to see what gifts keep getting stolen from people!

If you have a regular group of family or friends, consider everyone just choosing one name out of a hat and only buying for that person. The spending limit can be agreed upon and everyone can get one nice, larger gift instead of 10-15 small gifts.

Bake!:  It is much less expensive than buying gifts and a nice plate of cookies or a loaf of banana bread is always a thoughtful gift.  If you are not much of a baker, there are some great ready-made products that you can just spoon onto a cookie sheet and pop in the oven for 10 minutes.  No one has to know that it wasn’t grandma’s sugar cookie recipe!

Remember that even though it is the season of giving, you shouldn’t break the bank to enjoy the holidays.  Overspending will just start off the new year with added and unnecessary stress!!

Ravens-Home-Opener-2010By: Tara Donohue Rudo

Tara Donohue Rudo launched No More Piles in 2002 to help Baltimore’s busy families and small business owners get more organized so they could reduce their stress, save money and have more time for the things they really care about. Tara is one of only 350 Certified Professional Organizers in the world and a Certified Family Manager Coach. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and NAPO’s Golden Circle.

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