Thanksgiving is only a week away, which means that Back Friday is only 8 days away. Christmas is coming fast which means we're all going to be giving gifts of some sort. So I thought today I'd do a special "Price of Cheap" to get us inspired to make wiser choices as we do our holiday shopping.
1)
Buy Better. Buy Less.
The temptation is to buy A LOT of presents. Presents for everyone we know. Lots of presents for our meaningful loved ones. But buying a lot of presents can get expensive. So we look for deals...or we just buy low quality. By all means, be a bargain holiday shopper, but don't let the temptation to buy LOTS lead you into buying CHEAP. Don't go digging through those $1 bins at you know where just so you can fill the stocking with a lot of you know what.
Instead of paying a little bit of money for a lot of presents, why don't we spend that sum on a few better presents? Presents that are meaningful to those who receive them and that don't hurt those who made/produced/sold them.
2)
Where You Get It
Smaller/Local Stores
Call me sentimental, but I feel there is something genuinely good about choosing to shop from mom and pop stores. Big chain stores can offer those rock bottom prices because they are powerful and sell in volume. Will you pay a few dollars more to buy the same gift from the local toy shop? Yep. But you're also investing in your neighbor's lives and business. Ever see
You Got Mail
? Companies that get too big and powerful get too greedy which means they are quicker to treat their suppliers and employees less ethically. They get big, squashing smaller retailers with their "everyday low prices" (you know who I'm talking about here). They beat up on people so they can grow and gobble up everything in sight. It isn't always easy to avoid them, but we can try not to make them our "go-to stores."
Directly from the Producers
Even better than buying from a smaller/local store is buying directly from the producer. Sometimes it's less expensive too. Here are some ways you can do this:
Look for a local holiday craft market. Some are big. Some are small. At these types of venues you won't find items mass produced in a foreign factory. We participate in at least one or two craft markets a week around this time of year. When we were at
Christmas Village earlier this month I had such a blast walking around looking at all the creative products offered by talented artists. When you buy this way it is MUCH easier to avoid contributing to our "cheapness" culture.
So for example....instead of buying your daughter a plastic baby crib, you could buy her a handcrafted wooden doll bed made by the nice couple whose both was across from ours. My dad got Vivian a horse swing made out of tires from a kind Christian couple who are running a creative, fair business. We bought Vivian the bellow pictured items at Christmas Village from a sweet woman running her own business.
Please ignore the stickers all over her face....And, yes, my kitchen is always this messy.
I could have found it at a chain store for 1/2 the price, but it probably would have been made by a girl working in a foreign factory getting paid next to nothing. I paid a little extra to invest in this woman's hard work and prevent supporting the unfair factory syndrome.
To find local craft shows do an online search, look in a newspaper or check with local schools/churches.
Etsy! www.etsy.com is an online venue for crafty people to sell their wares. The rule with etsy is that you have to make your product yourself. Get one of a kind gifts at fair prices from the people who actually made them.
Fair Trade Businesses
Fair trade basically means products are being bought fairly from those who produced them or workers are being paid fair wages. Fair trade is a movement to help impoverished people groups improve their lives and grow towards sustainability. This is the idea behind our
Kanzi initiative.
Did you know there are entire stores devoted to selling fair trade products? Physical stores and online stores. They sell everything from baskets to clothing. And if you are fearful of an "ethnic" look, many fair trade products don't scream their country of origin.
Before you buy an item do some research to find out if it is available in a fair trade version.
Companies that "Give Back."
A lot of fair trade businesses in addition to supporting the fair work of international laborers now also give a significant portion of their profits back into a charity. This also applies to
Kanzi.
And there are many other companies set up to be primarily charitable. Search for them.
3)
Make It Yourself
I am laughing at myself for including this category because I don't make things. I used to, but I just personally don't have the time anymore. (See my previous post.) But I know A LOT of you are creative people.
Homemade gifts can have the stigma of being "cheap." But I don't think so at all. Your time is
valuable and people these days understand that. I also think that our culture is growing even more aware of our need to be less commercial, consume less, get thrifty and "go green."
Edible homemade gifts are
great because they are enjoyed then gone...no clutter. And almost anyone can throw together a cookie mix, soup mix or spice packet.
Scrapbooks. Recipe collections. Scarves. Hats. Ornaments. Clothes. Signs. Almost anything can be made if you find yourself with the knack and time.
And even though my sewing machine is collecting dust in some abandoned closet, I do use this "Make it Yourself" approach with my writing. I wrote
"On Becoming My Mother" as my mother's Christmas present last year and
"Daddy's Girl" for my dad on Father's Day. These gifts had a lot more meaning for my parents than a bunch of junk I could have bought them.
Another way to do the homemade gift thing is to
con ask someone else to make a homemade gift for you. For instance, I talked some nameless female family members into crafting a Peter Pan costume for a certain nameless little girl. (She's gonna love it!)
But I do want to comment that if you HATE making gifts and find yourself getting so stressed out by the 50 hand crocheted bookmarks you planned to make for every woman in your congregation that you start biting off the heads of your husband and children. STOP. Just stop. Go buy something.
4)
Buy Used
Some of you are rolling your eyes at me. I'm not telling you to do all of your Christmas Shopping at the Goodwill. Heavens no. But there is a place for "recycled" gifts.
First, you need to know the recipient. For our first year anniversary Scott bought me a spice rack then went to the thrift store and filled a box with unique tins and jars for my spices. He also bought me used Christmas coffee mugs. I loved it. He knows I love presents like this.
So many used items still have so much life in them: books, cd's, bake ware. Obviously you shouldn't buy used underwear.
The good thing about recycled gifts is not only that they are inexpensive, but when you buy a used gift you aren't contributing to the plague of over-consuming. You are giving a perfectly good item a second chance. You aren't investing your money into the "cheap" retail system. Plus depending on the thrift store you shop from, the proceeds of your purchase probably go to a charity.
So consider buying used or refurbished gifts for your nearest and dearest loved ones who won't be offended by your "cheapness." If they know your motives, they might even appreciate it.
Oh-and don't forget that kids are
perfect candidates for "used" gifts. Toys and children's books abound at second hand stores. Last year we bought an AWESOME new looking play kitchen for Vivian at the thrift store for $6. It retailed for over $160. I would never have spent that much money on a plastic, imported toy, but because it was used and the money from our purchase went to a mission I was elated by the purchase. Vivian loved it too.
5)
Gifts of Time and Service
We're always so big on giving STUFF that we can sometimes forget the most meaningful gifts don't come in boxes.
What is something meaningful you can DO for someone?
Could you offer to mow the grass next summer for an elderly couple?
Could you cook and deliver a meal for a young/busy family?
Could you offer free babysitting for friends so that they can go on a date?
I know we rarely go on dates because we can't afford a sitter. One of my dear friends occasionally blesses us with a night of free sitting and it is a TREASURED gift.
Think about those close to you and what kind of service might be meaningful to them. Write it up and present it in a special envelope.
Give an Experience
I am adding in this new category this morning after being inspired by NPR. Yep, over my morning coffee I heard Andrew Yeager on WBHM saying that Peter Pan: The Musical
is being performed by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival through the rest of the year. This is by FAR Vivian's very favorite thing to watch. If only she was old enough to go to this!
As a child my parents took me to A LOT of special events. I saw a lot of shows, went on a lot of trips and experienced many interesting things. I don't remember 75% of what I opened on Christmas mornings, but I will never forget the first time I saw Phantom of the Opera at the Kennedy Center. I still remember standing at Boston Harbor looking into the water where all that tea was dumped. I will always cherish the time I saw Allesandra Ferri and Julio Bocca perform Romeo and Juliet
at the Lincoln Center. My heart almost stopped.
To this day I'd rather spend money on a new experience than a new "toy." So go to a live sporting event, the circus, the theatre or the Grand Canyon. And if you have children (or even not) and live in Alabama I personally think you should go see Peter Pan! :)
Wrap Up. Weigh In?
As you can see from this LENGTHY post, the possibilities are endless. I haven't even listed all of my ideas! No matter your budget, with a little bit of thought and consideration we can all make our holiday gifts more meaningful for EVERYONE without paying the price of cheap.
And if you feel inspired with any suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
? Um, yeah. That's me this week.
