Christmas is coming up on us fast, and if you haven’t started saving for it yet, you should. Americans and Canadians alike are spending ridiculous amounts of money on Christmas gifts every year, and it seems like the frenzy is starting earlier and earlier every year.
Although spending on Christmas presents isn’t as crazy high as it was in the early 2000’s before the economic slow down, the average American still spent $646 on presents in 2011. $646?! That’s a month of extra debt payments! It seems that even though wallets are getting thinner every year, the pile under that tree keeps getting bigger, and it needs to stop.
Now, I’m not going to go all Scrooge on you and act like Christmas is just another example of frivolous spending and we should all do the morally superior thing and just spend time together, and that should be enough.
I get it, giving and receiving presents is fun. But does it have to be so much? A couple of presents would make me more than happy, and only having to spend money on a couple of presents, would make me even happier.
My extended family has made a bit of a note on the excessiveness of our Christmas gift giving over the last few years and we’ve collectively taken some steps to reduce that burden. We still give gifts, and we still make it a priority to spend time together, but with a little creativity, we’ve managed to make our Christmas a little less about the presents, and a little easier on the budget. Here are some of the changes we made:
Secret Santa
I have several sisters and instead of buying each of them a small gift of limited meaning and value, we trade names and are able to put more time into a nice gift for one person. There was a little resistance to the idea initially, but it’s really caught on as a great way to reduce the number of presents we have to buy while still being able to give a nice gift. We used to draw names out of a hat, but we’re so scattered across the country at this point that we’ve resorted to an electronic secret santa picker.
Yankee Swap
I think every household has a version of how to play Yankee Swap, but this is how we play it: Everyone brings a gift, they all go into a pile. We are then all distributed an even number of playing cards (the whole deck divided evenly). There is a card picker who will pull cards from a separate deck. If your card is pulled, you can either take a gift from the pile, or steal an already opened gift from someone else. Once your cards are gone, you’re out of turns.
There’s a bit of an art to making this type of game fun. If your group of people has a history of getting into fist fights over a game of monopoly, then this type of present swap might not be for you. To make sure the game is all in good fun, the criteria for the present is: It must be worth around $10, and must be something you already had in your house – it’s a great game for regifting and it keeps the value of the presents low enough that the focus is more on the fun and less on the material worth. If someone introduces an iPod into the mix, be prepared for the gloves to come off.
Gift Cards
Some people might think that gift cards are tacky, but I personally love them. I don’t think they’re impersonal at all. In fact, I think they’re the most useful thing you could get a person (provided it’s to a store they actually shop at). I love useful gifts, I love receiving gifts that are not only thoughtful, but is something I’ll actually use! If I’m really worried about being perceived as impersonal, I’ll include a personal note about how the gift card is meant to go towards the value of a more expensive item, so that the gift receiver can get something he or she really wanted but couldn’t quite afford.
More Fun, Less Stuff
Being the minimalist that I am, I’m always happy when less stuff makes it’s way into my home. When it comes to gift giving, as much as I like gifts, I’d rather have fewer gifts that have had some real thought put into them, than a bunch of stuff that I don’t need and am never going to use.
How about you? Do you feel like Christmas is overly commercialized?
Allison says
I don't know why gift cards are considered tacky. If its what someone wants, then get that for them.
I agree there are times that I think Christmas is so commercialized. It is not going to hurt my feelings if an office mate does not get me a present. I would rather them give me a hug than spend 10 bucks on something I don't want, and ten bucks they could have saved and used for themselves or on someone else. I really hate the junk/have to filler gifts we think we have to buy each other.
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frugal habits says
I agree Allison. I love getting a gift card. To me it is just as thoughtful because I can get what I really want, or need 🙂
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[email protected] Adult Money says
Yet again I have to say: gift cards kick ass! They aren't tacky at all.
Also, my family is big on exchanging gifts so for us it's more just making sure people know what everyone wants to avoid wasting the money spent on the gifts. I'm big into practical stuff so I will make a list of things I would likely buy anyway…and now that I think of it I will probably ask for a bunch of Home Depot gift cards since we are getting a house!
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Sam says
Yes! I'm right there with you! Another idea – handmade gifts! It might sound tacky to some people, but I've found all kinds of handmade gift ideas on sites like Pinterest & Etsy. Plus, if you take some time with it you can not only save money, but the recipient will be just as pleased, if not more with the effort you put in 🙂
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Pauline @ Reach Financial Independence says
It is overly commercialized, and a waste of money for many people who feel like they have to give gifts to everyone. In my family it is implied that adults don't get gifts, so we all buy a little something for the kids (under 10 or so), and as you grow you usually only get something from your parents. Then between adults we usually exchange something like homemade jams or bring a very good wine for everyone to enjoy.
plantingourpennies says
Christmas is pretty commercial – but there are weird ways that we rebel against it. One way is that we give each other "gifts" that are just normal things that we would buy anyway.
Another weird tradition that Mr. PoP's mom started with me is a gift box. It's basically a pretty box that we alternate between who has it each year – and the person with the box needs to put a tiny nothing gift inside for the other person to open on Christmas day. the gifts end up being silly but oddly thoughtful – like "I was out and saw this sticker that thought would make you laugh so I put it in the box!" kind of stuff. It doesn't cost much, but is a really nice tradition.
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John S @ Frugal Rules says
Great tips. I love gift cards. I know some don't like them, but it always me…or whoever I give the card to to buy whatever they want. That way you don't have to go through the whole feeling bad for returning something you don't like and hurting that person's feelings. I would agree that Christmas is overcommercialized…I mean Christmas decorations at the stores in September!?! That's just a bit crazy.
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bluecollarworkman says
My family and I are trying yankee swap this year. Every year there's always arguments and drama about what to do for gift giving, should we still give gifts, etc. And this year we all finally decided tot ry something new. The game part of it should keep it fun.
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MakingSenseofCents says
We spend a lot of money on Christmas presents for each other, but that is mainly because each one of us usually gets 1 or 2 big things such as a gun for the boy. We do a secret santa with his family though which is great!
My recent post Avoiding the Commercialization of Christmas
whitney says
i like your blog! thanks for checking out mine 🙂 always good to get an early start on christmas, so you can budget shop!
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[email protected] says
I love Christmas and hate it at the same time! It's such a time of overindulgence when people are struggling all over the world. I just buy modest gifts and try to ignore most of it. It can be so over the top.
[email protected] says
Call me old fashion, but I love Christmas and gift giving. I have no problem with the added expense every year, because it makes us happy. Now a holiday like Sweetest Day is over commercialized in the US by the greeting card companies.
Jenna says
We do a Yankee Swap every year for our 20+ family Christmas gathering. Our rules are that the gift must be worth around $10 – $15, and it must be locally made. It get's a little difficult trying to find different local products every year, but it's definitely worth it! Some of my family members make the gifts themselves and those always seem a little extra special to me.
Madison says
I agree with you on a lot of points. I love gifts, but not if I'll never use them. In fact, I think I may just tell my family to not get my ANY gifts for christmas anymore. They always ask me what I'd like for my gift, and then usually get me something completely random instead. My family is struggling financially and not only do these random presents that I won't ever use cost money but so does shipping them to me. In my mind it's a big waste. I keep stressing gift cards but they think they're impersonal, sigh…
We used to do draw names when I was younger with our extended family but when times got really tough, each family decided to only get gifts for their immediate family and it's been that way ever since. It was just a 'hey aunt jane, I picked your name, what do you want?' kind of deal. Not very 'secret' as you can see lol. I think that swap game would've been great fun in our family had we thought of doing it!
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Vanessa says
I looove Yankee swaps
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@undefined says
I agree with you.Holidays in general are now more about making money and marketing than ever before. They have lost touch with what they are really about. We don't get gifts for our families anymore. Everyone has everything. We much prefer to just hang out with each other and appreciate each other's company.
I think WSL put it well above- we don't have to show our love and appreciation through possessions.
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Miss T says
I agree with you.Holidays in general are now more about making money and marketing than ever before. They have lost touch with what they are really about. We don't get gifts for our families anymore. Everyone has everything. We much prefer to just hang out with each other and appreciate each other's company. I think WSL put it best. We don't need to use material possessions to show our love and appreciation for others.
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Baylee says
This just reminded me that xmas is coming! The thing I have trouble with is my dad got a new job a couple years ago and goes to town on gifts.. leaving me to feel like I have to. I've told him this, but he says he wants to do it. I always get way too much. This year I have a ton of homemade gifts that are actualy things I'd want to receive.. Lavendar body oil, apple pie booze.. I can't remember the others right now.. but they're good! Yes, Christmas is way over commercialized.
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Canadianbudgetbinder says
Oh as soon as Halloween is over and the lights are put up people go a bit nutty , at least from I've seen. We don't buy like we used to as it would take hours to open gifts. It was getting insane to be honest. Now we draw names once per year and we buy 2 gifts, that's all. It's the best decision the family has ever made as it was just getting out of hand. Cheers Mr.CBB
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Budget & the Beach says
This is why I love Thanksgiving over Christmas. Same basic concept-families and friends get together and eat and enjoy (or not) each other's company, but none of the months and months of bombardment you get from Christmas. And of course none of the commercialization. The only thing I like about Christmas is the pretty lights.
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NoTrustFund says
Christmas is definitely over commercialized. My husband and I have been going out to dinner as our Christmas present to each other. We started doing this one year when we were really working to save money and hadn't been eating out at all. Going out for a nice dinner felt like such a fun treat and it was cheaper than buying each other presents. It was so great to have on less person to shop for, and we had so much fun, we've kept up this tradition.
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adahat1 says
We do secret Santa with the cousins. There are just too many of them and we wanted to make sure nobody went out of control leaving the other cousins feeling left out.
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Stephanie says
Wonderful post!!! I agree, exchanging gifts is wonderful, but there's no need to go overboard.
We always do a Secret Santa with my husband's family. All of the "kids" (the youngest of us is 23 now!) and their significant others participate, that way each person gets one nice gift instead of a bunch of cheap ones. We also buy gifts for our parents and nieces and nephews, but we only exchange gifts with a very small handful of friends. For the most part, we just end up going out for dinner and/or drinks with our friends, because we feel like it's more worthwhile to spend money on an experience with our friends rather than a bunch of "stuff."
Oh, and I've gone old-school on gift wrap as of last year. I bought a giant roll of brown kraft paper and tie up gifts with pretty red and green ribbons. Way cheaper than regular gift wrap, and it looks nicer too. 🙂
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CreditDonkey says
That is why many of us are budget tight after the Christmas holidays. We do tend to over spend during the season, regardless of whether we can afford. We can still celebrate Christmas without accumulating debt or spending all we can.
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