Each year we all have “opportunities”  to give gifts to others. These opportunities can lead to a great deal of stress, if we are not well prepared.  As a youngster, I was taught to give a gift to each of my family members on his/her birthday and on Christmas.  In those days, most of my gifts were homemade and my family “appreciated” the thought, if not the actual gift.

Carrying the tradition into adulthood

As a young adult, I struggled with finances, working with my husband to raise our two small children.  Both my husband and I were from large families and our list for gift-giving was growing longer with each marriage and birth.  We were struggling to make ends meet and with each gift giving opportunity, I felt more and more stressed.

I need some relief!

I finally decided I HAD to plan better for these recurring gift giving opportunities. Here is the plan I began nearly twenty years ago and the system has worked without fail.

Planning -- the finances:

• Open a “Christmas Account” at a bank or credit union (it doesn’t matter whether Christmas is your holiday…it’s just an account)
• Every pay day, put a set amount of money into that account
• Every time I go to the grocery store I buy one item for holiday baking (make certain it will be in date for the season when it will be used)
• My Seasonal baking items have a shelf of their own in my pantry

Planning -- the gifts:

• Each year I create the gift list for that year...I make this a New Year’s Resolution activity
• I determine the total number of gifts and total amount of budget for gift giving.
• For holiday gift giving, I plan a gift of home baked goodies for each family (brother’ family, sister’s family, etc.)
• For each child, plan a special birthday gift that coordinates with his/her age, ie. If the child is celebrating his eighth birthday, and collects race cars, the race car with 8 on it is a nice choice. (inexpensive, but meaningful.)
• For each adult birthday, I make a unique card on the computer or buy just the right card and add a very small, token gift, which is always well received.  I use gift card to favorite restaurants, or a nice smelling bar of soap, or an issue of their hobby magazine as the gift.

My key to success

The key to my successful giving is planning. When my gift recipient opens his gift, I don’t want to have those stress thoughts going through my mind, “Gee, I really couldn’t afford to buy that.”  I want to be able to know my gift giving is enjoyable and stress free for both me and my gifted!

I can tell you that I find myself with “leftovers” in my “Christmas” account these days.  Planning has a way of allowing me to spot great gifts and tuck them away, thereby allowing me to get the gifts at more reasonable costs. 

And, of course eBay is a wonderful resource for gift givers!