Navigating the minefield of birthday gift-giving
My daughter’s birthday is coming up and I want to give her a gift of cash (about $500) so she can go clothes shopping. She is a beautiful young woman but she has poor taste and buys clothes that don’t fit properly. Laundry is another issue — don’t get me started. She has a new job and it would be great if she had about five outfits that she can mix and match. Any ideas on how to present this to her without offending her?
“Sure, I look at wish lists, but I refuse to be bullied by them. I am on a tight budget, but I love to give presents. I solve my dilemma by giving what makes me happy. Last summer I made a lot of jam, because I love opening a jar of summer in January. I figured my friends might feel the same way. Tickets to a local concert or theater production can be very reasonable, and if you throw in free babysitting the joy of the recipient increases exponentially. In short, I use my imagination to make gift giving my pleasure.”
“After years of giving individual gifts to each family member, our family started a white elephant gift exchange. The twist is that the gifts should be consumable — once you’ve used them, they’re gone. It’s fun to see what everyone comes up with every year — a lot of the gifts are food, of course, but there have also been candles, soaps and even a set of coloring postcards and colored pencils.”
Instead of gifts, Arlene C. and Sue K. substitute playing an annual holiday family game with a prize or traveling trophy for the winner.
Judy Y. gives experiences, not things, like cooking classes or museum memberships.
“On or around Black Friday, my kids and I make a day or half-day of shopping together. In this way we have the fun experience of being together, we consider gift ideas together and we take advantage of sales. We have a memorable, fun time and I keep the gifts to wrap and give them at Christmas.”
“As an alternative, my family has adopted a new tradition of planning an excursion for the family to do together. My kids (ages 6 and 3) have many cousins of about the same age and we don’t often see each other, so the extra family time is really fun for them.”