Episode 106 Holiday Gift Giving
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I love presents. If you are familiar with the Five Love Languages, my love language is gifts. That doesn’t mean I expect or need expensive things, it means that I really appreciate thoughtfulness like when my husband surprises me with dish gloves from the dollar store.
As the holidays approach, gift giving can be overwhelming. In my house I have four teenagers and grandparents, aunts and uncles are all coming to me for gift ideas. I have tried lots of ways to keep track of gifts and gift suggestions. The best way I have found is to get everything out of my head and onto paper.
I designed a gift giving sheet for the Holiday Planning Guide. This week I printed out 14 copies of the sheet. I printed one for each member of my family, one for each side of extended family. I have a sheet for coworkers, teachers, and neighbors too. It will take me a couple of weeks to think and ponder ideas. I often have a note on my phone to capture ideas as they come, but I transfer those ideas to paper.
Once I have ideas there is a place to write where I can buy those items. I can take all my sheets and list what I need to buy at particular stores. This saves me time and money. I am making fewer trips to the store, and having larger online orders often saves me shipping costs. Think about simplifying your gift giving as much as possible. Can you decide to give everyone in a particular category the same gift? Years ago, I decided to give all of my kid’s teachers a personalized notepad. My childhood friend makes them for me. They come wrapped in a clear bag and all I have to do is add a bow and gift tag. Are there gifts that you can give every year?
Thinking of ideas is only part of the process. Keeping track of what you have purchased and where you have put those purchases is important too. Have you ever bought a gift early in the season and forgot where you put it? Just me??? I have done this so many times so now I write down where I put it on my gift giving sheet.
In the end, giving gifts is about honoring the people in your life. It is about knowing your budget, and being intentional. By listing all the people you want to bless with gifts and getting ideas onto paper you can avoid last-minute shopping trips. Get the Holiday Planning Guide to help you get organized and out of overwhelm.
Here are a few of my favorite food gifts:
Cookies
Homemade Candy
Quick Breads
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Marie Fiebach is a married mother of four active kids. She helps busy families plan and execute weeknight dinner so they can recapture a little calm in the crazy. You can see her every week on KAKE TV’s Good Morning Kakeland or listen to the Feed Your Family Tonight Podcast.
For a transcript of this podcast, click here.
