Gifts that keep on giving
By JUDY STARK
Published November 26, 2005
Before you succumb to gift-giving panic, stop and do this:
- Make a list of everyone you're gifting. Jot down sizes, color preferences, gift wishes if you know them. Keep the list with you throughout the next month.
- Don't forget about service personnel: newspaper carrier; pool, lawn and FedEx guys; security and front-desk people at your condo or homeowners association; teachers; hair stylist; office staff.
- Shop at stores where you can buy a lot of the same or similar gifts at once: record/DVD/video stores, bookstores, candle shops, gourmet-foods stores.
The average consumer will spend $738.11 this year on gifts, food, clothing, decorations, cards and other holiday-related items, a survey for National Retail Federation shows. Here are some suggestions on how to disburse those funds:
- Home heating bills are skyrocketing this winter. Pay your parents' heating bill in January or February.
- The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast underscored for many people the importance of family and the value of irreplaceable memorabilia. Have family photos copied; frame them and share with relatives. Interview older family members for an oral history. Give family heirlooms to the people you'd like to get them. Make a photo album.
If your ancestors entered this country via Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924, go to www.ellisisland.org and download your ancestors' immigration records; frame or place in a scrapbook along with photographs.
At www.afrigeneas.com find resources to help you research African ancestry in the Americas, or visit www.genealogy.about.com/cs/africanamerican for a detailed list of helpful web sites.
- Give a gift to a charity in the name of a friend or relative who has everything and more. Support a cause dear to the recipient's heart, or one involved in hurricane recovery: Habitat for Humanity, a relief organization such as the Red Cross or Oxfam, a faith-based group involved in hurricane recovery (Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, Episcopal Relief and Development).
- Gift cards are fast, easy and welcome. Who wouldn't appreciate a card for lattes or lunches, dinners or desserts, especially after Christmas when everyone's broke? (Fifty-two percent of consumers polled for the National Retail Federation put gift cards on their wish lists.) You pick the dollar amount. They're a nice "thank-you" for people who make your life easier all year long: the doctor's receptionist, the support staff at work, the attendant at doggie day care. They're also great gifts for people of whose desires and needs you are unsure. Let Dad have fun picking out his own new toy at Lowe's or Home Depot, or let a teenager choose her own new bedding at one of the big-box linen stores.
- Think about services rather than goods: a book of car-wash tickets, a car detailing, manicures and pedicures, movie/DVD rental gift certificates. Create your own: gift certificates for meals you'll cook, fancy desserts you'll provide, lawn care, a day of repairs and cleanups you'll do around the recipient's home. Or tickets to plays, concerts, sports events or other activities.