The Unwritten Rules of Gift-Giving – OrganizedChristmas.Com
A timely article as I consider the list of ppl that I’m supposed (supposed by whom? Family of course) to be sorting out presents for. Given that my sisters keep either having children or getting together with ppl who already have children, the list is growing apace 🙁 Can’t think that many of them would be happy with home made finger puppets either!
Click the links below and scroll through my collection of ideas, workshops, excursions, and more to discover practical everyday activities you can do together in and around your home classroom.
aha! we actually are quite good at this in our family. we give token gifts, mys sister and I don’t gift each other, just the children, and ebay/second hand is fine. tada!
My mother’s family had a meeting and decided to limit who bought presents for whom.
Home-made finger puppets are GREAT imo. And yah boo sucks to anyone who thinks otherwise. I havent got a CLUE what to buy/make or give to anyone yet, apart from my own offspring.
Me, too, Gill. About this time of year I’m tempted to go all Bah-humbug and declare a no-gift amnesty with my family. Probably too late now, I’ve already had one Xmas card!
This is what my nieces and nephews are getting:
http://paradisefound.homeschooljournal.net/2006/11/01/fire-the-cannon/
My own family are pretty good about presents, but on my DH’s side of the family everyone has to buy for everyone. I mean EVERYONE, great great aunts, people I’ve never met buy for me. I think its so materialistic and wasteful. There are people buying for me who don’t need to. It would be far nicer to get a phone call from them once a year, or a letter. These last few years christmas’ on his side of the family has turned into a money swapping scheme. Every year I used to get knickers, hundreds of them, from DH’s family, until I visited them and they realised they’d been buying them 4 sizes too small! These days everyone seems to put a fiver in a card, and on christmas day we all get to swap five pound notes. What is the point?
Last year we announced that we wouldn’t be doing christmas presents. Instead of sending anything (we usually try to make presents and in all honesty end up spending hours making stuff that people dont appreciate) we told the family that we would use all the money we saved to take the kids to disneyland in Paris. We asked them not to buy for us, but suggested if they really wanted to they could give the kids money to take with them. Well, boy, people were offended and put out! Upset that we weren’t buying for them. It drives me insane. Now I’m ranting.
Actually, until I became a part of DH’s family, they used to have two present giving sessions. THey had two tree’s. One Christmas tree was for Christmas day, and had fun presents under it. Everyone was also expected to buy everyone a boxing day present, which went under the other tree. Boxing day presents were supposed to be ‘useful’. I nearly choked the first boxing day I was there and they started giving out these gifts, as I hadn’t bought any.
Money-swapping really annoys me too. C’s dad just seems to have given up bothering to think of anything to get us for Christmas (I’d be more than happy if they simply asked if there was anything we needed and got that) and just puts a cheque in a card. One day I’m going to get up the front to give them a cheque back, instead of actually thinking about what they would like.
But I’m afraid Hazel, that I can sympathise with your put-out family! If a family member with whom I usually exchanged presents said to me, “we’re not buying you a present this year, we want to use the money to go on holiday” I think I might well be a bit offended too.
I love buying presents for everyone, thinking about what they’ll like etc. We buy for all family, and then we’ll give friends gifts if we see something we want to give them.
Need support for your home ed journey? Looking for tutoring for your young person? Have an idea for a collaboration? I’d love to hear from you!
After 20+ years of home educating my four children (two now adults), I’ve gathered a wealth of experience that I’m passionate about sharing. Beyond blogging and guest writing, I offer several services designed to support families on their home education journey.
I’ve put together a collection of resources that I’ve genuinely found useful over the years—things that have actually made a difference in our home education. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to freshen things up, there’s something here to help. These are the tools, guides, and materials I’d recommend to a friend, because they work.
Leave a Reply