Holiday Gift Giving and Stress

Now that the holiday shopping season is here, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the “deals,” excitement, and checking things off your list. That’s certainly understandable, but one major cause of stress this time of year is overspending on gifts. Bankrate cites a recent report by The Harris Poll that shows “as much as 65 percent of Americans feel ‘anxious and stressed’ as we approach the holiday season due to inflation.”

Feeling this way for sustained periods isn’t healthy for us mentally or physically at any time of the year, but we definitely don’t want to do that to ourselves during the holidays. While there are many things that we can’t control this time of year, not putting ourselves in a bad position moneywise isn’t one of them.

5 Tips for Sticking With a Holiday Budget

Here are 5 tips to keep in mind as you shop this year:

Develop a holiday budget

Creating a holiday budget is best done in a spreadsheet. You’ll want to start by making a list of all of the people that you have to buy gifts for. Then make a list of all of the extra but predictable expenses that you need to plan on. These can include such things as decorating, extra food, and baking, special holiday events, etc. Next, determine the amount of money that seems reasonable and comfortable to spend on each item. Once you have your total, review it to make sure that it seems realistic and doable. If it’s not, go through and determine areas where the amounts can and should be less.

Be real, in a gentle way, with your kids

If your kids are asking for things that are beyond your budget, ask them to choose their top 1-3 items as long as those things fit within your limits. If they don’t, then ask them to narrow down more or honestly tell them that those things cost too much. You can tell them that your family is focusing on making sure that each person gets 1-2 really special things this year, and you’re limiting it at that. We have done a version of this with our boys and everyone was fine.

Even Santa has limits

In our house, even Santa had limits because we wanted to make sure that all the children were able to get something really special. It also sets the tone for helping them to understand what the holidays are really about for your family and that it’s not necessarily just a time to throw the doors wide open for them to get anything and everything they want. That’s an unrealistic expectation for any point in life, even for kids.

If you have young kids, consider buying gently used or secondhand items

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this and as long as the items are in good condition, your children are not going to even notice. This practice helps to keep you from going over budget and helps to extend the life of perfectly useful items that still have a lot of joy to give.

Focus on Intentional Gift Giving

Intentional gifts are creative and meaningful and help you to give joy while creating it for yourself as well. While you still have to keep your budget in mind, intentional gifts make sure that you’re actually putting some thought into the gift-giving process and are getting the most joyful bang for your buck.

Looking Ahead to Next Year’s Holiday Budget

If you really want to prevent money from factoring into your holiday stress, planning your holiday budget early is key. I’m talking about starting in January and setting aside money each month in savings. You simply determine what a reasonable total amount is that you think you’ll need to spend for the holidays the following year and divide that by 12. That gives you the amount that you will need to deposit into your holiday savings each month.

Having this money building up throughout the year not only prevents you from having to come up with a large amount in November and December but also gives you the flexibility to take advantage of deals as they happen at other times. In addition, it allows you to buy throughout the year if you see the perfect gift for someone on your list.

This process should ideally be done as you develop your larger annual budget. That way you know whether the amount that you’re planning on for your holiday budget is realistic or not. It also helps in making decisions about other larger purchases throughout the year since you know that you need to allow for the fixed holiday amount each month. If you do have to use your holiday money one month to pay for an unexpected, necessary expense, be sure to make it up the next month or divide the missed amount throughout the remaining months. The main thing is to try to not have to come up with the entire lump sum at the end of the year.

The Bottom Line on a Holiday Budget

Remember, extended times of stress are unhealthy. Holiday gift-giving shouldn’t add to that. The best gift that you can give others this holiday season is a healthy, happy you.

Great Gift Reminder!

Don’t forget that if you’re looking for an inexpensive, but thoughtful gift for the women over 40 in your life, be sure to consider a 6-month (or longer) membership to the Empowered Health and Wellness for Women Over 40 Facebook Group. If you have any questions about how it works, feel free to reach out to info@peppermint-tea.com.

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The holiday season is finally here – something that many of us have been looking forward to for months. I mean really, what better way to brighten up this crazy year than with a little holiday spirit? For many, this may be the best gift giving year yet, inspired by a lot of time filled with not much else. But for others, this may be the year that we’re blindsided by being stuck – where our creative juices have also decided to quarantine. 

If you fit the latter category, I’ve got your back. Coming up with creative gifts is something my family enjoys doing. That’s not to say that we don’t have crazy, busy years where we just check off a list, but those are the holiday seasons I enjoy the least because it means we’re too wrapped up in ourselves and the craziness of life. Intentional gift giving gets us out of ourselves and prompts us to stop and think about what would not only make others happy, but what would bring them joy. Here are some creative and meaningful gift ideas to help get those juices flowing.  

Please Note that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through some of the links included on this page. You can read my disclosure policy here.

Give an experience

Giving an experience is one of the most thoughtful gifts that can be given. In this day and age, most of us have too many things as it is. Giving someone an experience where memories can be made is a true treasure. These ideas range from simple and inexpensive to going all out. 

• Family movie night at home (a local pizza restaurant gift certificate, popcorn and an Apple TV+ subscription – currently $4.99/month)
• Bottle of wine and a gift certificate to a nice local restaurant (that offers outdoor seating with heaters!)
• A weekend getaway
• A virtual class or online course 

Gifts that represent the recipient’s interests

Gifts that represent the recipient’s interests show that you’ve really taken the time to think about who that person is and what they like to do. Most importantly, it means you’ve taken the time to get to know them, at least a little bit.

• Anything that has to do with their hobbies such as woodworking books or tools, photography books or equipment, etc.
• Cookware or cookbooks
• Music (Spotify or iTunes gift card or books about their favorite artists)
• A gift card to the recipient’s favorite restaurant
• Tea kettle, mugs and tea samples
• Collection of good coffee (If it has to be ground and you’re not sure whether they have a grinder, include an inexpensive one)
• Magazine subscription

Intentional gift giving that represents shared experiences, interests or something you enjoy doing for them

These gifts are meaningful because they represent your relationship with the recipient.

• Framed photos of you and the recipient from an experience that meant something to both of you
• Christmas ornaments from a place that you traveled to together
• If the recipient loves your chocolate pie or a cake that you make, give them a wooden pie box or cake carrier with their cake or pie inside
• Skylight frame – an electronic photo frame that you can email photos to and they automatically appear in seconds. This is a great gift for older family members who you might not be seeing much of this winter. 
• A slideshow of photos that they can put on their laptop.
• Dish towels or wall hangings with a favorite saying for both of you

Environmentally friendly and healthy gifts

Environmentally friendly and healthy gifts can help the recipient acquire some of the things that they’ve been wanting to get but felt like they couldn’t invest in for themselves. Let’s face it, a once-in-a-while investment in something that’s more sustainable or is healthier overall may feel like a lot if you’re buying it for yourself. If you’re buying it for someone else, you’re helping them to reach their lifestyle goals, and you’re getting to enjoy intentional gift giving.

• Glass jars for storage
• Glass container sets
• Reusable stainless steel drinking straws (Affiliate Link)
• Stainless steel lunch containers (Affiliate Link)
• Aluminum or stainless steel water bottle. The one I use and love is Klean Kanteen’s Classic Stainless Steel 40-ounce Water Bottle (Affiliate Link).

Locally made gifts

The key to giving locally made gifts is making sure that they’ll mean as much to the recipient as they do to you. Including a card or tag with an explanation of the item’s story or why you thought the recipient would like it can help to make sure that the item’s meaning isn’t lost.

• Pottery
• Handcrafted wooden items
• Jewelry
• Handmade soap or lotion
• Local beer or wine

Things the recipient wants but won’t buy for herself

We all know what these kinds of gifts are. The things we know the other person really wants but they simply won’t buy for themselves. Even if it’s something that we don’t necessarily understand or appreciate ourselves, it doesn’t matter. The gift is for the recipient. If you’re concerned that it’s “just one more thing” that the person is getting, write them a card or note explaining why you wanted to get it for them and that shows you understand what that particular item means to them. This is truly intentional gift giving. Suddenly a seemingly generic gift becomes very personal.

• InstaPot
• Kitchen gadgets of many varieties (bread knife, slow cooker, spiralizer, etc.)
• Kitchenaid stand mixer
• Running shoes
• Workout clothes
• Tennis racket and tennis balls
• Golf club(s)
• Clothes

Bottom Line on Intentional Gift Giving

These are just a few strategies and ideas to guide your intentional gift giving this holiday season. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it’s clear to the recipient when you’ve put thought into your gifts. They will appreciate the gifts because of the effort you’ve put into them, and they will love them because of the joy they will bring.

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