As Christmas is fast approaching, I see entire crowds in the streets, department stores and shopping centres of Dublin with many many bags of gifts in their hands. Many years ago, I was part of that crowd of people. I would make a nice list of things I wanted to get for my friends and family and would brave the busy streets of Dublin to buy everything and make sure I could pile a lot of presents under the Christmas tree.
With the years, I have grown really tired of 'stuff'. I think I have learned to appreciate a different type of things and to put more value on a happy lifestyle rather than material things. At home, we recently started a very big session of decluttering and I discovered we owned a whole lot of very unnecessary things. I discovered what was more valuable to my life and what was not.
This leads me to Christmas gifting and receiving. I love Christmas and I adore coming up with beautiful thoughtful gift ideas every year. But this year, I want to be extra thoughtful and give presents that do not create clutter in someone else's life. I came up with a list of things and I hope this can be helpful to others who are also interested in a more minimalist approach to Christmas gifting.
With the years, I have grown really tired of 'stuff'. I think I have learned to appreciate a different type of things and to put more value on a happy lifestyle rather than material things. At home, we recently started a very big session of decluttering and I discovered we owned a whole lot of very unnecessary things. I discovered what was more valuable to my life and what was not.
This leads me to Christmas gifting and receiving. I love Christmas and I adore coming up with beautiful thoughtful gift ideas every year. But this year, I want to be extra thoughtful and give presents that do not create clutter in someone else's life. I came up with a list of things and I hope this can be helpful to others who are also interested in a more minimalist approach to Christmas gifting.
Gifting an experience is a really lovely idea and there are so many options out there:
- You could get someone a theatre voucher, a cinema membership, a museum exhibition entry or a concert ticket for the culture lovers.
- If you know that the person in question has been mentioning wanting to get photos done for their family, couple etc. you could get them a voucher towards a photo session (make sure to ask them if they have a list of preferred photographers).
- For the food lovers, a restaurant voucher is a fantastic idea (we have been gifted some in the past and really loved it) as well as the gift of a food tour. You can find great food tours in many cities. As for Dublin, I can personally vouch for the Delicious Dublin Tours, not just because Ketty is a friend, but because I have attended one and thoroughly enjoyed it.
And then, there are the other gifts that can be a gift of time, immaterial, edible or charitable:
- If I offer people a restaurant voucher or other experience and I know they have children, I usually add a note with the gift of my time for babysitting on the day they choose to go and enjoy their dinner out, concert, play etc.
- Other gifts of your time can include offering to help someone with something they really need (painting a house, gardening, fixing furniture etc.) but that you know they have been putting off for a while.
A gift of cooking a delicious meal for people is also a great idea if you are talented for it.
- If you know the person owns a Kindle or other reading tablet because they want to reduce the amount of books on their shelves, you could give an Amazon voucher to put towards e-books (or a voucher for whatever company their tablet is connected to). I know this is one of my gifts once again this year because this is what I asked for.
- An edible gift or food hamper is also a fantastic idea (wink wink to everybody I know). Use a recyclable box or a lovely tote bag that can be reused for grocery shopping and fill it with delicious fine things you have picked carefully. I will not go into details so as not to spoil the surprise to anyone this year (I love gifting those) but it can include: wine, specialty biscuits or crackers, spices, chocolates, little cakes (at Christmas time, you can find some wonderful ones like stollen, panettone, etc.), cheese etc. You could also gift them a voucher for their favourite gourmet store or cheesemonger. And of course, you could also include homemade edible gifts in the hamper which is an extra lovely touch.
- And last but not least, a gift to someone could simply be a voucher for a charity that matter to them. In a time when a lot of us already have more than we need, I know this is something really appreciated. The one I choose most often these days is Kiva, an international nonprofit organisation of funding loans (you can help borrowers around the world with their business, education, access to clean energy etc. - for example, you could help a group of women farming in Guatemala or a single mum in Vietnam wanting to send her kids to school etc. there are many many people waiting for funding).
- You could get someone a theatre voucher, a cinema membership, a museum exhibition entry or a concert ticket for the culture lovers.
- If you know that the person in question has been mentioning wanting to get photos done for their family, couple etc. you could get them a voucher towards a photo session (make sure to ask them if they have a list of preferred photographers).
- For the food lovers, a restaurant voucher is a fantastic idea (we have been gifted some in the past and really loved it) as well as the gift of a food tour. You can find great food tours in many cities. As for Dublin, I can personally vouch for the Delicious Dublin Tours, not just because Ketty is a friend, but because I have attended one and thoroughly enjoyed it.
And then, there are the other gifts that can be a gift of time, immaterial, edible or charitable:
- If I offer people a restaurant voucher or other experience and I know they have children, I usually add a note with the gift of my time for babysitting on the day they choose to go and enjoy their dinner out, concert, play etc.
- Other gifts of your time can include offering to help someone with something they really need (painting a house, gardening, fixing furniture etc.) but that you know they have been putting off for a while.
A gift of cooking a delicious meal for people is also a great idea if you are talented for it.
- If you know the person owns a Kindle or other reading tablet because they want to reduce the amount of books on their shelves, you could give an Amazon voucher to put towards e-books (or a voucher for whatever company their tablet is connected to). I know this is one of my gifts once again this year because this is what I asked for.
- An edible gift or food hamper is also a fantastic idea (wink wink to everybody I know). Use a recyclable box or a lovely tote bag that can be reused for grocery shopping and fill it with delicious fine things you have picked carefully. I will not go into details so as not to spoil the surprise to anyone this year (I love gifting those) but it can include: wine, specialty biscuits or crackers, spices, chocolates, little cakes (at Christmas time, you can find some wonderful ones like stollen, panettone, etc.), cheese etc. You could also gift them a voucher for their favourite gourmet store or cheesemonger. And of course, you could also include homemade edible gifts in the hamper which is an extra lovely touch.
- And last but not least, a gift to someone could simply be a voucher for a charity that matter to them. In a time when a lot of us already have more than we need, I know this is something really appreciated. The one I choose most often these days is Kiva, an international nonprofit organisation of funding loans (you can help borrowers around the world with their business, education, access to clean energy etc. - for example, you could help a group of women farming in Guatemala or a single mum in Vietnam wanting to send her kids to school etc. there are many many people waiting for funding).
I hope these Christmas gift ideas can be helpful to you, especially if you have been looking at a different, more thoughtful approach to giving presents like I have.
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Are those types of gifts already something you do? If you have any other suggestions of minimalist gifts, please share in the comments below!
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Are those types of gifts already something you do? If you have any other suggestions of minimalist gifts, please share in the comments below!
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