Christmas presents are good. Buying a special present and giving it to someone you love is a beautiful act of generosity. Buying presents no one wants just to give a gift is not. Going into debt to buy presents shouldn’t be the norm. Rampant consumerism is at a peak during the holidays. Walk into any store this time of year and you’ll be mentally bombarded with flashy packaging and signs encouraging you to buy, buy, buy! But are we even buying items that our loved ones want or are we falling into a consumeristic trap set up by marketers? Are we making smart purchases or are we buying crap presents just to say we gave a gift to the teachers, the mailman, and neighbors?
Here’s my rant about Christmas presents:
I’m so over people wasting money on Christmas gifts.
Mind you, I didn’t say spending money on Christmas gifts. I’m okay with spending money, but I’m not okay with wasting money on gifts that people don’t want.
Do you remember being a little kid and getting a present you didn’t want? Then your parents would make you feel guilty for not being appreciative?
Did this happen to anyone else? I think it happened to me once and I felt so guilty that ever since then I’ve acted extra appreciative even when I get socks or underwear (btw- new underwear as an adult is actually a super nice present. #momlife).
Now that I’m an adult, I realize how stupid it is to give gifts that people don’t actually want. I’m sure I’m going to get some mean comments for this one, but it’s not the thought that counts. All we are doing is wasting resources and money by giving gifts that aren’t going to be used or appreciated.
Since embarking on my minimalistic journey, I’ve enjoyed having less stuff. Stuff stresses me out. I purge all the time and feel so happy when I have less, and when I can live on less. For this reason, when people give me presents that I didn’t ask for, I end up getting very stressed out. I get stressed out because I have to act appreciative, then I get stressed out that someone wasted their hard earned money on me. Not only do I not want “stuff”, I don’t want people to spend their money buying me things I don’t want or need.
Related Post: How Minimalism Can Save You Money
As an environmentalist, my thoughts get even crazier. I hate seeing all of the packaging on presents. I hate knowing that someone not only bought me something I don’t want, marketers wrapped it all up in plastic that probably won’t be recycled. Then it’s been wrapped in even more paper that probably won’t be recycled. Sure, you may think I’m overthinking this one, but as a conservationist, the sheer amount of trash produced on Christmas makes me cringe.
Let’s stop being a pawn to marketers
This is a funny thing for me to write about as a social media marketer. I literally get paid hundreds of dollars per post by marketing firms to influence my audience on what to buy. It’s probably no surprise to hear that this time of the year is my busiest time of year because every marketing company is trying to influence the market to buy their products.
From a business perspective, I love this easy work. To get paid to try new products and tell you about it is a dream. However, from a personal perspective, its bullshit.
I’m so tired of people buying things just because an influential person has one. Instead, wouldn’t it be great if we bought things because we truly liked and wanted them? What if we gave presents to each other that were thoughtful, homemade, or experiences instead of mass produced junk?
Here are my questions for you:
All of these thoughts have made me wonder if I’m alone. Surely I’m not the only one who hates that people are wasting money and resources on me.
Why do we feel compelled to give gifts just to give a gift? Are some of you giving gifts just to keep up with the Joneses?
Do you feel bad when you get a gift you didn’t want? Or are you genuinely appreciative?
Do you overextend your finances to give gifts to teachers, the mail carrier, and other people?
Here is my how-to advice to stay on budget this Christmas:
- If money is tight, don’t give gifts to extended family members. Be honest and tell them your financial situation. They may be relieved to not have to spend money on you too!
- Instead of buying something for teachers and service workers, give them something from the heart like something homemade or baked.
- If you don’t know what to give, ASK! Then actually follow the advice!
- Stop gifting crappy gifts. This one is tricky because personally I love The Dollar Tree and have seen some great items there this year. But only gift those kind of clutter gifts to people who want it.
Here is my challenge for you:
Stop giving gifts that people don’t want, especially if you don’t have the money. Try giving a handwritten card or spending time with loved ones instead.
Remember, Christmas shouldn’t be about gifts anyway! Christmas is about the ultimate gift from God: Jesus. I love that we can remember this gift by exchanging small and meaningful gifts. Even so, I’d much rather people spend nothing on me than give me something I don’t want or need.
Anyone else get frustrated by Christmas gifts?
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True confessions: I WAY overspent and over gifted last Christmas!! I absolutely LOVE giving gifts, and last year was a doozy! Very soon after all was said and done, I had a moment of clarity when I realized that I could hardly tell you what I had given to my loved ones, and I bet they couldn’t either due to the sheer volume! Instead of the warm fuzzies I hoped to give them, and myself, there was a sense of being overwhelmed. How sad! So this year, I’m focused on spending TIME w/ my dearest loved ones, not money. There will be some gift giving, but that won’t be my focus. Time is invaluable, and I think it is the best gift I have ever given … or received :)
Merry Christmas!
What a great lesson learned! Sometimes we have to be in the thick of it to realize what we don’t want to do. I hope this year you get all the warm fuzzies!
You’re not the only one. A few years ago we changed our gift giving to the kids to reflect this too. We do Want, Need, Wear, Read, and a Santa gift. Giving with purpose helps us keep things equal across four children and ourselves. It also keeps us in budget. Now we fill requests and needs instead of buying up to and beyond our means.
We don’t have a ton of space in our house either. There is no room for extra coffee mugs with random sayings or super huge teddy bears with holiday sweaters. I am thankful to receive gifts, but please bring us tickets or a gift card for and experience or meal.
This is exactly how I feel too! We have a nice home, but it’s not huge. It’s certainly not big enough for anything extra! I love the trendy coffee mugs, but I only need one, not 15. Great idea to do tickets, gift cards and experiences!
It has taken us 4 kids and being overloaded with CRAP after Christmas to realize it’s quality vs quantity. I picked my kids top 4 gifts off their list this year and bought them those. Saved a ton of money and I know they will love each gift they are getting. As for extended family gifts, our families are huge, so we don’t buy for anyone anymore. It’s all about spending time with people and it’s taken the stress out of this awesome Christmas season!
A stress free Christmas is a great gift to yourself! I agree that it’s so much better to spend time with people.
Hannah I love this post! I haven’t sent not one card out or shopped for one gift. I am paying my bills, doing car repairs, gifting my daughter a few dollars, getting a laptop for work purposes and calling it a day. I can give a gift any time I don’t need a date on the calendar. People get to caught up in doing what everyone else is doing even when they can’t afford it. Not worth the hassle.
It really kills me when people get caught up in the madness when they can’t afford it!
I’m so happy to hear that you are being smart with your money during the holidays. It can be hard!
This came at a perfect time! I was agonizing a bit about gifts, we always wait until the last minute. My family doesn’t really do gifts anymore except for the children. My husbands family does, and that’s okay, but each child needs their own Xbox or PlayStation? As a kid, I learned a lot from having to share.
I’m with you on sharing. I make my boys share all their stuff!
I wish I could put in the thank you Jesus hands emoji here! I am with you on getting stressed about receiving gifts and being appreciative. We just bought a house (yay!) but packing up all of our stuff (aka shit) was so eye-opening for me. I made a pact/promise to myself to rectify our issues with all the things at the new house. BUT then family kept wanting to give us things they’d purged from their houses and it was just this never ending loop!
And then Christmas for our little one – we got gifts that I know she will love. Legos for her (kits purchased of Facebook Marketplace with all the pieces at half the price!), she loves the Crayola magic markers so we got her more coloring books for those, a coworker thrifted his daughter’s roller blades to me so we purchased new safety gear for that, and then a few family board/card games!
And THEN my husband’s extended family does a gift exchange and you are expected to spend $50 per person. We have 3 people so that’s $150 right there. But we got fun names this year – so I’m actually excited about this one! And I’m splurging on my mom. She has helped us so much with the move and watching our daughter and cleaning the new house and she deserves it!
You and I really should be friends in real life! I bought used Legos for my son this year too! It’s so smart. Congrats on the house. I’m so excited for you. I can’t believe you have a gift exchange with a $50 expectations. That is crazy!
I have gone back to simple times when I got a good paying job I spent money like water now I don’t have much money to spair but like when I was a kid I bought my mom lotion bath beads a box of chocolate she loved it I don’t miss all the big gifts I once bought for family and friends now I have a fake white tree to save trees the lights all burned out so to save money I cut the burnt out lights off and bought some dollar tree lights out them on I bought some artificial flowers and put them on it looks so nice I am going to leave it up until Spring this year I am going to make everything by hand
Making everything by hand sounds fun!
Like you said-There’s more to Christmas(and life)than just spending money on gifts- there’s family and friends to show how much you love them and appreciate them without a gift so your bills won’t suffer come January of next year-Save your money this holiday
Agreed! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.