Comments on: Five Simple Steps to Give Holiday Gifts That Mean Something

By: Unique world gifts

Unique world gifts — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:08:11 +0000

Coffee works wonder in these sort of situations

By: Cody

Cody — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:59:09 +0000

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By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:22:56 +0000

These are great suggestions for keeping gift-giving manageable as well as meaningful!

Another great idea – and a very personal one – is to give someone the opportunity to make the world better. I work at a great nonprofit called DonorsChoose.org, which offers charitable gift cards unlike any I've seen elsewhere: The recipient gets to choose a *specific* project to support in a public school classroom. S/he could choose a project their hometown, or one involving their favorite hobby like knitting or fishing or gardening, or one involving novels or technology or the arts. There are over 14,000 projects on the website, from every state and on any topic you can imagine.

The really fun, unique part of the gift card is that the recipient then hears back from the classroom s/he supported!

(Plus, the giver gets a tax-deduction when purchasing the gift card, which is a nice bonus)

Check them out at: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/giftoptions....

(sorry for the shameless plug… it’s all for the kids!)

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:48:31 +0000

Thanks!
Barbara, I've sat and thought and scratched my head for people over ideas until I just stop thinking “gifts” and start thinking about the PERSON! Simple, but it takes effort to refocus on the person the gift is for… once I do, though, I always come up with something that fits.
Traci, thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. And you can definitely have my white chocolate (if there's any left after my husband gets to it…).

By: Traci

Traci — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:09:36 +0000

Fantastic ideas, Annie! A great reminder that you must actually put real THOUGHT into a gift for it to be THOUGHTful.

Oh, and you can send all your unwanted white chocolate to me! )

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:36:43 +0000

I really like your tip #4 about jotting down notes about the person. I was going down my list the other day and trying to think of good gifts without having done this step, and found I was having a hard time coming up with ideas. I think after reading this, I'll go back and do that step to see if I come up with some better gifts! Thanks for the ideas!