Giving Christmas gifts to children is quite fun. Their faces light up and they are thoroughly occupied with new toys, for the whole day. However, I worry over the message we are sending them. I don’t want to stop seasonal gift giving as it is an important connection to others of our faith, but I have wanted to change the focus of giving for a while.
I decided to look for alternatives to buying so much. For one thing, it is a terrible idea to keep giving money to huge corporations. I also believe that my children will not fare as well, financially, as my grandparents did, since my husband and I haven’t fared nearly as well as our previous generations did. I have this nagging feeling that we should teach or children to do more with much less.
In the end, we gave the gift of time and companionship by inviting everyone for a Stone Soup affair. As in the children’s tale, each person brought one exotic item to add to the meal. We did not make soup, so guests did not have to worry about their item being in a big pot with other items. Instead, we had everyone’s food laid out on the picnic table and people ate buffet style, We provided games and music and adults could bring wine coolers and beer.
We spent less money than if we had bought a gift for each guest, took lots of photos to share later in the year, and everyone had a great time. I’ll get started on the alternative giving earlier, next year, but I think the children are seeing the world a little differently.
Family Economics in New Zealand 