Need advice on Christmas/Birthday gifts

by 2pink 3 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  2pink

  being newly out of the JWs, and being a born in, i have never celebrated a holiday or birthday. as the holiday season approaches, i need some advice on who i should buy gifts for and who i shouldn't. our families are all JWs, so they are automatically excluded. aside from my kids and husband, my list so far includes:

  my aunt, cousin and uncle who are not Jws

  my girls' teachers (small card and maybe small gift card)

  my neighbors, who are our friends and also my employers (i do daycare for their kids 2 days a week)

  i also have a few friends who are not JWs--who do i gift and who do i skip? is there a rule for this? i am totally uneducated on all the rules of holiday gift-giving!

  i also have the same question about birthdays...who do you give a gift to, and who do you just give a card to?

  thanks!!
• 

  WuzLovesDubs

  First advice I would give you is to stop thinking about it so hard honey :) But as for Christmas, if its your first time giving to them, I work at Sams Club for instance, and they have a lot of really cute gifts that are already pretty and "wrapped" for you...many under $20, like fancy chocolates, or hot cocoa cups and mix, or decorative items especially for the holidays. Also you can go to places like TJMaxxs HomeStore or Big Lots and they have many really unusual, inexpensive holiday gift things.

  As for cards...if you give a gift, its nice to have a little card to give along with it to express your sentiments. That goes for birthdays too. So they know who the gift is from and you might include your phone number and email address for folks to make it easy to thank you.

  Gift cards are a great idea....to put into a card and give. Especially if you are at a loss what to give somebody. Bring a bottle of wine or a plate of decorative cookies to parties you are invited to. Or flowers...

  And above all HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!!
• 

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• 

  jamiebowers

  who do i gift and who do i skip? is there a rule for this? i am totally uneducated on all the rules of holiday gift-giving!

  i also have the same question about birthdays...who do you give a gift to, and who do you just give a card to

  Depending on how close you are to the person, generally in my experience, birthday gifts are for children. For adults who reach milestone birthdays such as 21 and the start of a new decade, a small gift and card may be a good idea. On off years, just a card should be fine. For Christmas, you may want to ask your aunt and uncle and a group of friends if they would like to draw names for a gift exchange. That way it won't be financially difficult for the parties involved.

  But there are no hard and fast rules. If you have the finances and good gift ideas and are willing to give without an expectation of recieving, give to whomever you want. And a lot of times, the gift of time is more important than material things. My stepdaughter has three kids under 5 and is on a limited budget. She used to feel bad about not being able to buy expensive things for us. I told her that help with house cleaning before the holidays is better than anything she could buy. So now she takes the burden off of me to let me bake for everyone.

  Just relax. Birthdays and holidays are supposed to be fun.