There are families across the country who dread every Christmas, and for understandable reasons. The inability to save during the year, existing crippling debts including the mortgage where minimum payments are only scratching the surface of the debts can put considerable strain on households.
All of this aside from the expectation and pressure of presents for all your family and friends not to mention the tinsel, tree, food, drink and entertainment budget required for the panto, activities like Funderland and more. You could be talking of a spend in the thousands.
John Lowe of MoneyDoctors.ie shares ideas of presents that won’t cost anything for both sets of families. Here are 20 thoughtful Christmas presents that money can’t buy but can still bring joy and meaning to the receivers.
1. Handwritten letter or card – share your feelings and holiday wishes and better still post it like in the old days.
2. Personalised poem – write a poem tailored to the recipient or record a personalised song even better.
3. Memory jar – fill a jar with favourite memories of you and the recipient together.
4. Coupon book – offer services like chores (car washing, lawn cutting, babysitting, or cook a meal for the recipient and partner).
5. Photo collage – create a digital or physical collage of special moments.
6. Playlist – curate a playlist of songs on YouTube Music, Apple Music, Spotify or Amazon Music that remind you of them.
7. Recipe sharing – write down and share your favourite recipes and foods.
8. Home spa day – offer a relaxing home spa experience, from a massage to a bubble bath.
9. Garden or plant care – offer to care for their garden or houseplants, including lawn mowing!
10. Virtual movie night – host a movie.
11. Storytelling session – share fun or meaningful stories.
12. Skill sharing – teach them a skill you excel at - hopefully you have a skill!
13. Memory video – create a video montage of shared moments.
14. Compliment jar – fill a jar with positive notes and compliments.
15. Organising help – offer to help declutter or organise. We all need to declutter!
16. Digital art – draw or design something special for them.
17. Time and attention – spend quality time together doing something they love.
18. Book exchange – share a favourite book or write a note inside one you own.
19. Holiday greetings – visit on Christmas Day with a heartfelt holiday message and promise to visit once a week for the rest of the year.
20. Acts of kindness – promise to perform small acts of kindness in their name.
So you have plenty of choice and it costs you nothing. You could even say that the money you were going to spend on presents is being given to your favourite charity so the element of meanness is negated.
Happy holidays!
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ.
For more information, click on John Lowe's profile above or on his website.
