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Instead of buying something, offer to do something for someone that they either can’t do themselves or don’t have time to get around to doing.  Actually, that may be more appreciated than a wrapped present.

There is a wide open field of ideas connected to gifts of time or service .  You can make your own list of ideas for the people you know.

Give a ‘coupon’ of what you will do as a gift inside of a Christmas card…a homemade Christmas card can be created if it is a child giving the gift.

Some age-specific or geographical-specific ideas are:

• mowing the lawn
• shoveling snow
• cleaning a flower bed
• preparing a flower or vegetable bed for planting in the spring
• cleaning out and organizing a shed, closet, garage, work space
• cleaning out and wiping down shelves, cabinets
• reading with a child on a regular basis
• teaching a skill, such as breadmaking, to someone
• teaching grandparents a computer skill or phone skill they need to know
• polishing a grandfather’s boots or shoes
• catching up someone’s sewing repairs…sewing on buttons, hemming clothing, ironing
• committing to taking out trash on a regular basis
• give someone a ride to church

There are all sorts of one-time or year-round or monthly gift ideas, tailored to what you know would be useful in any given situation.

Sometimes simply buying something is the easy way out of gift giving.  There can be no heart, no thought, nothing other than empty obligation when you rush into a sales aisle simply looking for something to buy.

A  gift of time and service might be more useful and more appreciated.