Gifts That Keep On Giving
12.20.07 - 10:45am
Lately, I’ve been hearing on the news about how gift cards are popular gifts this holiday season even though gift cards are a bad idea. I hadn’t even known until a few months ago that Safeway and other supermarkets were carrying gift cards to various retailers like Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Borders, Home Depot, and many others. Just yesterday, I was at Sephora and saw a couple purchasing $250 worth of Sephora gift cards worth $50 each.
It does seem like a practical gift and I’ve always been for practical gifts; I preferred wishlist giving because it meant that the person was getting what they wanted and something they could use.
However, I’ve noticed that gift giving has been quite a stressful experience and often involves a last minute run to the store. What I’ve come to realize is that material items aren’t so important (especially with the unexpected passing of my father this year who came into this world with nothing and left with nothing) and that the holidays or special events like birthdays shouldn’t be about what kind of gift to get, but just spending time with people. So this year, I made to decision to divert all gifts to charities. I figured that other people could use the money more than me.
I still have a wishlist, though. It consists of donations to Heifer International, Kiva, Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
I highly recommend checking out this New York Times Magazine article on giving. It also talks about how it is possible to end poverty and world hunger.
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