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Simplify the Season: Benefits of Giving Fewer Gifts

December 10, 2012 By Emily McClements
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Simplify the Season series

This is Week 5 of the Simplify the Season series.

We’ve talked about celebrating Jesus this Christmas, and make memories with our families, both as ways to simplify this season and move away from gift giving as the main way that we celebrate, and main source of our stress, during Christmas.

Besides just reducing the amount of stress that we feel about gift giving, what if there were actually benefits to giving fewer gifts for Christmas this year? Here are a few benefits of giving fewer gifts that I’ve found over the past few years.

Benefits of Giving Fewer Gifts

• Fewer gifts to wrap — I don’t know about you, but I always seem to save gift wrapping for the last minute. And it can take a long time to wrap a lot of presents! The fewer presents you give the less time you have to spend wrapping, and then have time to do other fun things, like making cookies!

• Less to organize — All of those gifts that we give and receive have to actually go somewhere in our homes after the holiday festivities die down, right? For our family, we live in a smaller home, so the fewer things that we bring into our home and need to find a space for, the better.

• Less time spent shopping — Whether you brave the mall, or do all your shopping online, giving fewer gifts means less time trying to find so many perfect gifts for everyone on your list. I know I’m perfectly happy spending as little time as possible at the store this time of year!

• Focus on giving more intentional gifts — When you give fewer gifts you can make sure the the gifts you do give are more intentional. Since we give our children three gifts based on the Gifts of the Magi, we are intentional about giving them a gift that they really want, a gift  for their spiritual growth, and a gift for their body.

• Less money to spend — One of the obvious benefits of giving fewer gifts is spending less money. If finances are stressful for you this time of year, scaling back on the number of gifts you give will help your financial peace of mind.

• Learning to enjoy more with less — I think one thing that holds some people back from giving fewer gifts is that they are afraid their family or friends won’t be as happy with less. But, the amazing thing is, you learn that you, and your kids, really can enjoy both giving and receiving fewer, more meaningful gifts because our true happiness is not wrapped up in a box with a pretty bow.

What are some of the benefits you’ve found of giving fewer gifts?

Read all the posts in the Simplify the Season series.

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Image courtesy of taoty/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2 CommentsFiled Under: Holidays, Simple Living Tagged With: christmas, family, gifts, holidays, simplify

Simplify the Season seriesSimplify the Season: Making Memories Celebrating Jesus this ChristmasSimplify the Season: Celebrating Jesus! Default ThumbnailHow to Have a Frugally Green Christmas – Giving Gifts Default ThumbnailHow To Have a Frugally Green Christmas – Gift Giving

Comments

  1. Molly Makes Do says

    December 10, 2012 at 8:50 am

    We do the a gift or two for grandparents and aunt/uncles and then 3 gifts (plus a few stocking presents and christmas eve pj’s) on christmas day. We did this for the first time last year and I was actually afraid it would look barren underneath then our tree, but I was amazed at how much space 9 family presents and a half dozen relative presents took up. It looked like we’d never instituted a limit!

    3 is the perfect number for a young kids (we did this for birthdays too and still came away with so many presents because of family!) and honestly my husband and I are having difficulties coming up with 3 gifts we want this year because it’s just not that big of a deal this time around.

    Reply

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  1. How to Have a Simple Christmas | Green Your Way says:
    November 30, 2013 at 7:52 am

    […] also appreciate that giving fewer gifts is less stressful […]

    Reply

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