Wednesday, September 26, 2007

WFMW: Responsible Holiday Shopping

BJ thinks that I am a total Grinch. The winter holidays make me lose my mind.

We've stopped buying individual gifts for some family members and friends, opting instead to agree to not exchange gifts, or to do a White Elephant, or to donate to charity instead, or some other variation that creates less debt (and less clutter). I have a master plan to give edible gifts to many of our friends this Christmas (we'll see how that works out - I'd give details but I don't want to spoil the surprise!). Even so, with creative gift giving, we still have a lot of people to exchange gifts with.

This year I plan to do the bulk of my holiday shopping online (because who wants to brave the Christmas crowds with two babies in tow? Not me!). I'm going to try to shop at places that give back a portion of the profits to charities I support. This way my gifts will serve a dual purpose - they'll make the recipient happy (I hope) as well as helping a worthy cause. In researching this for this post, I came across IGive, which is looking like an easy way to do this. We'll see if I can get my act together in time to do all my shopping there.

Shopping for a Cause Works for Me!

If you're here for WFMW, don't miss my other WFMW posts:

How to prevent dryer fires.
How to use Google Calendar to organize your family.
How to save a zillion dollars with the Magic Bullet.
How to quickly cool Mac & Cheese.
How to soothe a teething baby without whiskey - oops! I mean Tylenol.
How to do Time Outs correctly.
How to improvise a changing table.
How to get a baby and a toddler into the car.
How to keep your house decluttered with an old waitressing mantra.
How to find a great baby sling.
How to manage your grocery list online.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Mary Grace looks so young in that picture! It's crazy to see her now. You don't think that she's gotten much bigger, but she looks like a little kid instead of a baby. Hard to believe how fast time flies.

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

Great ideas! I need to start thinking about Christmas!

I found a great gift idea in the Avon catalog...cinnamon candles that are shaped like cinnamon rolls. They are inexpensive, and I think they will make up the bulk of my Christmas shopping for non-immediate family members.

Anonymous said...

Hello Amy,
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. You have pretty babies indeed! And some great tips. I like your idea of listing several of your older tips at the bottom of your WFMW tip of the week. It makes it very easy for readers. :-)