i love this time of year.
and i especially love gift-giving. but let's be honest, sometimes trying to make or find the perfect gift for all our loved ones... woowee - that can be a task, can't it?
i'm so lucky. in our family, we love to most often exchange handmade gifts: my very favourite kind of gift. i have this fabulous family that love to make thoughtful and wonderful little gifts for one another: might be a mixed cd, might be something sewn, something drawn, something written, might be special time set aside for something fun, might be doing a bunch of jobs someone else dreads ... i just love it!
for me, handmade's the way to go!
and you know how much i love buying handmade, too.
but beyond handmade; beyond making + buying, i also love gifts that are making a DIFFERENCE, too. and really, you can't go wrong with making a difference kinds of gifts: the gifts that keep giving... so we've decided to give a number of these gifts to family and friends in the past few years. here are 3 of my faves:
----> the unicef gifts of magic: <-----
how about a *gift of play* like buying an art kit for counsellors to use to help children traumatized by natural disasters and conflict. or the *gift of education* where you can buy a school-in-a-box to help school 80 children and provide a teacher and school supplies, too. wow!
or the *gift of relief*:
providing 9 babies in crisis situations with a warm blanket.
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how about a *gift of play* like buying an art kit for counsellors to use to help children traumatized by natural disasters and conflict. or the *gift of education* where you can buy a school-in-a-box to help school 80 children and provide a teacher and school supplies, too. wow!
or the *gift of relief*:
providing 9 babies in crisis situations with a warm blanket.
...................
---->donate in someone's name to spread the net: <----- a donation of $10 to buy a mosquito net to help stop the spread of malaria in Africa. (one bednet can protect children for up to 5 years)
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----> or donate in someone's name to the stephen lewis foundation, <----- helping to *turn the tide of AIDS in Africa* : i especially love the grandmothers for grandmothers initiative: the foundation "directs these funds to community-level organizations in 15 sub-Saharan African countries that provide grandmothers with much needed support, such as food, housing grants, school fees for their grandchildren and grief counselling."
and another wonderful thing? many of these can be purchased online still, and a lovely info card will be sent to you to give to the receiver, in time for the holidays!
and another wonderful thing? many of these can be purchased online still, and a lovely info card will be sent to you to give to the receiver, in time for the holidays!
...................
-----> a gift of TIME locally: <----
how about a visit to the local food bank or shelter. spend an afternoon there helping out with the whole family.
how about finding a group or organization or cause that really means something to you or a family member or a dear friend and donating your volunteer time in their honour. i know i'd love that!
how about a visit to the local food bank or shelter. spend an afternoon there helping out with the whole family.
how about finding a group or organization or cause that really means something to you or a family member or a dear friend and donating your volunteer time in their honour. i know i'd love that!
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so here's to making change, even in our gift giving! have something you like to support and give you'd like to share?
we'd love to hear!
happy giving, lovelies!
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we'd love to hear!
happy giving, lovelies!
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something i heard this year that i'm going to start next year....at Thanksgiving, instead of going around the table and saying what you are thankful for, you say what charity or group to which you'd like to make a donation for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the Unicef gifts very much. They are making a difference. They ship them really quickly, too.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays, Rikrak!
These are all great ideas - thanks for the encouraging words.
ReplyDeletethanks for your kind words, nicies! i really like that idea, alex! great!
ReplyDeletethanks for that encouraging post!
ReplyDeleteThese are great ideas! We try to give giving gifts as well.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays to you and your family!!
Thank you for reminding us,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree!!!
I started with Unicef gifts last year and this year I made a donation for a local environment association. It feels good to give back :)
ReplyDeleteThese are great suggestions! Another idea related to a gift of education is giving through Adopt-A-Classroom which is a US based nonprofit. Anyone can adopt a classroom anywhere in the US through www.adoptaclassroom.org. 100% of the donation goes to the teacher to purchase school supplies the class and the donor gets direct feedback from the teacher. You can also make a classroom adoption on behalf of someone as a gift!
ReplyDelete