Is it time to ban Christmas presents? Blog and poll discussion

The of course there's always the gift card for those who can't decide what present to get someone and would thus like to tie the person down to one sometimes rather expensive store and stop them from shopping around to get the best price.

It's nice to get one, but I do think the Christmas Gift card was designed by the Devil.

we haven't given xmas presents for many many years in my family. xmas is about spending quality time with your loved ones, not commercialism

I hate the pressure of Christmas, not just the presents but the expectancy of spending more on fancy food and drink.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't all at the same time. I've suggested to my family that we meet in the summer or time that isn't christmas to exchange presents and enjoy each others company in nice weather instead of a date near christmas when the weather can be shocking but they just say "...but it's christmas....". So what? They might (but probably don't really) think it's fine to spend loads more money than normal one month a year, but I don't. (Yes I do know you *should* be totally organised but the best intentions....).

It's not just the money side though, there's all the people that are isolated or homeless. It's rubbing their faces in it, especially if they don't receive presents or have no-one to share christmas with.

In order to exchange presents I have to travel (petrol) to meet family and come back over The Bridge (£5.40 :mad:) and post to the other side of the world (the lightest presents I can find) to my brother's family.

Most common are gifts upon marriage or coming-of-age ceremonies and indeed, to my logic, this makes social and financial sense, as in effect it’s a form of prudent banking.

For example, when someone is young and starting out in married life, others give cash or gifts to them as a start up fund, which is a net inflow of goods.

As people age and tend to get more financially stable, they then give gifts to newlyweds, effectively paying the system back.

It’s actually an efficient method for society to focus cash where it’s needed.

Totally disagree with Martin here, a single person does not have the luxury of writing lists of required presents even though they go through life financially worse off (meaning they do not share bills, purchases and living expenses). Especially women who still earn less than men and also are more likely to give up careers to be responsible for children. As people age *now* the future of pensioners is an unstable and unpredictable thing and the numbers are growing. With unemployment rising where do the over 50's (could be over 40's, draw the line where you like) stand when trying to get these jobs that everyone is after? What about parents on low incomes whose children reach 18? They lose any Child Tax Credits once the child leaves education and Child Benefit follows soon after, yet the likelihood is the children are still costing the family money and it's hard for young single people too. I find it hard to find any "social and financial sense" for low income, single women.

Fantastic idea. A great article.

A couple of years ago I discussed not buying birthday & xmas presents for neices and nephews that were over 18's in my family (as we have loads of them), except for big birthdays like 21st, 30th etc....i was shot down straight away. So yes, we carried on buying which was hard for us financially.

During the last month we have 'told' everyone we shall no longer be doing it and this time they will have to get used to it. We are not on a big income and i'm fed up of my children having tiny presents at xmas so i can buy for others that don't even say thank you for the presents i buy!