Your PRESENCE not your PRESENTS

tealady

Hi. Wasnt sure where to post this.(admin pls move if appropriate)
Some years ago I started a "your presence not your presents"  thing with family and friends.
It worked so well amongst us adults as we could then afford to buy ourselves what we REALLY wanted. We arranged more meet ups and enjoyed the Christmas season more.
Result, less stress, less cost and more satisfaction

Cherryfudge

We have a Secret Santa among the adults in our immediate family. We each post a list of suggested gifts within an agreed amount so each person is more likely to get something they'd really like, but it saves so much stress and money. It would be lovely to do 'presence not presents' but with a widespread family that would put some people under a lot of stress so one family has open house on Christmas afternoon when we exchange presents, and we try to meet up for walks, meals etc with each other over the festive season.

sourcrates

I guess it could be construed to be debt related, so can leave it here I recon.

kimwp

We had a family secret Santa, but it became impossible in 2020, so we changed to each arranging an activity (could be presenting something funny, arranging a quiz). My sister got us all to sit in two circles (technically we were sat in pairs around the house) and then read out questions for us to talk to each other about - what are you most proud of, what do you like most about me. After each question, one of the circles rotated, so we were sat with a new person and a new question. It sparked some interesting conversations and was a really lovely thing to do. Since the pandemic, the secret Santa wasn't reinstated, I think some in the family do presents, but it's not an expectation.

I really like "presence, not presents", I'd much rather spend time with loved ones rather than time apart shopping.