Better Gifts for Less Money

The good news about the way we live today is we can buy designer clothes for ridiculously low prices. In other words, we can all afford to dress nicely these days. Our society is so wealthy that children routinely expect, and receive, hundred-dollar-plus gifts for Christmas and their birthdays. Without mentioning brand names, most children own electronic toy gadgets that normally cost over $100/each....The bad news in this rosy picture is that good gift giving is more daunting than ever. How does one delight a loved one....who already has everything!?! And that's without thinking about our really wealthy friends and family members. Don't fool yourself thinking that people with money don't care about getting gifts; they love opening presents as much as any child does, or at least as much as you do.

Not that Mixonian is trying to get you into the pre-Christmas shopping frame of mind already, there are some guidelines we'd like to share, to help you buy better gifts...for less money. Mixonian acknowledges, as Plato did, that living the good life is easier when there is a reasonable level of income in the home. However, as our celebrities often remind us, being rich does not make one necessarily a happy camper. In creative gift giving, it really is the thought that counts, but thinking takes time and focus.

Tip 1) Be prepared, always. Just last week a Mixonian writer acquired two original paintings of Asian calligraphy - for $5 each!!! Not only are they aesthetically lovely, black calligraphy on a burnished gold canvas, each character conveys a positive message, like "peace" and " "healthy well-being." It is guaranteed that when everyone starts buying Christmas gifts, these will not be around. (BTW- these were at Emerge Art Gallery in uptown Greenville). The prepared mind will find treasures like these at unexpected times and places, keep some petty cash on hand for the occasion.

Tip 2) Personalize it somehow, either with your personality, or the recipient's. Inspire them by seeing possibilities in that person, that may or may not be evident to everyone else. Each person is made to create, so help get the process going, give a set of pastels, or crayons, or paper, or a beautiful pen, or journal. Inspire with a book of poetry, a biography, an art postcard. You may need to explain the inspiration with a short note, but being thought of in an intent manner is always gratifying.

A $1.00 art postcard + $3.00 in chocolate + maybe a $4.00 frame for the postcard = a thoughtful gift, when the postcard has meaning for the giver, and hopefully the recipient. Write out, "This picture reminded me of you because...", or that may be obvious, so much the better.

Tip 3) Wrap it. Mixonian wishes more little shops offered imaginative gift wrap that is more often found abroad, at least in Europe and South America. Nevertheless, any gift can be wrapped with creativity, for little cost. Recycle paper, decorate paper, have children draw on it, use recycled cards and postcards for decor, or even old Christmas decorations, odds and ends you find. If nothing else, plain paper with a hand-drawn monogram (or print it on the computer) on the gift communicates care. Wrapping the gift multiplies its perceived value in the eyes of the recipient.

So there it is: Be prepared, personalize it, wrap it. Happy gift giving!