It’s that time of year again! The holiday spirit is in the air, the TV and radio have a gazillion ads for the latest and greatest “it” item of the season, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a flurry of sales to entice one and all to part with their hard -earned money.
I figured this would be a great time to bring up gift giving and the great question: To give or not to give? Do you and your significant other exchange gifts? Do you set a spending limit? What is the price limit? $10? $100? $1,000?
Mr. Bug and I do not exchange gifts. The holidays are a very busy time for us because we have numerous special occasions in a short period of time: Thanksgiving, Mr. Bug’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s, my birthday, our anniversary, and then Valentine’s Day. This could be a substantial outlay of money in a very short period of time. To make things easy, we decided that we would not give gifts at all for ANY holidays or special occasions.
Who do, however, exchange stockings on Christmas morning. We get small items for each other that we love but would never buy ourselves (Mr. Bug loves Starbucks coffee and I have a great love of fun socks).
Many people will rack up credit card debt during the holidays to buy gifts for their children, significant others, parents, distant cousins, etc and it boggles my mind! $1,000 of Christmas gifts for your spouse or kid is not needed to show your love.
If you haven’t noticed, Mr. Bug and I love to travel. An alternative to gift giving that we decided on long ago was to take the money that would have gone to gifts and put it towards a trip for our anniversary. We travel somewhere warm (our anniversary is in February), typically a beach adventure such as Mexico or the Caribbean. It’s a great way to get away from the cold weather, reconnect with each other, and recharge our batteries after the busy holiday season. Travel is our passion and we would much rather go on a trip than collect more junk around the house. Memories and time together are worth so much more to us than material possessions.
What about you? Do you give gifts? If so, how do you determine how much to spend? Let us know!
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