Dear Erik: Regarding the adult gift-giving letter from “Feeling Bah-humbug”, who wrote: “My dear and I are at a stage in life where we really don’t need more ‘stuff’ and prefer not to deal with gifts that are generic at best and usually quickly re-gifted through giving or gift economy communities.”
We had the same problem. Solved! Instead of buying gifts, we determined the amount of money we were likely to spend on a gift. We took out $50. It can be any amount.
Each year one person was in charge of collecting money from everyone. This person donated this amount to their favorite charity. The next year, another person collected the money and donated it to their favorite charity. It worked great!
– Regifting
Dear Regifting: What I love most about this solution, besides giving a meaningful pot of money to charity, is that it gives your family the opportunity to learn about each other through what interests you.
I would even suggest that the person in charge of collecting the money send a card or letter explaining what the charity does, why the work is personally meaningful and how the money will affect the work. It’s another step, but one of the purposes of giving and receiving gifts is that it helps us feel closer to those we love.
When we hear about the good that someone is trying to promote in the world, it helps us get to know them more deeply. Thank you for your suggestion. It’s something I’ll try next year.
Send inquiries to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or PO Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him at Instagram and subscribe to his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.
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