Entries for label: charity

Found 2 entries.

Ideas for Things to Give

Here is a few ideas of things to give for presents if you so insist on it.

In my last post, I complained that \l{giving presents at Christmas was a waste of time and money|the-christmas-circus-and-the-commercial-merry-go-round.html} so go and read that post if you have the time. Alternatively, this is a much happier and less cynical post :-)

So this is the list of ideas of gifts that I would like if you insist on giving me something.

Basically, I feel that there are many more worthy causes for your money than I so here are my suggestions on what I would consider a good present.

The first is easy:

  • give some money to a charity of your choosing and tell me about it

I don't really even care who to or how much since whoever you give it to will be a charity that you consider to be a good cause and that will be good enough for me. Of course, you can tell me who and how much but I will only be interested in the former.

The second thing you could do is 'gift' me one of the following, or something of the like:

or alternatively, if you want to give me something physical, try this (and yes, it is slightly commercial):

So there you go, anything on that list would make me happy though still, you should go from the top down.

Labels: presents, charity

Inserted: 2007-12-15 23:39 (4 years, 1 month ago)

The Christmas Circus and the Commercial Merry-Go-Round

So as time goes on, I like Christmas less and less. I enjoy meeting up with people, having some nice food and a good laugh but the rest of it kills me.

Today I went to the shops just to pick up a few things. Unfortunately for me, I went in the middle of a Saturday afternoon when it was chock-a-block. I don't like it at the best of times and now that it is two Saturdays before Christmas it's just a bit silly for me.

On the way out of the car park (after I'd picked up non-Christmas related stuffs) this dude decides to beep his horn at me and shout expletives in my general direction. I just stared at him as I went past as though "WTF is that for?" Such a nice guy, about 60 and in front of his wife too.

The next car park I was in - the supermarket - a girl in the car in front of me was being impatient of the one in front of her. She accelerated and swerved suddenly and then nearly caused an accident because the one in front wasn't expecting it.

All this because everyone is so wound up and tense in the argy-bargy that is Christmas shopping, in what is supposedly the season of goodwill. Yes, I'm very sceptical of the whole thing and am glad that today has been my only dealing with shops this whole silly season.

So Christmas, let's see! There are three things that are associated with Christmas:

  • religion
  • family/friends
  • presents

1) I'm atheist so Christmas doesn't mean anything to me in the spiritual sense. Some people have religious beliefs which they are entitled to and I fully respect, so I'm not going to comment on this point. It's just not for me and I shall say no more on the subject.

2) This is the one that means the most to me at Christmas time. It's nice to be able to meet up with everyone, share some food, a drink or two, some games and lots of laughter. This is what Christmas is all about, the sharing of each other's company.

3) The giving of presents is the one that annoys me most and is the subject of this post. Basically, I think is a waste of time - at least where adults are concerned. Most presents between adults are either gimicky (therefore they end up in the bin) or unloved (therefore they end up on auction sites). You know what these presents are because they are given with the following lines: "But it's so funny", "Oh, it's just a laugh" or "it's only a little something". Many times, friends of mine have said that a present someone gave them was just so wrong and they have never used it. The same can be said for me too.

The only time giving a present works is if you've already decided with the person what you're going to get them - and them with you - so therefore, you might as well both scrap it, not bother and just buy your own. Get something you actually want and need. I personally think it's all just fuelled by the shops and it leads us further and further down the road to a consumer nation in constant debt because the pressure of giving and putting on a big Christmas is just too great.

As an example, some of my family insist on sending presents from the UK to NZ. That's a phenomenal half way around the world. In all cases bar none, the cost of the postage was at least as much as the present itself. And half the time I could have bought it cheaper here! This makes no sense at all. In one case, the present sent never even arrived. Also, the cost of transferring money from there to here is prohibitively high for such amounts and in reality, that's just a silly present to give (oh, in return for your monetary present, I'll give you some money too - Q: Who wins? A: The bank).

In a lot of cases, if I want something, I'll go out and buy it and most of the people I know are capable of doing the same. Therefore, pretty much anything I get as a surprise present is probably something I don't actually want! This is the same for birthdays too, I just want people to stop wasting money buying me presents. If they want to give me something then they should give something to a good cause or charity and tell me about it (this is the subject of my next blog post).

This year, in return, I shall be making a generous donation to a charity of my choosing and I hope that everyone who I am 'expected' to buy presents for will understand that there are more worthy causes in the world. I shall not say who I'm going to give to nor how much, since that is a personal matter and I always keep my donations to myself.

Finally, just remember that everything I said above is related to giving presents between adults and that I haven't mentioned kids yet! I do believe that Christmas is for kids and I think it's nice to buy them a little something. But it's still too easy to go over the top.

Labels: presents, charity, christmas

Inserted: 2007-12-15 23:16 (4 years, 1 month ago)