Just a little context:

Consider that the amount of money spent on candy alone during the holiday season is greater than the annual budgets of the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association and Habitat for Humanity combined.

It’s not about reinventing the holiday. It’s about changing the way we look at gift giving and receiving. It’s taking money we usually spend on obligatory gifts with little meaning, and creating gifts of charity that give in multiple ways, to the receiver, the giver, and people who truly need.

There is no question we are in the midst of difficult financial times. And if it has you feeling unsure or uncomfortable this holiday season, imagine how purely difficult it’s becoming for people who already, or are about to, depend on the generosity of others for the things that only a donation can provide.

Please visit the website http://www.redefine-christmas.org and find us on facebook where we’re spreading the word! http://www.facebook.com/RedefineChristmas

Lastly, I have to agree with the poster who described her understandable dismay at the charitable gift given in her name — I would have felt similarly. This whole thing works beautifully if you’re arranging for a gift to a cause that your loved one cares about. It’s a simple matter to observe or ask another family member what charity is the top of the list!

~ M

I’ve been giving alternative gifts for many years and this is by far my favorite!!!

Check it out online at:

http://www.seva.org/gos

I think that’s where I’m headed this year.

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has teamed up with Trickle Up, a poverty alleviation organization that gives people living on less than $1 a day seed capital to launch their own microenterprises, while providing business training and savings support to build assets.

This year give the gift that keeps giving by donating $100 to Trickle Up and Trickle Up will send a specially designed silver necklace (created by Maggie’s favorite jewelry designer TENTHOUSANDTHINGS) to a family member or friend. The $100 donation goes directly towards helping small entrepreneurs (many of them women) in Africa, Latin America and Asia take the first steps out of poverty and start their own small business.

Check out there website at http://www.trickleup.org/
You can order the necklace online and also read about the incredible work they are doing around the world!

However, having said that, I must say that if the donation announcement was accompanied by a small box of gourmet chocolates, that would be doubly meaningful and wouldn’t clutter my home for long either.

So, tell everyone to donate to charity in your name in lieu of giving you a gift. You can find details on this idea and some more charitable giving ideas here: http://www.my-creativeteam.com.....&id=23

The give one aspect is an extremely worth cause and the get one aspect is the unclutterer’s dream… a wireless computer.

“nation’s leading industry-based, not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant making organization. BC/EFA is the on-going, committed response from the American Theatre community to an urgent worldwide health crisis. By drawing upon the talents, resources, and generosity of this community, BC/EFA raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States. Since its founding in 1988, BC/EFA has raised over $140 million for critically needed services for people with AIDS, HIV or HIV-related illnesses.”

For our wedding this past summer, when asked, we requested that our guests consider making a donation to the Make-a-Wish Foundation or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in lieu of giving a physical gift to us. Emily Post probably took a turn or two in her grave, but we were pleased with the number of people who decided to do so. We have all we need and then some, and it felt great that the joy of our celebration would multiply out into the world.