One of the things I'm grateful for this holiday season is that my neighborhood decided to give money to a charity rather than doing the traditional neighbor gifts. A neighbor gift by definition is that Lehi Roller Mills mix from 2006 that just got dropped off on your doorstep. Or the perennial favorite--the can of Steven's Hot Cocoa that your neighbor got from their neighbor and is (as you read this) in the process of putting a tag on to give to you. See, that's the beauty of neighbor gifts, they are basically just recycled items that go from home to home to home.Two years ago, we had a very well-meaning home teacher who we never saw. When he would call to set up appointments, my husband would tell him we could feel the love through the phone call and that we would call that good for the month. Well, one evening in December he dropped by with a gift for our family--it was, in fact, the ubiquitous Lehi Roller Mills mix. The funny thing was, once he left, I discovered that he had left the old tag still attached that read to his family from another family. We got a good laugh about that.
I feel like it is a challenge each year to find a new and cute neighbor gift for under 5$ each. I've done the Martinellis, I've done the Bath and Body Works soap. I've done pineapples. One year, we gave 6 packs of Krispie Kreme donuts and that seemed to be popular. They come in white boxes with green polka dots so they look festive with a red ribbon.
What do you give for neighbor gifts? Have you ever regifted a neighbor gift? Be honest!
8 comments:
I wish! I am all about little gifts. People don't really do neighbor gifts in Ca, much to my chagrin. We personally load up little plates of cookies from the cookie swap and take them to our favorite neighbors, but no one ever gives us anything back.
When I go to UT for Christmas with my husband's family, I am blown away by the constant traffic coming to the house. It also seems like every gift is accompanied by gift tags with zany sayings and little quips...like a pizza pan and cutter with a tag that says "pizza is like friendship...it's best shared!"
Is this a UT thing?
Brooke! That is so funny about the Lehi Roller Mills regifting. Last year I gave blankets from IKEA. I thought they were fun, but who knows if anyone else did. I think this year I am just giving homemade carmels, is that lame?
My favortie thing to give is a yummy loaf of bread. It might be even better if I could make yummy bread, but I can't so I just buy it from Great Harvest. Everyone always love's it. It's nice to not get something sweet amongst the million other plates of goodies you get. Great idea about the charity!
I'm totally onto things that can/will actually be used - like Amy's bread. One year I gave little bottles of Mexican vanilla, or Costco's salsa and chips. This year I'm giving bags of macadamia nut Hershey kisses (you can only get them in Hawaii) But the BEST is the charity. One year I looked at my kitchen counter LOADED with neighbor gifts - expensive, time-consuming gifts and said, "I don't want or need any of this stuff." (half of it went straight to the garbage.) How much better to put the money into a charitable gift where it is needed. We've since sent letters to neighbors early, saying what we were doing and please not to give us a gift either. I don't do it every year, but it's easier and makes you feel better.
I think maybe one of the reasons people don't do so many neighbor gifts where I live is that people don't know their neighbors. The ward is so spread out, and people just haven't started doing it, which is nice in my opinion. Less stress and money! As we speak I am working on loaves of wheat bread which I will cellophane up and bow for my vt's--we are doing a hit and run/drop off a gift vt this month as part of the gift--no one needs vt in Dec! So that is as close as I come to a neighbor gift. We are also giving one to Tyler's boss along with a jar of fancy jam. It's a sort of a gift and no gift bc Tyler feels awkward about gifting to his boss for some reason. It's better than the giftcard for exactly 7.73 or however much to Krispie Kreme that he gave his last boss! How mortifying. I agree about too much junk food--although when I think about it, it's really rare for me to get any of that here. But I know when I get to mom's house it will be bursting at the seams.
What I meant was the bread for Tyler's boss is IN BETWEEN a gift and no gift. You know, for people who can't decide whether to gift or not.
I make carmel apples. It takes an entire day to make them but they are super good.I give them to dance teachers, school teachers, home teachers, and visiting teachers. Even if they have 10 kids I give them one apple. I am on a budget you know. People ask me every year if I would make them another apple, so either they are being nice or they are good, who knows?
Yes! We even went as far as to swap with my sister who lives in South Jordan! They give our neighbor gifts to their neighbors and visa-versa! Now, you can just call me the grinch, or even stingy...but I just flat our refuse to do tehm anymore! My lucky few may get a plate of treats, but that's it!
Post a Comment