Make holidays bright without clutter
If all the TV shows, magazines and gadgets geared toward helping us organize our stuff indicate anything, it’s that a lot of us already own everything we need - and then some.
Maybe your family has adopted a “no gifts” policy at Christmas. But if you still enjoy the process of gift-giving, think about buying gifts that won’t take up space. Give donations, experiences, time.
If some of your friends and relatives have favorite causes, such as the American Red Cross, the Forsyth Humane Society or the American Cancer Society, make a donation in their honor. Sponsor a needy child in a loved one’s name. “Adopt” a meerkat or a red wolf through the North Carolina Zoological Society or a red-tailed hawk or a screech owl at the Carolina Raptor Center in Huntersville. Buy a brick for the Vivian F. Bennett Memorial Dog Park in Kernersville.
If you know people who love being pampered, buy them gift certificates for spa treatments. People will appreciate the gift of some “me” time that massages, manicures, pedicures and facials offer. Such gifts aren’t just for women, either. Men now make up about 30 percent of spa customers.
Or, if you can’t shell out that much money, give a promise of foot or shoulder rubs to your nearest and dearest.
A chance to learn something new might be just the thing for the more adventurous people on your list or for youngsters who are always eager to explore the unknown. Check into art classes - drawing, sculpting, painting, ceramics, weaving, metalwork, jewelry-making or photography. Give someone a series of lessons in ice skating, golf or tennis.
Give someone the gift of dance - sign them up for lessons in ballroom, tap, jazz, shag, square dancing or clogging.
Want to be the cool aunt or uncle? Think about scoring concert tickets for your teen relative’s favorite band. Grown-ups like music, too. Send your parents to see an oldies group or the symphony, whatever suits their tastes.
If you have a nice, fat bank account and loved ones with wanderlust, plan a trip as a gift. Send someone for a weekend getaway or on the dream vacation he or she has always meant to take. Offer transportation to and from the airport as part of the gift.
If your means are more modest, promise someone on your list a day at the zoo, a ride to the mountains to see snow or a visit to an out-of-town museum.
For those who want gifts they can use up, buy telephone time, movie tickets or gift certificates to favorite restaurants. Or spend a few days in the kitchen preparing homemade treats - spiced nuts, Russian tea mix, flavored vinegars. You don’t have
to be an ace cook to come up with something special, but if you are, heat up the stove and let your imagination run wild.
If you are low on money this holiday season, give of yourself. Promise to clean your mother-in-law’s house once a month. Offer baby-sitting tokens to your sister. Take your grandmother to visit old friends.
Here are some examples of gifts that you won’t have to make room for:
- An eight-week class in basic painting at the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art costs $180.
- Golf lessons for adults at Winston Lake Golf Course cost $35 an hour or $90 for three lessons. Children 14 and under can get a half-hour lesson for $20.
- Admission to the North Carolina Zoo runs $10 for adults, $8 for people age 62 or older and for college students with school IDs, and $6 for children age 2-12.
- Single tickets for the Saturday Kicked-Back Classics Series of the Winston-Salem Symphony cost from $15 to $35 for adults and from $10 to $32 for students and people 62 and older.
- Pedicures run from $22 to $60, before tip, depending on the salon and the type of pedicure. Massages, before the tip, start at $60 for an hourlong relaxation massage and go up to $125 for 90 minutes of massage with hot stones.
Present your tickets, promises, donations and gift certificates in gift bags with colorful tissue paper, or wrap them in small, enticing boxes. Your friends and loved ones can still have that thrill of discovery on Christmas morning, but they won’t be hauling a bunch of extra loot back to an already-stuffed house.
By Janice Gaston
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