... is linked to this WSJ story, "Glum Tidings: Santa Gets Sacked as Cities, Companies Look to Save" (Nov 10, 08) and this Business Week Story, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Recession" (Nov 6, 08).
Yup -- we're talking holidays. The questions for the month:
Are there any external factors affecting your holiday spending?
My answers and more after the jump.
In terms of holiday and seasonal gifts ... no, we're not changing a thing. I keep a spreadsheet of what we give everyone and how much we spend, and each fall, we sit down, review the prior year's entries, and adjust dollar amounts/recipients accordingly. And because we've always celebrated modestly, there was no need to scale back.
However, in terms of holiday entertaining and festivities ... I have been nervously eying the recipe books for about a month. Even before Reuters reported that food costs are estimated to surge 7-9% over the next year, I've been noticing cost creep at the grocery store, so I've become a lot more aggressive about stocking up on freezable/nonperishable baking and cooking staples whenever it's on sale. If I weren't assessing how many peppermint bark, fudge or cookie batches I needed to make, I could put myself in the running for baking the world's largest batch of Hello Dollies.
Which leads me to my pick-a-fight Wednesday question ... for years, people have been passing on the advice that homemade/home-baked food gifts are a lovely and economical alternative to buying something at the store. But have they checked out the price of chocolate chips lately? Do you think the home-made treats advice is on the money, or a relic of a simpler era? What would/do you do to keep costs down on this sort of thing?
And for extra arguing points: do you like receiving other people's homemade goodies for the holidays? Or would you rather they just warmly wished you a merry Christmas?
So I haven't been home for Christmas in years, which also means I don't have to worry about gifts (my family hasn't done mailed Xmas gifts for a long time). This has always been just fine.
However, this year, there's a baby. My nephew, the first new baby in decades. Very exciting of course, but also means I must go home for the holidays. I'm not upset about that but between the airfare ($780) and the impending gift extravaganza I'm kind of scared. I am planning very simple gifts for most family members and then, of course, gift madness for the baby. OY.
Posted by: Mary-Lynn | 2008.11.12 at 14:27
My husband and I are usually pretty restrained for Christmas, but we're cutting back even more this year. Not really for financial reasons -- we've just had a very difficult year, and all we want is time to relax with our family and friends.
As for the homemade treats, I generally find that time, not money, is the biggest obstacle. It's much quicker to swing by a bakery or wine store than to bake bread and pie and cookies for people. But I am always happy to receive homemade gifts, even this year, when I am totally down on gifts.
Posted by: Becky | 2008.11.12 at 16:26
I'm with Becky. Time is the cost of homemade gifts. Also, packaging them can get extremely expensive if you want to use tins or some kind of cute box.
We're not traveling this year, even with a new baby to visit. (We'll be visiting when we move in April.) It's partly money and mostly time and stress keeping us home.
Posted by: Jecca | 2008.11.12 at 17:47
I agree with the original post and comments that handmade gifts are not always a huge savings -- they can cost as much (or more) as a purchased gift and/or take a great deal of time. As a grad student, though, I have (slightly) more time than money, or at least can make time more easily than money. If that makes sense.
I've done at least one handmade gift for years -- usually something knitted. Last year, I gave each of my family members a nicely framed, signed print of a photo I took, which went over really well and only cost a few bucks for the photo printing plus around $10-15 each for the frames. This worked out great because it was much less time-consuming than knitting; I just had to crop and adjust exposure on the photos, then order prints online and find the frames. That was kind of necessary because I also designed cross-stitch panels for a Christmas stocking for everyone (only actually completed the stitching on four so far), which my mom is sewing onto handmade stockings with her mad quilting skills.
This year, I'm thrilled that my sister, wanting to establish Christmas something other than a huge greed-fest for my nephew (15 months at Christmas this year), had the idea to do a secret Santa-type gift exchange among the adults in our family and put a limit on one gift for each child from each giver. So, I'm only on the hook for my nephew and my sister-in-common-law, and my boyfriend is buying for my brother-in-law. Together with my brother-in-law's family, we're putting part of the money saved toward sponsoring a needy family's Christmas through the Denver Rescue Mission. I am really excited about the new direction!
Posted by: Auntie Maim | 2008.11.12 at 20:55
Oh, and on the last question RE: receiving homemade goodies: I love handmade gifts and food, but always feel really badly when I receive goodies that I can't eat due to my food allergies. I have to either ask whether something has nuts to avoid a potentially very uncomfortable reaction, or quietly pass the treats on to someone else in the house without getting to eat them (my boyfriend is usually glad to oblige). Either one can be super awkward: people feel terrible if they've given me something I can't eat, even though they obviously weren't to know and shouldn't feel bad about it, or it can get weird if I have to admit I didn't eat the treats myself.
Point being: it's a good idea to give food gifts only to people you know well enough to be able to avoid restricted foods (allergies, gluten, diabetic diet, healthy diet, etc.), or simply ask them about it. Something like, "Hey, I'm planning to do some baking coming up and would like to bring some for you -- can you tell me if you're allergic to anything or if there are things you can't eat?" may ruin the surprise and set off a whole big Oh-you-don't-have-to / But-I-want-to exchange, but will make the gift go over much smoother.
Posted by: Auntie Maim | 2008.11.12 at 21:08
Late December brings my sister's wedding anniversary, Christmas, BIL's birthday, my birthday, and New Year's. Thank heavens we don't exchange gifts. My mom buys us something and that's it. I will get sis and BIL a farewell gift since they've let me live with them.
When my BF and her chef husband would give me their homemade treats basket it was awesome, but with a new baby they have no time. It saved them money because they did turn out high quality stuff that they made throughout the year, they enjoyed the cooking, and it was more within their values than shopping. Mailing packages got expensive.
Worst homemade gift? Apple pie. It was given in the spirit of "oh, aren't we quirky!" as opposed to generous gifting. I mentioned 1) I didn't need a Christmas gift, 2) I'm single and I can't eat a whole pie, 3) I don't even like pie, and 4) I was going out of town in a couple of days. Still, they gave me a pie.
Posted by: Kerry | 2008.11.13 at 05:20
The value, cost, and significance of homemade gifts is a frequent topic of discussion on the knitting boards I read. The general thinking is that you have to give a homemade gift just as you would a storebought one: with consideration for what the giftee wants and needs. Otherwise the gift is just about YOU.
Sometimes that's OK. I am thrilled to receive art of any kind from children, herbs from your garden, small baked goods. If someone has a real talent for making a particular item with wide appeal -- say, salad dressing -- that that could also go over well.
However, if you are just batching up something for the sake of giving out a "homemade" gift, please don't bother. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I really hate those dang "gifts in a jar" where hotcocoa mix, milk powder and marshmallows, or Jiffy cornbread mix, or whatever is layered into a mason jar. That doesn't say "Christmasariffic! How innovative and delightful!" to me; that says "Someone needed to check the box on thirty acquaintances so she went to Costco and bought ten pounds of Swiss Miss." /grinchness
Posted by: kip | 2008.11.13 at 10:07
I haaaate receiving food. I'm an extremely picky eater, and I live alone, so any food that's given to me is then passed off to my office. I'd much prefer a holiday "I'm thinking about you" card, than nearly anything else.
Posted by: megankay | 2008.11.13 at 10:07
We're switching from buying gifts for everyone to just buying for the kids and only getting stocking-stuffers for the adults (books, CDs, travel-sized toothpaste). That wasn't so much a financial decision as it was an attempt to avoid the "I don't have any idea what to get for [insert sibling or in-law of choice here] so how about... um... a tea cozy?"
We were stressing out more over trying to figure out what someone would like than was worth it. Particularly as more in-laws enter the picture. I mean, I know my youngest brother's fiancee enough to recognize her in a line-up but not well enough to know what she'd like for Christmas.
Posted by: Stephanie | 2008.11.13 at 10:19
However, if you are just batching up something for the sake of giving out a "homemade" gift, please don't bother. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I really hate those dang "gifts in a jar" where hotcocoa mix, milk powder and marshmallows, or Jiffy cornbread mix, or whatever is layered into a mason jar. That doesn't say "Christmasariffic! How innovative and delightful!" to me; that says "Someone needed to check the box on thirty acquaintances so she went to Costco and bought ten pounds of Swiss Miss."
Why Kip, it's like you're reading my mind.
Posted by: Lisa S. | 2008.11.13 at 14:03
The thing that's getting a little wearing for me is that on top of Christmas, I have four family/friend birthdays in the latter half of December. I certainly don't want to screw anyone just because their birthday is at the wrong time of year, but it can be a bit much.
I've never done much with baking or crafty gifts, but I've recently begun making my own hand cream and lotion, so I'm kind of wondering if maybe I'll give those out as gifts someday. They're good moisturizers, it's just that sometimes the texture is a bit tricky--I don't care for myself, but I wouldn't want to give someone a jar of grainy hand cream.
Posted by: Polly | 2008.11.13 at 21:29
I like most homemade food gifts. As someone who doesn't cook, I usually don't give them as gifts. Christmas this year will be similar to last year.
The big sticker shock this year is Thanksgiving. My sister and her three children are coming for dinner. My sister and two of her three children have Celiac so I have to buy/order a turkey from Whole Foods! I wasn't aware that most turkeys have injected juices in them which contain gluten. Additionally, I have to find pie crusts that are gluten free so my husband can make pies we can all eat. I cannot imagine what life will be like for people with Celiac (or other food related issues) if food prices go up further!
Posted by: molly | 2008.11.14 at 10:12