Managing Holiday Stress and Gift Giving

All too often the holiday season is a time of stress. One of the topics of stress is the cost and amount of gifts. We can all love to give gifts, but we don’t always have the funds. We see anxiety or “stress” rise during the holiday season as we all try to manage our spending and giving.

Listed below are a few tips that could help the holiday season be a little less stressful and more enjoyable.

Secret Santa

Secret Santa is a fun holiday game where you draw a name, and one person would receive a gift from you. This allows everyone to get a gift while not having to buy many gifts and spending excessively. 

The 5 Things

Picking a present for each area allows you to keep down the cost and focus on the kind of gift, not the number of gifts making things more meaningful.

Need - pick a gift that your child needs

Wear – something that they can wear

Read – books, comic books, magazine

Do – make sure the “do” is something that they must physically get up and do. Little things like a yo-yo, sled or board game to name a few.

Want – the “want” is the one thing they put on their wish list.

White Elephant gift exchange

White Elephant Gift Exchange is a Christmas party event where gifts are randomly exchanged and swapped. It's an exciting game that's gained popularity throughout recent years and has become everyone's favorite Christmas game at the office and at home.

Homemade

Giving from the heart is a great way to make the holiday time special. From baked goodies to DIY projects, and homemade jewelry all can make great gifts. Pinterest is a great place to start looking for ideas!

Breaking it down

Come up with a budget and break down what you can spend where! Knowing your limits and what you can spend can really help you.

Remember to take a few minutes for yourself during this busy time is also important. Take a bath, read a book or listen to your favorite music. For every hour you spend planning, shopping and wrapping gifts take 15 – 30 minutes to yourself. The holiday season is for giving but there is nothing wrong with giving to yourself too!

Wrote by Kid Clinic Counselor