The donkey gift card deserves to be Christmas Gift of the Year 2010!

Have you not always wondered what it would be like to give someone a donkey for Christmas? Well, now you can! With new ways of giving to charities it is now possible to buy vouchers for different things that people in underdeveloped countries are in desperate need of. If you do not know what to give someone for Christmas who has it all: why not give something to someone who lacks most things instead?


Nowadays, many people feel that Christmas has become quite materialistic. The pressure is on a couple of weeks before Christmas, to out-buy each other with expensive and exclusive gifts that we do not really need. This can feel like a long way from old Christmas traditions with Christian values as the core of celebrations. For example, does it really matter to us how many fancy salad bowls we have in our cupboards? I suggest that we should all leave some of this hysteria revolving Christmas gifts behind us 2010. Instead we should spend our money on things that really matter, e.g. a donkey for an African family or giving 50 children a tetanus vaccination. These are two examples of things you can buy vouchers for these days.

To show your kids that there are other people in the world who are in greater need than you is a good way of avoiding spoiling them too much. To explain to them that instead of spending money on a new toy car for them, you have actually paid for other children halfway around the world to have a better quality of life could really teach them an important lesson for the future.

One could argue that it would be mean or inconsiderate to choose to cut down on your Christmas gifts to those around you. I understand this argument when it comes to young children who might be very upset if you choose to replace all gifts with gift cards for donkeys and such. However, when it comes to adults I am certain that your near and dear will share your contentment of doing something important and generous when they realize where their Christmas money has gone to.

To take Christmas gifts back to basics and in 2010 actually give them where they are needed, would be a good way of reassessing the value of material things. It sometimes feels like we are more about getting as much stuff as possible, not about appreciating each other as human beings. To take a step back from this would be a great way of reconnecting with true Christmas spirit.


Merry Christmas and Happy Easter ;)
 
Jenny