01.Dec.2009 Further Ado 2009 Gift Guide, Part 1
Every year, at around this time, magazines and websites set out to solve the following problem: what do you get the person that has everything?
A singing trout! Monogrammed boxers! A $75 scented candle!
You know what I say? Give them nothing. Yup. Instead of loading our friends and family up with more crap to fill our already over-clutted, stuff-oriented lives, how about making a donation in their name?
In fact, you won’t actually be getting them nothing. You’ll be giving them the satisfaction of knowing that they indirectly helped someone in desperate need. You’ll be acknowledging their depth and generosity, qualities that they might not have realised they had. They’ll probably even get a little card to note this fact. And it’s not just your friend that gets something – these are gifts that benefit countless numbers of people.
You can buy a goat for a developing community. It’s only 25 pounds, and can provide an entire community with milk. Plus, goats are just plain cool.
Provide a child with an education. Just $US25 – much cheaper than most school fees!
Buy a toilet for someone in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan or Tanzania. It costs $AUD70, and you don’t even have to call a plumber.
Pretty awesome what a little money can do to change someone else’s life, huh? It’s a little bit more meaningful than that new Dan Brown book you were thinking of buying your Dad. If you want to receive something as special as these presents then you can even create your own gift registry, and direct your friends and family there when they ask you what you want.
Many of us have got too much ’stuff’ in our lives. So instead of giving an uninspired gift, give something that matters.
(And stay tuned for Part 2 of the Further Ado Gift Guide: The Glue Gun Edition.)
Goat photo by Nancy B, genius photo manipulation by me. Colouring between the lines is overrated.
