CHRISTMAS GIVING
New forms of giving are now available to us.
'Ethical' giving can mean anything from 'responsible shopping' to choosing 'alternative gifts'. To demonstrate your care for people in other parts of the world, you can buy Fair Trade products or products which don't have an unacceptably high human or environmental 'price tag'. Charity shops are great for people concerned about the environment - waste, pollution or air-miles. But plan your shopping early - it might take more time to hunt gifts down in charity shops.
'Alternative' giving can be very diverse. An alternative gift may be a "promise voucher" - a gift of personal time, labour or a skill. "Promise vouchers" are great gifts whether you have lots or little cash to spare, because there are bound to be people on your gift list who are desperately busy, stressed or lonely. Your time would mean more than your money - so would the thoughtfulness behind the gift.
Alternative giving through charities can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you wish. We won't say 'cheap', because the word doesn't do credit to the worthwhile nature of even a small gift of this kind. Alternative gifts are perfect for recipients who get a kick from knowing that their own Christmas present is benefitting someone in greater need. Charities sometimes provide a greetings card explaining how the gift works, but it's also easy to put together your own card or symbolic little gift (such as a tiny toy goat to represent your gift of a real goat!)
These kind of gifts are 'clutter-free', they don't need wrapping or posting, and they make everyone happy long after Christmas has finished!
DO THE KIDS PESTER YOU ABOUT PRESENTS?
Pester Power: Families Surviving the Consumer Society - parents' booklet
How families can survive today's consumer society...
Last year Care for the Family asked parents to submit their top tips for other mums and dads on a series of key consumer issues, like mobile phones, pocket money, the internet, fashion, and body image. They selected the most popular tips and put them in this new, free booklet - just click the image for your free download.
DOES IT HAVE TO BE NEW?
You can save a lot of resources - and help suffering people - by doing some of your Christmas shopping at charity shops.- Stockings
This can be a great way to fill a child's stocking without breaking the bank. (The other way is to stick to a small stocking - firmly resisting requests for pillowcases! Teaching your children to be greedy isn't necessarily the kind of gift you'd deliberately wish on them). - Other Gifts
Some people make gift tags to attach to carefully chosen gifts from charity shops - they say something like:By accepting this gift you are supporting charity this Christmas
HOMEMADE?
Should you give homemade gifts or cards? The home made option certainly shows you've taken care over the recipient. But ONLY do it if you can do so cheerfully and without giving yourself a nervous breakdown! It can be hard to fit anything else into a busy schedule, let alone something potentially messy and disruptive, so don't try it unless you're really keen! You are? Let's go . . .Gift-making tips:
- Plan what to make, and for whom, and by when (eg. for posting overseas).
- Consider whether you can satisfactorily package (or post) it.
- Only make things you've made successfully before, unless you've left yourself lots of spare time!
- Price the materials (including glue, other basics, wrapping, packaging and postage) to stay within budget - this isn't necessarily a cheap option! This step also saves disappointment and frustration, alerting you if supplies are not available.
- Make a 'timetable' which takes into account all your other Christmas tasks and activities as well as the 'making' time. Allow lots of spare time - Christmas is even busier than daily life - remember?
- If you can't realistically fit everything in, don't despair. Either:
- substitute a gift you can make more quickly OR
- substitute a shop-bought present this year and make a note for next year of what to make - and when to begin!
ALTERNATIVE GIVING CHARITIES
WORLD VISION ALTERNATIVE GIFT CATALOGUE
Give a goat, or a fruit tree for a flock of sheep to a third world community. You can even give a school if your pockets are deep or you have great fund-raising skills! Gifts from £5 to . . . anything!
- Buy Fairtrade food, books, toys, music or other gifts from the catalogue (online or by post)
- Buy an Alternative Gift from the 'Gifts for Life' section.
For example, a single Beehive with full beekeeping kit is designed to help many African beekeeper start viable honey producing businesses. The kit equips an African to earn enough to keep his family and to pay back the loan of the kit, which releases the kit for use by another person. This is a perpetual gift!
SEND A COW
Send a cow - and all sorts of other livestock - to Africa. Or provide water . . . or training . . .And if you don't know what a Cane Rat is, be sure to take a look at this option!
SPONSOR A CHILD
You can bring hope to a child through the GFA Bridge of Hope sponsorship program.RESPONSIBLE SHOPPING
- the things we buy!
Does where we bank, what we buy, and how we invest make a statement and a difference to our relationship with God and the poor? Tearfund believes so.
Tearfund's Youth website says:
"Don't Shop Quietly!"
Tearfund's Youth website says it's time to Lift the Label on our finances - but ethical consumers of all ages will appreciate this info . . .
Try out the 'Clothes Calculator' while you're there! There are downloadable resources too, like the 'Budget Buddy' - a free downloadable budgeting spreadsheet which takes the hard work out of your money watching.
TEARFUND practises what it preaches, and has set up TEARCRAFT - sustainably sourced and ethically produced gifts and LIVING GIFTS - alternative gifts with a new twist (see below).
Tearcraft
This goes way beyond a normal gift catalogue! As well as jewellery, general gifts, gifts for the animal-lovers, sustainably sourced gifts (using resources that can be replenished or made from other people's left-overs) . . . and many more, there are also alternative gifts - just click the link to 'gifts for life', for gifts carefully designed to bring transformation and fresh hope to people living in poverty.
Living Gifts
With Living Gifts, Tearfund have refreshed the alternative gifts idea and added a new twist: the gift of choice.Living Gifts is a voucher scheme that lets you choose the card your friend or relative receives and the amount you want to spend, but it leaves the decision up to them. The person who receives your gift gets to choose how and where your money is used, whether it's for school meals in Burkina Faso or tomato seeds in Bolivia.
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We are an evangelical church in Matlock, providing activities for children & adults, families & singles, young people, senior and retired people. As a Christian church in Matlock we offer fun kids' clubs, youth groups, adult groups and support, community activities, seasonal events, fellowship, worship, prayer & Bible teaching.
