My wife has been after me to give her gift ideas for things that I want/need for Christmas this year. I’ve been thinking about it and while there are a few things I could use, I don’t really need them; I can make do without. I feel like I’m trying too hard to think of things for my wife to spend our money on, just for the purpose of spending money on myself. Doesn’t feel right. We usually spend about $300 on each other.
What I think I’d be happiest with is for her to take the money she’d spend on me and use it to provide a Christmas for a family that can’t afford it. Is there a charity or organization that specifically arranges this kind of thing?*
*Hoping this doesn’t come off sounding snooty or overly moralistic.
The answer to your question may depend on where you live,
and how involved you wish to be with giving the presents to the family.
The Salvation Army often has Christmas trees in Malls which have information about people who need/want stuff.
Many churches I’ve attended have had various forms of Christmas Angels.
Toys for Tots lets you simply go shopping for toys, and stick them in barrels to be distributed to poor children.
And I’ve seen other local charities do a varity of things with the goal of connecting people with money to spare with those who will not have a great Christmas.
Contact your local battered women’s shelter. There are often children there who have seen the worst in their own families, and need to see the best that other people can give to them.
If you want to do the type of thing where you buy something for each member of a family, I’ve seen those run both by churches and by the village government* where I live, so those might be places to check out also.
Otherwise, I try to do either Toys for Tots or the Salvation Army Angel Tree (or both) every year.
*I haven’t got the newsletter yet this year, so I don’t remember if they actually ran it, or just provided the space to advertise it and the drop off location.