Gifts of time or service help big families enjoy the holidays even more

Whether you give a gift of your own time, or buy a service gift from a Portland business, gifts of service can be a great way to show you care without breaking the bank.

Betsy holds a picture of her family, who also benefit from a family gift exchange and her gifts of service.

Try a gift exchange

As Pam’s family started growing, holidays were becoming more expensive and stressful. So rather than buying for 12 or more people in her extended family, they began a gift exchange. Each family member gives and receives just one extra-special gift, and encourage homemade creations or gifts of service, like house cleaning, kitchen organization or babysitting. Holidays are now less expensive and a lot more fun.

Make it personal

As a massage therapist, Betsy knows some individual pampering is a good thing. She has given the gift of massage for many years. She even makes gift cards for her family and friends, who look forward to opening her gifts year after year. She has even begun to get requests from younger members of her family rather than gifts of the latest toy or gadget!

Looking for other ways to offer a gift of service?

Resourceful PDX partner, Chinook Book, has gift ideas based on the book’s categories, including service-oriented businesses under Wellness and Home and Garden. Coupons on your phone or in the book include local spas for massage, fitness and healing centers, yoga studios and offers for house cleaning services.

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Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

For family and friends who have it all, share the bounty of the Northwest

Yvonne and Josh are a creative duo who love to make things inspired by the Northwest seasonal harvests. Instead of purchasing items for friends and family, many who live outside of Oregon, they give batches of homemade goodies that show off the bounty of the seasons – and find a place in their hearts and stomachs! 

Josh and Yvonne treat family and friends with their holiday creations.

Shop local for food and supplies

For their marionberry jam, they plan ahead in the summer when the berry bounty is plentiful and either buy berries at their neighborhood Montavilla Farmers Market, or they pick berries at Sauvie Island Farms. (Both the market and farm offer winter hours too.) 

Josh brews beer and roasts his own coffee. He uses old air pop popcorn makers from thrift stores for roasting coffee and buys other coffee supplies from local store Mr. Green Beans.

Yvonne bakes cookies and candies, like hazelnut toffee, that she gifts in holiday tins. She purchases tins for toffee and canning jars for jam from local thrift stores and takes them back from friends when they are empty to reuse them year after year. They also purchase food preservation equipment for the jam from small businesses like Mirador Community Store.

While their loved ones get bountiful, consumable gifts, Yvonne and Josh get the satisfaction of working together to make delicious, low-waste creations.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to DIY, you can still get the most of Portland offerings by shopping local at one of the many artisan events. The Resourceful PDX event calendar lists holiday happenings.

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Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

6 tips to enjoy your holidays even more

The holiday season has arrived!

With a little planning, you can have more fun during the holidays, with less waste and less stress. 

1. Start with your values

Spend a little time coming up with a few words or draw a picture that represents your values (especially what you value during the holidays). Consider involving others in the family to help. Use your values as a guide to determining your holiday activities. Some of my values include relaxed time with family and keeping family traditions going from when I was a kid (like going to cut down a tree).

A new resource to simplify the holidays from The Center for a New American Dream includes an interactive calendar to help focus on what matters most during this time of year. There are tips and ideas about planning, budgeting, giving and receiving, reducing waste, meaningful moments and entertaining.

2. Make your to-do lists

Make a list of all the events or projects you want – or feel you need – to get done this holiday season. Consider making separate lists for each holiday. Start by listing each project/event and then list all the activities you need to do for each one. Don’t forget to include what you’ll need to do for preparation, the actual event/project and clean-up. For example, the activity “Christmas Dinner” could include activities like sending out invitations, choosing recipes, buying food, preparing food, decorating, cleaning up and putting away dishes and decorations.

3. Assign your time

Once you’ve created your list, assign the amount of time you think each activity will consume. Be realistic when assigning time to each activity and add some extra time. If you’re not sure, give it your best guess – it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important part is realizing that everything takes time to complete.

4. Revisit your values

After you have your list of activities and the amount of time each one should take, revisit your key values to make sure your activities align with them. Consider filtering out activities that don’t match up with your key values, or adding activities focused on downtime, relaxation and fun.

5. Create your calendar and revisit it regularly

Schedule your list of activities on your calendar. Scheduling your activities ensures you are creating space to get them done. As we all know, things will change and you might need to add, remove or change activities. By allowing for some buffer, you’ll have space to be flexible as things change.

6. Delegate

Consider which activities you can delegate. Have a teenager in your life (son, daughter, niece, nephew or neighbor) that loves to wrap? Let him or her take on some of the present wrapping. It gives others a chance to contribute and feel involved with the festivities and play to their strengths. It also allows us to share some gratitude with those that make these holidays worth enjoying.

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Casey Hazlett of Sustainably Organized shares her tips on how to get ready for the holiday season.

Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday