Thursday, December 11, 2008

Clutter-Free Gifts

I definitely decluttered this week - both before and after our 16 year old's suprise party last Saturday. And I cleaned out at least one item of clothing each day from someone's closet since I know they're getting clothes for Christmas. But that's not where I'm going with this post today.

Marcia, the Organising Queen, had a post last week titled "Clutter-Free Gifts - Just in Time." That's what I want to focus on today.

We all know someone who is so hard to buy for because he/she has everything. We also know those teens, tweens, and kids who have so much stuff, not that they don't want more stuff, but they already have so much stuff! Besides, who wants to give someone a gift knowing that it is going to sit in their home/closet/room/whatever collecting dust and serving no purpose? That parafin wax home treatment station seems like a great gift right now, but, really, how many times will it get used before it goes in a box and sits in a corner for ever and ever? Twice in our case. And how many calendars and fuzzy socks can one person actually use?
I've been racking my brain trying to think of clutter-free gifts. Here's what I've come up with so far. For my son and husband, Rockets basketball tickets. For my daughters, movie theater gift cards. For my mom, tickets to a local dinner theater performance. Other ideas include restaurant gift cards, massage gift certificates, hair salon gift cards, and manicures. How about the gift of house cleaning for an older relative? Then, of course, there are consumable items such as homemade bread or cookies. The hard part is to match the recipient with a clutter-free gift he/she will truly cherish.

Yes, we'll have clutter at our home this Christmas, that is definite, but I'm trying to reign it in and have some control over it. Baby steps, as I always say. And I'd like to know what ideas you have! Please leave a comment!


7 comments:

  1. I love your clutter-free gift ideas!

    My mom is getting my daughter theatre tickets to see Legally Blonde. My son will get gift cards to several places.

    But, yes, we will still have clutter!

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  2. I'd love to leave more ideas for you, but you're already using my list! LOL I left something for youover at my place! *GRIN*

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  3. We are using the gift card idea with Runescape, an online game.
    Otherwise I can't think of anything else.

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  4. These are great ideas and I'm totally with you on the clutter thing. We have so much "stuff". It drives me crazy. When the kids are grown, my dream is to sell our house and most of our furniture, and move to a loft downtown and live with no "stuff" except things we absolutely love that we buy slowly. Sigh. It's only a dream.

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  5. You are right on as usual, clutter free gifts are where its at.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i am so surrounded by clutter right now!
    I have NO room for my gifts as I buy them Diane!
    I have an award for you!! oh, and a tag!
    NO pressure! Don't want you to feel cluttered by awards! hahaha

    ReplyDelete
  7. What do you give gift certificates in that does not add clutter? I use this when I can because I can't wrap. I'd like to make them more fun to open.

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