Following on the success of last year’s “Thingless Christmas” my family will once again be forgoing giving each other things. We got the idea for thingless gift-giving from Connie Cox and Chris Evatt’s book, 30 Days to a Simpler Life. It is the thoughts and sentiments behind the gifts that we cherish the most. Meanwhile, the gift objects themselves are often unwanted and end up doing nothing more than taking up space, cluttering up our houses and our lives. So the idea of “thingless giving” is to give meaningful gifts that don’t come with the obligations bound up in objects.
Examples of thingless gifts include gifts of time (see for example the time gift certificates from the Center for a New American Dream), gifts of events (such as theatre tickets or gift certificates for restaurants), gift memberships, and consumables. The category of consumables encompasses everything that can be used up including comestibles (such as wine, chocolate, fancy olive oil), toiletries (such as soaps, bubble bath, essential oils), candles, fancy printer paper, cleaning products (luxury laundry detergent for example) etc.
Green Living Ottawa 
Good post / article. I even suggested it at a workplace where “gift exchanges” are still encouraged – but not appreciated by all.
Humbug.
Wonderful post! I think I’ll direct the family to it. We are always trying to make this season more sensible. We love sharing time together and treating one another, so I think the focus on consumables might save us.
An additional suggestion would be donations on behalf of family members to charities. Those neat schemes like an acre of rainforest, a goat for the family, and other in kind types of support can be fun and informative.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
This link will take you to a terrific little video that explains beautifully why we should buy less stuff!!
Enjoy!