The numbers are a retailer’s dream, but a consumer’s nightmare. The average American will spend $1,250 this holiday season on gifts, travel, and entertainment.
These numbers might be acceptable if the gifts we were buying and the possessions we were accumulating were actually increasing the happiness in our lives. But that’s not the case.
Over half of us will receive unwanted gifts this year—a staggering $16 billion wasted on unwanted gifts! Eighteen percent of gifts are never used by the person who receives them and 4 percent are immediately thrown into the trash!
The reality is that our homes are already overcrowded with clutter. In fact, the average American home has 300,000 items inside it. The thought of adding more layers of stuff on top of it? It’s all too much.
What then can we give that won’t add to the clutter problem?
99 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas:
Experiences (where applicable)
- Bowling Tickets
- Carriage Ride
- City Tour
- Comedy Club
- Community Theater
- Concert Tickets
- Dinner Gift Card
- Charitable Donation
- Escape Room
- Facial
- Family Vacation
- Horseback Riding
- Indoor Rock Climbing
- Laser Tag
- Manicure/Pedicure
- Massage
- Mini Golf
- Movie Pass
- Orchestra
- Overnight Camp
- Round of Golf
- Shooting Range
- Ski Lift
- Spa Day
- Sporting Event
- Theater Tickets
- Trampoline Park
- Travel Voucher
- Water Park
- Zoo / Aquarium
Memberships
- AAA
- Amazon Prime
- Art Museum
- Audible
- Children’s Museum
- Community Pool
- Disney+
- Dollar Shave Club
- Farm Share
- Hello Fresh
- National Parks
- Netflix
- Science Museum
- Simplify Magazine
- State Parks
- Theme Park
- Toy Library
- YMCA
Time
- Babysitter
- Car Wash
- Date Night Out
- Family Portrait Session
- Gas Card
- House Cleaner
- Oil Change
- Parent/Child Date
- Personal Chef
- Pet Sitting
- Prepped Meals
- Professional Organizer
- Shoveling
- Sunday Brunch
- Yard Service
Classes
- Baking
- Cake Decorating
- Coding
- Cooking
- Dance
- Foreign Language
- Home Brewing
- Improv
- Karate
- Magic
- Master Class
- Music
- Painting/Art
- Photography
- Private Coach
- Scuba Diving
- Sports
- Swimming
- Tennis
- Voice
- Yoga
Consumables
- Baked Goods
- Chocolates
- Coffee Beans
- Coffee Gift Card
- Desserts
- Flowers
- Fruit Basket
- Local Foods
- Meat/Cheeses
- Olive Oil
- Snack Box
- Tacos
- Tea
- Video Game Gift Card
- Wine
Joshua,
Hello; I’ve been an avid reader of your column for over 6 years. I enjoy the articles immensely. I live in Kenya, Africa. I’ve been a minimalist for most of those years of reading your articles.2022 has been a rough year for me. I’m kindly requesting you and your readers to send me to a place in our beautiful country to just relax and unwind. Thank you for all you do to make this world a better place.
What part of Kenya do you live in?
I give cash. No one has complained yet!
When both of my parents were still living, they gave me a gift every year for my birthday of a membership with AAA. I firmly believe not only was this providing for my personal safety, nut they were a;so ensuring their own peace of mind.
As my brothers and sisters and in-laws and outlaws have gotten older, we started the gift rule of “it must be edible, drinkable, or consumable (i.e. bath products, ect.)”.
We have years of “things”.
We’ve been including charities on our wish lists for many, many years after my mother starting do it. We all are fortunate enough in having what we need, and that we also have enough to share with others, so we do. My mother was a devoted educator, and the year she passed away my husband made a donation in her name to buy desks for schools who couldn’t afford them. It was one of the best gifts I ever received.
Other than donations we exchange stocking stuffers that are usually something consumable, and maybe a small gift card to a local restaurant, coffee shop, or bookstore. It keeps us on budget and we spend time together relaxing and enjoying each other’s company instead of hours and hours shopping for stuff we don’t really need.
Great ideas! My grandchildren have more than they can possibly want already. No room for more toys! Christmas gift this year will be an outing somewhere of their choice.
Our grands are getting a handmade coupon for an outing of their choice.
Jams/jellies
Honey
And Maple Syrup
why, i might ask, is QUILTING not included in the classes?
Thanks for the comment Alicia. There are a thousand activities not included in the list. If the list sparks new ideas for you (like quilting), it has served its purpose perfectly in my opinion.
I enjoy all crafts and DYI when I am home xxxx
This is the email exchange I had with my sister just yesterday:
Sister: Can you please confirm your address with me.
Me: Please do not send me anything. I don’t need or want a single thing. In fact, earlier this year. I decided not to do gifts—send or receive–ever again. But thank you for the thought!
Sister: Why the decision?
Me: I am not sure. It came out the blue. I believe I was browsing online and maybe letting my brain wander and I suddenly realized that if I wanted something I would just buy it. (Maybe not at the moment since the new home is taking so much of my money but generally.) Maybe I had the new cats and realized they were so bananas that getting a six-foot white tree like I had planned for a long time wasn’t a good idea. Probably it was a combination of things. But I realized I didn’t want to do gifts any more, that Christmas for me would be all the things I loved—and gifts were not an integral part of that.
Sister: Well I’m really sorry to hear that, what are you gonna do for Christmas then or are you going to celebrate it at all. Fyi, not at all people feel obligated to give presents, some people just enjoy making other people smile.
Me: Oh, I am participating fully in the Christmas season. I love it. Events and decorating. Just no gifts, no stress. I am not doing a big meal but maybe pizza or something easy along with board games. We’ll see. My one-year anniversary of my home closing is just a few days before Christmas so it will be a double celebration. It is what I want as far as gifts. I am not adding things to my home as I feel comfortable with what I have now. So gifts are just something in which I don’t wish to participate—but encourage anyone else to do what they with with others.
Lauren, to the latest news, holiday travels curse and lockdown until January can be a big turn down for this year. I love it when you talk about your tree and the cats. They would be happy to have you home. I used to send gifts to my sisterin-laws and brother, and visit them. We now just get on LifeMeet, Zooming with them. It can feel strange but that is as close as you can get if you wish to gather with your family. It is safer to stay away from the outbreak while it gets better, at least, until mid Jan.