Mid-Week Musings: Birthday Presents
My birthday is coming up! 😃 Really 😝 is more like it… I am getting old!
I am the oldest of 4 kids in my family, and each of my siblings has a significant other. My youngest brother is 10 years behind me and has recently graduated from college. We have continued to buy each other birthday gifts, but I just proposed a change…
I suggested to my family that we stop buying gifts between all of us siblings/significant others, starting with my upcoming birthday.
The reason for this suggestion is that we are all getting old now, and I think it is natural that you stop giving birthday gifts at some point. I certainly do not “need” anything for my birthday, as I already buy everything I would need (plus too many toys I don’t use enough). I also pitched it to them as “take the money you save from buying everyone else gifts, and spend it on yourself – that is like getting cash from everyone to buy whatever you want!” Of course, they could always just save the money too!
I wasn’t sure how this proposal would be received… But they all agreed!!
Of course, we will continue to get together to celebrate over a meal and dessert, but for now, the gift giving will cease!
One may argue that the thought and effort that go into a gift is what matters most, but I feel it is more of a burden to try and find a good gift… plus, you still have Christmas!
Is your family doing something similar?
Brian
Bonus: I love apple pie! My fantastic wife made this homemade apple pie for my birthday last year... perhaps I should drop a subtle hint that she should make it again this year! So good!!
Mine is coming up too! I love your proposal. I'm also a fan of what Facebook does. For your birthday, you can set up a fundraiser so your friends can contribute to a charity of your choice. I'd much rather money goes to someone or somewhere else. As long as I'm healthy, I don't need anything!
Great idea! We have done that a little at Christmas, but only once or twice. I feel the same way... I certainly don’t need anything!
Very interesting proposal. It makes perfect sense to me and I am also of the opinion that at my age I don’t need lots of gifts. I do however think I would have a hard time selling it to everyone else in the family. I think part of this would be the fact that we have already made a major cutback on Christmas. Now, I must preface what we do by saying that we are a fairly large family and at Christmas there can be as many of 12-15 people involved. Minimum of 10 adults. Several years ago we had a discussion about how Christmas was becoming a huge financial drain for everyone involved. The idea of doing a secret Santa was brought up. Basically, each person would be responsible for buying 1 gift and there would be a spending limit. We took it one step further and decided that names didn’t go on the gifts. Rather, we put some sort of clue on the package that would signal who the gift was for. Each gift is presented to the group and people guess if they think it is for them. Makes for a lot of fun! Once the gift has been opened the person must then guess who their Santa was. This change has made Christmas so much more fun than before and we get to keep our shirts.
That’s a good way to do it at Christmas... we haven’t started doing it that way yet, but I think we will get there especially as all is sibling keep having more kids. Thanks for stopping by!
hello greetings friend @brian.rrr I hope you are good, I think the proposal that you offered to your family and loved ones, is something that not many people would do, since some prefer is to be given, at least not you, You decided to tell them to spend the money on themselves and that's very good of you, that keeps showing that you're a good person with your family, as well as with other people. The cake looks delicious, besides that it is apple and personally I love the apple, surely you enjoyed it on your last birthday, and good for sure this birthday your wife will surprise you with something as exquisite as that. Thank you for this post, since you put to reason many people and think as well as you and be humble. regards
Man that pie looks so good. Yeah I've always proposed this but it never happens. I think during Christmas only the little ones should open gifts. I'm the opposite of you. My brother is 10 years older than me. I always tell him..."you buy me a gift card and I buy you a gift card. What's the point." We also have everything we need or want. lol
Exactly! I usually end up with a bunch of t-shirts though!
Agree with you, we have also four children in my family and we stopped doing birthday presents, of course we still phone each other on that days ( we live in different countries) therefore it is not always possible to come over for party but we visit each other on and off of course then it is a time for presents. I think you have done the right things. As to apple pie, I love it, you one looks very delicious, would be good to know the secrets of your wife's baking :)
Love to hear it, and happy everyone ageeed to it. It can be tough to shift set ideas like the idea of gift giving.
My sibling and I opted for a buy nothing Christmas years ago and it was awesome! We did make gifts though. My partner and love making creative and fun cards to give to friends, and it’s always great to share handcrafted items like self care products or art. It really shows you care for people, not just allocating funds to replace thoughtful intention.
Happy birthday and hope you get that yummy pie!
I think that because it is our birthday we do not necessarily have to receive something, a gift can also be to give happiness to other people as helping them that gesture I think it would be a good gift in addition to spending it with the family and our children that is the best gift @brian.rrr
It looks incredible apple pie, I think as we grow we are becoming aware and sometimes it is better to spend the birthday with a family meal and drink than to receive expensive gifts that sometimes we do not need, as you say better invest that money in other things @brian.rrr
Brian,
Novel idea! I think it is especially a fantastic idea for those who are elderly. Those who are retired and on a fixed income and have many grandchildren and children, still insist on getting all of them gifts, even though it is very difficult for them to do so.
I think another great idea is sitting down and writing a handwritten note to the person who's birthday is going to be celebrated and send them birthday wishes with a sincere heartfelt handwritten note how much you appreciate them. Wishing them health, happiness, long life, prosperity and a little bit of luck! :)
The apple pie looks very tasty by the way!
Good suggestion! Thanks for stopping by!
How about their presence as their birthday gift to you mate? How'd you like that? Anyway, advance happy birthday to you.