Gifts that Mean Something and Make a Difference

When I was a kid, my sister and I always looked forward to the day that the Eatons and Sears Christmas wishbook catalogues arrived in the mail. There was nothing better than flipping through the catalogues and oggling over all of the cool toys!

We would mull over which ones we wanted and somehow, miraculously, at Christmas, we would find many of those gifts under the tree. Not all... of course... but many.

I was particularly fond of Legos and even now, as I flip through the digitally preserved images of the 1973 Sears Wishbook... I can almost smell the paper. Ahhh... those were the days.

Today, paper catalogues are generally a thing of the past, unless you are a Lee Valley subscriber. Everything has moved online and Amazon has muscled out Sears and Eatons. Christmas Wishbooks are a thing of the past... 

But every year, I still get asked by family... "what do you want for Christmas". I struggle to answer that. Because the truth is... I don't want for anything. I don't need anything. We are very blessed and we don't "need" anything. Not when you consider 90% of the rest of humanity.

And every year, I say "I definitely DO NOT want any chocolate!!" And every year... guess what... there is chocolate under the tree! Or in the Advent calendar. 

But... seriously. I don't want anything!!! No... not even a Starbucks gift card. Or chocolate.

No... wait... let me pull that back!!!

I DO want something. If someone really, really wants to give me a gift then let me direct you to some online Wishbooks and you can pick out something there that fits your budget. Let it be a surprise. Then send me a note or an e-card with a picture of it... 

Red Cross Canada Survival Gifts

Warm blankets, hot meals, infant supplies, food, water... they've got it all. Pick what you want, or pick an amount and let the Red Cross choose what is needed most. And... BMO (Bank of Montreal) will match whatever amount you donate... That's like BOGO (Buy One Get One for FREEEEE).

Chalice Canada

I used to sponsor an elder in Peru through this organization until he passed away. They have a wonderful gift catalogue of livestock, farming material, education, household, food, etc. Take your pick they'll even send an e-card to the person saying you are gifting a "goat" in their name. I think I still get the Chalice gift catalogue... maybe I'll leave that lying around the house with red stars next to my faves...

World Vision

Similar to Chalice, you can give all sorts of things and... some of them can be multiplied by matching contributions from the Government of Canada and other entities... up to 8 times!

Unicef

Same as Chalice and World Vision - a robust catalogue of different urgently needed survival gifts. Less emphasis on livestock and farming, and more emphasis on emergency supplies. 

SPCA - BC

If local is more your thing, then there are lots of options in the SPCA gift catalogue. And you can send an e-card to the recipient of your choice letting them know that you have gifted something in their name.

CanadaHelps

This is like the clearing house for charitable organizations in Canada. You can donate directly to the charity of your choice via CanadaHelps (and get a tax receipt). They also have an amalgamated gift catalogue that you can search by category or province or city or by amount you'd like to contribute.

Christmas Spending in Canada

Sooo... I was curious... how much does the average Canadian household spend on Christmas each year? Well... there's a statistic for that!

2022 Christmas Spending in Canada (From Statista)

Gifts - $1308
Decorations - $616
Food - $451

Total $2375

Say, 4 persons/household = $600/person... mmm... that's a fair bit? Isn't it?

It's interesting that there isn't a category for Christmas donations in that spending analysis. Or travel. Or entertainment...

Oh, and the average Canadian spends $33 on gifts or treats for their... pet. Seriously.

Christmas Spending in Other Countries

Oh, and this was an interesting site as well... how much the world spends on Christmas... Well. We are beating the USA and Germany and France... but I'm not sure that is a good thing. [PS - you can scratch Lebanon off the list - given its economic turmoil, the data used was not accurate.]

If you hover on the map on the website link (see image caption below), you can see how much the average annual household income is... Canadians spend 6% on Christmas... the USA... 2%. 

Average Christmas spending per country
(From World Remit site)

Yeah, we have a love affair with Christmas. But this year... I'm going to choose a different path. Beware adult family folks... some unconventional Christmas gifts are coming your way...