Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to give gifts that last. Many thoughtful
Speaker 1: gifts can be enjoyed long after Christmas has passed. Done right,
Speaker 1: you can give gifts that create a little less waste
Speaker 1: and promise a little more enjoyment that people can look
Speaker 1: forward to for a while to come. I have five kids,
Speaker 1: so let's be honest. Christmas at my house features a
Speaker 1: lot of plastic and packaging. It is inevitable. Many toys
Speaker 1: are a lot of fun. I embrace it, but especially
Speaker 1: the kids have gotten older, I have encouraged them to
Speaker 1: think more broadly about gifts. Maybe the folks in your
Speaker 1: life would like a little less waste and clutter too.
Speaker 1: If so, here are some categories you might like to explore.
Speaker 1: One option experiences. One of my kids has often asked
Speaker 1: for theater tickets for Christmas or his birthday. As a result,
Speaker 1: we've seen The Lion King, Wicked and Harry Potter and
Speaker 1: the Cursed Child on Broadway. Those were all memorable ways
Speaker 1: to spend time, and he got to look forward to
Speaker 1: them from the time he found out he was going
Speaker 1: to the time when the curtain rose. A trip to
Speaker 1: an amusement park or a concert or something else like
Speaker 1: that might also be a great gift. You get the
Speaker 1: experience and the time with each other. I often suggest
Speaker 1: that young families ask grandparents for memberships to local attractions.
Speaker 1: Get an annual aquarium pass from one set of grandparents
Speaker 1: and a children's museum membership from the other, and you
Speaker 1: will have somewhere to go every rainy weekend for the
Speaker 1: next year. That can buy a lot more fun than
Speaker 1: almost any toy, and unlike a great many toys, those
Speaker 1: places will be a different experience every time. Speaking of time,
Speaker 1: that is another great option too. Do you have someone
Speaker 1: in your life who doesn't have a whole lot of
Speaker 1: time for themselves, Offering to take over for a little
Speaker 1: while could be a more lasting gift than a sweater.
Speaker 1: I have sometimes given my husband the gift of letting
Speaker 1: him take a weekend away to go skiing, an activity
Speaker 1: he loves to do. I don't need to book the trip,
Speaker 1: I just need to give him permission to skip out
Speaker 1: on family responsibilities, fly to a mountain and spend two
Speaker 1: days skiing without worrying whether a kid is cold and
Speaker 1: needs another hot chocolate. In a recent episode, I suggested
Speaker 1: giving people subscriptions to newspapers or magazines as a way
Speaker 1: to give a gift that keeps going. Someone can enjoy
Speaker 1: a new issue of The Economist or Architectural Digest or
Speaker 1: People magazine or whatever the person would like just as
Speaker 1: much in July as the week after Christmas. And to
Speaker 1: be totally honest, money lasts two. There are ways to
Speaker 1: dress it up, but everyone loves a Christmas bonus for
Speaker 1: the precise reason that it can be used on whatever
Speaker 1: the person wants when they want. It can be spent
Speaker 1: on something that will perk their spirits up in the future,
Speaker 1: or saved to help build wealth over time. So as
Speaker 1: you are planning your Christmas list, think about presents that
Speaker 1: won't just be enjoyed right at Christmas. It is fun
Speaker 1: to stretch out the fun. It's one way to feel
Speaker 1: festive all year long. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the moose of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p O D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com that
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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