We’re nearing the end of Christmas preparations at home. Our tree’s up. Most of the gifts are bought, and our parties are planned.
We always go through the same struggle each year. How do we buy special gifts for the kids without reinforcing Christmas materialism? We try not to go overboard, choosing the perfect gifts that are needed. But it’s hard!
Getting your product right as a Church is tough too! The parallels of gift giving and what you’re offering are interesting:
- Think of the Receiver. Remember when you used to buy “anonymous” gifts for “someone” in your class? Then you’d draw names and select. It makes it hard when you don’t know the receiver. It’s always better when you know who they are, what they want and what they need. The more you know the better you can be.
- The gift wrap is important. I have to confess, I question gift wrapping. It seems like such a waste of money/energy to buy pretty paper, cut it out, fold up your gift; re-cut a larger piece and tape it all up. However, when Christmas comes and the tree has the gifts under it; the picture is perfect. It helps with the overall professional picture. Sigh, it is worth the money. It completes the Christmas feel! Consider how your product should be wrapped. Make sure it’s professional and looks great!
- What’s inside is critical. The contents are what we get/give presents for, right? No matter how good something looks on the outside, it doesn’t make up for what’s inside. Remember that horrible sweater you got in the pretty box? It all makes sense until I ponder why people spend a bunch of money to design a website (or buy a template) — and end up with the wrong “stuff” in their site. Doesn’t make sense.
Well, there’s a few more presents I need to wrap. OK, maybe I went overboard after all. But probably not with the gift wrap. Maybe I’ll spray paint the gifts instead. At least I’m excited for my family to open the boxes!
