Gift-Giving Ideas Plus Thoughts on Holiday Tipping

Here's a piece on the gentle art of gift-giving that really covers two topics in one article The first lists some great ways to give meaningful gifts without breaking the bank. The second is a list of how much you should tip each of the service people in your life. We'll start with their list of meaningful yet affordable gift ideas:

• Give something you made.
• Give the gift of compassion. 
• Give what you do best.
• Give it in writing.

My thoughts on these:

1. I can't make anything that anyone would want, but I do "create" a personalized calendar from Costco each year and my family simply loves them.

2. I receive several gifts each year where "a donation has been made in your name to (fill in the blank) organization." I look at these gifts two ways: 1) If the donation is to an organization I support and the giver has given to it knowing that I have a heart for this charity, I'm touched and love the gift. 2) If the giver simply gives to a charity he supports and I may or may not support it, I think it's just a cheap way of saying "I'm not giving you a gift but giving myself one that benefits me in two ways -- I get you off my gift list and I get a tax deduction." Tacky in my book.

3. I LOVE this idea. We'll be giving my wife's homemade bread to several people this year. It's simply delicious and will make a perfect gift for so many.

4. Years ago I wrote letters to my parents as part of their Christmas gifts. I thanked them for everything they had done for me and told them how much I loved them. I remember my mom telling me how my dad cried when he read his. Yes, these gifts can make a big impact and help you "say" things that might be hard for you to communicate otherwise.

In the next section of the article, the author lists suggestions for holiday tipping. But she starts with this guideline for determining who gets a tip:

If you’re not sure, ask yourself: Can I afford to be without this person? And I do not mean afford as in a monetary sense. By “afford to be without” I mean, do you want to face the future without this person’s services? If you absolutely cannot bear the thought, then a tip is likely in order as an expression of the gratitude for the service provided throughout the year and the fact that you do depend on him or her.

The author then evaluates whether or not to give a tip based on these criteria. For instance, here are a couple of service people she's considered tipping and the rationale she uses for deciding whether or not to tip them:

The yard guy. Yes, I have a landscape maintenance company that services our property. Being out of debt does have its luxuries. They do fine, but believe me if they go out of business I have my pick of about fifty others that will do the same thing. No tip.

My housekeeper. This is a luxury that has become a total necessity in my life. I find that my sanity is worth paying Raquel to clean my house twice a month. She is an angel. A gift from on-high. Raquel is punctual, immaculate, trustworthy, and reliable. She has a key to my house. I would trust her with my grandchild (I don’t have one, but if I did ...). If she were to leave me I would be devastated. I could not replace her in a million years. I give her raises when she least expects it. It is the best money I spend in any given month. I pray for her health, that she will live long and prosper. I want to be her favorite client so if a doctor somewhere ever says she can clean only one house—I want it to be mine! A huge tip. Gladly.

Interesting, huh? We do roughly the same thing on the high end (good babysitters always get a nice tip) but we're a bit more generous on the low end. If someone does a decent job, we usually give them something even if there's a suitable replacement for their services.

Finally, the piece lists what it calls "commonly-accepted guidelines" for tipping. Their list:

Postal carrier. The U.S. Postal Service forbids carriers from accepting cash, however they may accept a nominal item with a value under $20, like cookies or chocolate, for example. If you are very pleased with your service, a letter of appreciation to the supervisor would be in order.

Baby sitter. For a regular sitter on whom you depend and who consistently gives excellent care, a tip equal to two nights pay and a small gift from the children.

Trash collector. If you actually know the person who collects your trash (many neighborhoods like mine have gone to robotic trucks with an equally robotic-like driver who never leaves the cab) I am told that a tip of $15 to $20 is customary.

Newspaper delivery. If you have daily delivery and you know who your delivery person is, $15 to $25. Weekend only? $5 to $15.

Housekeeper. If you are happy with the service, the equivalent of up to one visit.

Hairdresser. If you are happy with the service—even if your hairdresser is the owner of the salon—15 to 20 percent of the total bill on a typical visit (in addition to the tip you would normally leave for your last visit before the holidays) and a small gift. If you aren’t happy, find a new hairdresser.

Door personnel. If you live in a building with a doorman a $25 to $100 tip is typical, more or less depending on how much this person assists you during the year.

Superintendent. If your building has a “super” on whom you depend, a tip is highly recommended—particularly if you are fond of heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Here's what we do with each of these:

• Postal carrier -- $20 gift card to a local retailer

• Baby sitter -- Our "star" sitter gets $50 in cash. The others get nothing (they sit for us maybe once a year.)

• Trash collector -- We go with the author on this one -- no tip.

• Newspaper delivery -- We're still debating this one. We only get the paper on the weekend and our deliver boy is "acceptable" at best (he often delivers the paper an hour or two late (which means we miss reading it before going to church), so we're going back and forth on whether or not he should get anything.

• Hairdresser -- My wife's hairdresser is a friend of ours so we give her a $25 gift card as well as a present for her son.

• Housekeeper, door personnel, superintendent -- Don't have any of these, but if I did I'd probably tip them well -- in the "babysitter" category, though with tips more in-line with their incomes.

Comments

[Karen]

I just have to assume that the author has never experienced a Welfare Christmas. Or tried to live on less than $10K a year!

[Chief Family Officer]

I just wanted to say I loved the calendar idea. My parents only wanted a charitable contribution in their name this year, so this gives me something to wrap and hand them at Christmas. So thank you!

[Meighan Kay]

Since you were talking about Babysitters I thought I should bring up nannys. The holiday tipping scale for a nanny is usally 1 to 4 weeks pay with a small gift from the family or children and a nice card expresssing the familys appreciation for all the nanny does for your family and your sanity. I would sugguest giving the minimuim of one weeks pay at the very least. Unless you are looking to find a new nanny. Happy Holidays