A Letter to Family
Dear Family,
We are so excited for the upcoming holiday season and in sharing the magic with you.
We had some new ideas about gift giving this year, and wanted to see if you’d be open to experimenting with us – if not, that’s ok! Ignore this letter… but we hope you’ll consider trying out a new path together.
Recently we’ve been thinking about how much we and our children have – we’re privileged to have lots of toys, clothes and books. We also feel that getting too much, especially at one time, can lead our family into a bit of a materialistic dizzy. We don’t believe you can spoil children with too much love – but we do believe you can spoil them with too many things. Also, we’re finding it hard to manage all of our “stuff” and we’re trying to embrace a more minimalistic lifestyle, which means being really careful about not bringing in new things we don’t really want or need.
We’ve found too often that gifts the kids received – from us or from others – weren’t properly cared for or enjoyed after such a short amount of time. And we want to try to make sure that no one in our family is wasting their precious time and money, or the earth’s resources, on goods we don’t cherish properly.
SO! If you’ve stayed with me this far – thank you! First off, I want to say – we don’t expect ANY gifts. Anything you might choose to give us we are so appreciative of, and we absolutely never take you for granted.
Secondly, if you DO want to gift our family something we have a few ideas – and we would love to reciprocate, so perhaps you’d be open to choosing something off this list for us to give you.
- Our family has been dreaming of becoming more philanthropic and if you were to gift any donation to charity – we would find that so gratifying! If you’re open to this idea, we’ll send you the charity we love to support.
- We’re trying to teach our children about financial health, especially about the importance of saving and even investing. We’ve opened an account for each child and you’d be amazed at the math they’re learning, as they count the money accumulating there. That way they can save for something special, or for the future! If you’d like to help them by contributing something small to their savings, that would really encourage their learning in this area.
- There are a couple of big ticket items our family are dreaming of, things like a trampoline or a special show – it would be so meaningful to us if you could direct your gift at helping these dreams come true for us!
- I know you have some special items with sentimental value at home, perhaps things like old pictures, books or even jewelry. If you were open to gifting something second hand from your own home – I think that could hold special meaning for our family.
- You have so much to teach – maybe you’re amazing at crocheting, at photography or at growing tomatoes or long division. We would absolutely cherish the gift of your time, wisdom and expertise – if you were open to creating some special time with our children and having an experience with them it would be so enriching.
- And finally, if you were interested, we’d love it if you could write a letter, or perhaps gift our family something made by hand. We cherish your unique, personal signature and would love something with a personal touch from you.
If you are really still set on buying a gift from the stores this year… please buy just the one! We’re sure it will be wonderful, and we want our children to be able to truly appreciate it, rather than be distracted by too much of a good thing.
With the excitement of celebrating in the true spirit of the holiday, and enjoying this magical time together,
We love and appreciate you,
Our Family
I would love to hear from you if you’ve chosen to communicate with your family about simplifying the holiday season, and how you plan to do so. May we always come from a place of kindness, love and gratitude. Please leave a comment below!
Previously:
Hola Avittal!
Thank you for this sample letter.
I borrowed bits and pieces and created a text message to share in a group text with my family.
They seemed to receive it well and thanked me for sharing the great New gift ideas like $5for my childrens savings account, secondhand significant things and experiences. Since this will be our first minimalist Christmas, I’m worried how my children will react when they see their cousins opening their presents. Any suggestions?
Love this,
Lila