I realized several years ago that I don’t like going Christmas shopping and maybe not even birthday shopping. I would rather go out and buy something for someone just because I thought of them on a regular day. It makes them feel how special they truly are to you when you present them with a gift for no particular reason.

Forget gifts on their birthday and holidays. They get gifts from plenty of people on those days, and if you are consistently making sure they know how special they are to you, they are probably not going to be upset if you don’t get them something on “that special day.” (Seth Godin’s mom would agree on this point). However, I am sure at least some of them would appreciate a card (especially if you make it yourself) and/or a phone call on that day. Then you can give the money you saved by shopping out of season and spending it on the best gift ever.

According to The Advent Conspiracy, it would take $10 billion to supply the whole world with safe drinking water. Sound like a lot? It actually sounds like a very small amount when compared with the $450 billion Americans spend each year on Christmas purchases!

I did the math. $10 billion is only 2.2% of $450 billion. Do you think you could spend 2.2% less on Christmas purchases this year and give it to a worthy cause? That means buying $9.78 gifts instead of $10 ones; $19.56 gifts instead of $20 ones; $48.90 instead of $50 ones. It means giving less than a quarter for every $10 you spend on Christmas!

It would be easy to make this a family or group project. You can make up a chart for your family and/or church designating $.25 for every $2 spent for Christmas presents. It would be so easy to get children motivated to help out children in other countries. Just take the first step. Reach out to those who so desperately need it.

Thousands of people die yearly because of unsafe drinking water. Let’s give hope to those who could die next year and the year after that! Let’s give a quarter for every $10 spent this Christmas. Go to adventconspiracy.com for more details. If you would like to skip a few steps, click directly on this link to donate.