Many consignment, thrift and resale stores have a holiday party, and most of these involve gift exchanges. While these are fun, they can also be fraught with “what was s/he thinking?” worries. If you’d rather have some fun and friendship, with a big side dish of community involvement, here’s an idea I really like.

Do your exchange the same way you have always done, but make this stipulation: the gift has to be something you think the recipient would have loved

as a child.

What will it be? Model cars? Paper dolls? A crib mobile that plays Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Do your darnedness, exchange gifts and laughs and funny stories of when you were a kid…

then pack the gifts all back up

and take them to your local charity’s toy drive.

Yup. THAT’s the

spirit of gift giving!