I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore minimalist, but the yearly secret santa procedure (you gift to one from a group and get a gift from one) trigger something in me.
At least we work with gift suggestion lists/wishlists so you won’t get completely random stuff. Nevertheless, I often find it hard to come up with gift ideas (<50.-) for myself, as I usually either don’t buy something or buy it immediately myself.
Not joining into the tradition led to more trouble/bad vibes in the past, so I concede and participate for a happy christmas gathering.
Now my question to fellow Mustachians that might have been in similar situations:
What did you put on your wishlists that you actually could use, but that isn’t socially questionable (e.g. Digitec ‘voucher’ is not really a thing)?
Socks come to my mind, but you cant bring that every year.
I’m on the same boat of not caring for what I don’t need and buying myself what I do need but I’d try to keep a list of the things I do consider needing and if the need isn’t immediate, pick one of them to be gifted to me by someone else instead of buying it without waiting.
In the clothing department, I also like to change belts from time to time. A voucher for clothes/shoes, if it is an option, will have to find a use at some point.
Otherwise, I’m on team nabal: repeatable things that don’t last like food, wine, beer or experiences that can be shared. Things like cheese, dry sausages, dry meat or chocolate. Soap is another item that’s easy to gift and should always have a use. Oil is pretty expensive, can be presented in a nice bottle and good or special oil can greatly improve cooking (I’d send them to a specialist store that will treat it like a premium item, like "Oil&Whisky in Sion: https://oilwhisky.ch/).
In the same vein, I also have good use for some essential oils. Cistus oil will stop small cuts bleeding efficiently, lavender is great for acne and a mix of tea tree, ravintsara and aspic lavender works to prevent herpes from showing out if used repeatedly from the first irks on.
I find in Switzerland especially, something personal like a good insider joke or the like usually gets a much better response than just gifting some merchandise. After all, people here can generally afford to just buy the exact stuff they want themselves.
If I have time, I’ll draw a comic loaded with insider jokes pertaining to the person it will be gifted to. The cost is ink, paper, and time. If I don’t have time, I’ll buy a bottle of wine, cologne, etc. for 10-20 francs and create an insider-joke label to stick over the existing label. Always a hit. Granted, generally more of a hit with males, but can work for others too if you get the humor right.
For women/girls, gifting some form of art or something handmade based on their interests often works well for me. If you can make it yourself, it’s all the more personal, and the main cost is your time.
For teenagers, a bit of money is usually more of a hit. Makes life easy.
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