organize an alternative gift fair

that this wasn’t such a good idea. It was a passionate poster on another board, actually. Her post in a thread related to gifts of donation was something like “don’t give me a heifer” in reference to Heifer International. She basically said, you know what? I want to give to the places I support, and don’t presume to do it for me. Plus, I started thinking, I probably wouldn’t actually give gifts of donation to my own family, so what business did I have organizing a fair? Also, this was a goal that came up during the time I was really getting into voluntary simplicity ideas, books, etc. and was kind of gung-ho, but it misses the point. Now, I find I just want to cut anything that doesn’t give me utter fulfillment, and this counts as that. So, goodbye, alternative gift fair. Maybe at another point in my life you will be a better idea.

I need to send my co-organizer a note telling her so. We’ve made no forward progress, as far as I know . . .

maybe next year.

It is six weeks away and I don’t even know if we have a location!!! Yikes!!! This is the hard part about working with another person . . . but like I can say I’ve done my part, either?

Do you have any?

We have thought of:
Enough Stuff gift fair
Santa’s Good List gift fair
Thoughts that Count gift fair

A little about alternative gift fairs:
An Alternative Gift Fair is an event where instead of buying things, “shoppers” make donations to select non-profit organizations in honor of their loved ones. More information is at: http://www.newdream.org/holiday/altgiftdescrip.php

We had our first planning meeting today! I am so excited. I’m a little worried, like about the fact that we have no money to be running this, but the other woman I’m working with seems to not be so concerned about it, so I think it will be ok. We are going to have it on December 2. To read more about Alternative Gift Fairs, visit http://www.newdream.org/holiday/altgiftdescrip.php. Twin Citians, watch for more info about a location and organizations who will be participating. Goody!!!!!!

The Center for the New American Dream has this alternative gift fair where non-profits gather in one place and then instead of fairgoers buying “stuff” they go around making donations in the name of their loved ones, and they get a card to go with them saying what they will buy . . . I think it’s a great way to offer people a way to show their love at the holidays without having to buy stuff that they often do not want to give nor does the recipient care to receive.