Learn from Santa: How to Save Money and Give Great Gifts

By Mike Bowman, on July 21, 2010

Santa Claus is one of our most recognizable holiday characters, known for his love of children, holiday spirit, and giving personality. Most people would agree that Santa is a good guy. He gives unselfishly and the only thing he asks for in return is good behavior. However, has anyone ever asked what this all costs Santa? Could Santa be getting better values other than those found at the North Pole?

Photo by Yumi Kimura via Flickr

Christmas gift money can be a significant part of anyone’s budget, and is often a source of stress during the holidays. What lessons in Christmas gift giving can we learn from the King of Gift Giving himself? Further study of Santa’s gift giving reveals several good personal financial lessons and a few that aren’t as good.

Applause for Santa Claus

He makes a list and checks it twice

Santa is famous for his Christmas list and knowing what is important to everyone on the list. Having a list can (1) save money and (2) remind him of great ideas for presents. You can keep a similar list that allows you to give more meaningful gifts while saving money. Here is how it works.

Keeping a list helps you stay on the lookout for special gifts all year long, not just on Christmas Eve. The longer you have to shop for these things the better your odds are for finding a better value.

Jack was at a small theater with his friend, Rachel. While they waited for the play to begin Jack noticed an old, wooden kitchen chair placed near the stage and pointed it out to Rachel. It was an exact copy of the chairs his parents had in the kitchen when Jack was a child. He sat in a chair just like that one every day at dinner and listened to his parents talk about their small business and their work to do better for the family. The chair reminded Jack of how poor the family had been when he was a little boy and how hard he and his brothers had worked to become as successful in their careers. That simple chair seemed very symbolic to Jack, as he was obviously moved by the memories that the chair was bringing back.

Rachel made a note of this on her “Santa’s Helper Christmas List”. A while later she read in the July 13 newspaper that the theater would be closing due to the sale of the property it was located on. Rachel remembered the entry on her list. She went to the theater and inquired about the chair. It was still there. When she asked if she could buy it she was asked to make an offer. Rachel offered $5 and the deal was set.

At Christmas time that year Rachel gave Jack the chair with a handwritten note that said “Jack – this chair reminds me of how proud I am of your hard work and what you have done for your friends. Rachel.” Jack, floored by Rachel’s thoughtfulness, confessed that Rachel’s $5.00 gift was the best gift he had ever received.

Look for gifts all year long

Ever been a “last minute shopper”? It can happen to the best of us. Most people will tell you if your goal is to find great selection with good prices the last minute is the worst minute.

Santa spends all year getting gifts together, not just Christmas Eve. By working on getting the best gifts for everyone all year long, instead of the last week in December, he has many more options when it comes to getting a better deal on the best gift. With his list in hand Santa could be ready at any time to take advantage of special circumstances that would allow him to get a better gift or a better value without spending more money.

Deliver the gifts yourself

Having gifts to give is great but how do you get them to the special people in your life? With a personal visit Santa saves on delivery expenses and shows he cares by taking the time to deliver gifts himself.

Giving a gift at Christmas time is one way of telling someone you care about them. However, everyone knows that time is just as valuable as money. When you take the time to personally put a gift in someone’s hands it makes a big difference. It punctuates the gift gifting with a message that can’t be missed — “I care enough about you to come see you and hand you this gift”.

Santa Flaws

Not Comparison Shopping

Considering how busy everyone says Santa is at the North Pole, we see him an awful lot at the mall after Thanksgiving. However, you don’t see Santa shopping at the mall. Unlike throngs of discount shoppers on Black Friday, Santa doesn’t seem to be very concerned about finding deals. That is because Santa’s gifts come from the local North Pole work shop. By limiting himself to only the North Pole he could be spending much more than he should be.

In order to find the best deals on gifts you have to shop around. There are many resources you can use: online auctions, live auctions, web sites, coupon sites, online newspaper classifieds, business closings, clearance sales, end of season sales, estate sales, your friends’ and your employee discounts, and special events like Black Friday. The point is to keep your eyes open during the year looking for opportunities to get much more value for your gift money.

Keep in mind that retailers’ “best price of the season”, “lower than the national brand”, and “half off sale” prices are not always the best prices. The best values can often be found when no one else is shopping.

Going overboard

When you think of Santa delivering gifts you see his giant red gift bag packed so full that it is ready to burst out of his sleigh. Two things Santa does not skimp on are Christmas cookies and the number of gifts he brings. Surely seeing huge numbers of boxes, bags, and packages coming your way makes anyone excited, but it is possible to have 10 boxes of gifts that are each extraordinarily meaningful?

One thing any parent of a 4 year old will tell you is that in the end quality is better than quantity when it comes to Christmas gifts. Becky wanted her 4 year old son, Nick, to have a fantastic Christmas. That meant she wanted Nick to have lots of gifts to open, and finally at 11:30pm on Christmas Eve she finished placing an avalanche of gifts under the tree.

On Christmas morning Nick came running to the living room and squealed with delight. He began tearing open gift after gift as Becky smiled and took pictures. Then she noticed that Nick was slowing down. He would open a gift, look at it, and then move it to the side as Becky reminded him to keep going because there were more boxes to open. Nick now seemed overwhelmed and wanted to just play with the one or two toys that really got his attention.

A few days later many of the toys still sat in a pile in the living room and Nick hadn’t got around to playing with them yet. He was still playing with his two favorites. Becky started to feel a lot less excited about the gifts since they weren’t even being played with.

Santa and Becky just wanted to show Nick how much they cared about him. Unfortunately, our intention to show caring and appreciation are sometimes lost in mounds of wrapping paper. If you want to show someone that you care than invest time, not money, in finding that one special gift that absolutely knocks their stockings off.

Giving liabilities instead of assets

Santa brings gifts that are fun and exciting. However, have you ever noticed that the gifts he brings have little tangible value? Those gifts can generate a lot of excitement when you are opening them on Christmas morning, but how do people feel about them a month later? Santa’s gifts can often be found collecting dust on a shelf in July.

The best gifts are assets. Assets are things that have an initial value, but also continue to generate value by bringing in income or saving money. Tools are a great example of a gift that is an asset. The tools have an initial value, say $50. However, they can also generate income for somebody if she uses them to fix lawn mowers for a price. The tools could save her money as well if she uses them to fix her leaking faucet instead of hiring a plumber to come over. Every time she uses the tools she will think of the person who gave them to her.

Only Santa can be Santa!

Santa has provided some ideas on how to save money and give great gifts, but be careful about trying to be just like him. There is only one Santa Claus! Only Santa himself is able to get away with some of the things he does like only shopping in one place or going overboard with the gift giving. Those things could lead to debt and missed bargain opportunities for the rest of us. Give great gifts at Christmas. It is ok. Just make sure that you have invested the right amount of time and energy in making sure you got the absolute best value for you and your loved ones.

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Mike Bowman writes on his website BowmansMoneyCollege.com. He discusses small business ownership, reducing taxes, and getting more value for your money.

All posts by Mike Bowman

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