With the holidays coming up, it may seem like a special challenge to get through No-Buy-November without buying any new manufactured presents. After all, buying expensive presents for each other is how we show affection in western cultures, right?

The truth is, presents are actually a pretty poor way of showing how you care. And here’s some science to back that up!

So here are some ideas for alternatives to the traditional holiday present exchange:

• Give a gift of personal service – a IOU for a few foot-massages, or 3 “I’ll cook dinner tonight” passes, or even a punch card for 100 free hugs
• Give a trip to a spa, or a free professional massage
• Give something you made yourself…it will be much more meaningful, and probably better than anything you could buy
• Have a gift exchange, or clothing swap party – Here’s a great article on how to hold a good swap party

Freecycle is a great tool for getting in touch with a community of people who like to give things away for free!

Have something you don’t want anymore? Well, rather than throw it away, you can list it on this website, and someone else can get some use out of it.

And of course it goes the other way too; if you need something, rather than just going out and buying it, check Freecycle first. Maybe someone is giving away for free exactly what you need!