Being invited to a party, feeling obligated to bring a gift of a certain value (I mean price), shopping for gifts during the holidays, all this can be very stressful and end up taking the fun out of giving.

You don't need to turn into Scrooge.

Making some of your decorations, giving a second life you objects, even toys like Legos, baking cookies, creating your cards, being crafty can bring back the joy of gifting and surprising.

Short on ideas, Cookie Swap by Julia Usher (Gibbs Smith, published 2009) will help your creative juices flow.

Is a Cookie Swapping reality show in the works?

(* photo by Steve Adams for Gibbs Smith, check Cookie Swapping site for ideas)