December 1, 2011
Consider:
One more reason to love my new job: they have a tradition of donating gifts to children in foster care, rather than having a gift exchange for each other. I love this idea so much, and think it would be great if more workplaces adopted it instead of trotting out the tired old White Elephant/gift exchange. Consider: do you need a Twilight-themed board game more than a child in foster care needs a pair of socks? Yeah.
Speaking of charitable causes, have you seen VolunteerMatch? Put in your location and interests, and it will find volunteer opportunities out there for you. I cross-referenced it with Charity Navigator to ensure that any organization that piqued my interest was well-run (though organizations run on a local level may not be indexed there).
Something Pretty 
liz said,
December 5, 2011 at 12:51 am
this is what we do at my work:
everyone draws names.
then, you look to see on the “list” in the breakroom to see what $25 gift card your person would like. suckfest. every single person has written 2-3 different businesses (all of them are olive garden, bath and bodyworks, kohls)
i have not put anything on the list under my name. i refuse. why bother. i don’t want a gift card.
next year i am going to be bringing up the idea of donating $25 each to some organization that needs it. i work with like 14 people. that is a lot of money to small organizations!
onetinyacorn said,
December 6, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Liz: so you *have* to participate? Weak. I hope your suggestion next year goes over well!