10 More Alternative Gift Ideas

The best way to change your gift-giving habits is to start slowly. You can't change your holiday traditions all at once, but you can try one or two ideas at a time. Pick a few things from these easy-to-do ideas below and give them a try this holiday season.

• Pay for the car behind you at the toll booth during holiday road trips.
• Leave potted flowers or herbs anonymously on a friend's doorstep.
• Clean the cat box without being asked!
• Send a card to a soldier overseas or an injured veteran spending the holidays in a military hospital.
• Make an emergency kit gift basket with a blanket, flashlight, gas can, jumper cables, and flares.
• Call an estranged friend or write a letter to someone you haven't seen in a few years.
• Give away the last great book you bought and enjoyed to someone who shares your taste.
• Shovel snow for an elderly neighbor.
• Have a re-gift swap. Get together a few like-minded friends and trade tchotchkes.
• Host a cookie swap. Six friends who each make six dozen of the same kind of cookie can meet for coffee and go home with a dozen of each kind.