How Should You Handle Office Parties and Gift Swaps?

Speaker A00:00:28

Ralph, I want to join any office Christmas party at work and a secret sand exchange as well. But everything adds up so fast. How can I still participate without overspending or feeling awkward? I got that question.I said, you know what, that's a really good point. I have a small office so we don't do the whole Secret Santa and all those sort of things. But I had Abby, my producer put together some statistics.Listen to this. The average employee spends between 30 and $50 on gifts for co workers each Christmas. Listen to this one.About 60% of workplaces host a Secret Santa or holiday gift exchange. I think that's a good thing. But think about how much this is costing. And many employees. Listen to this one.Many employees spend another 75 to $150 on office parties. I'm talking about for food and hey, you gotta have the nicest outfit, right? And travel to those things.And nearly one in three workers, one in three say workplace holiday cost, add unexpected financial stress in December. So here's the deal. Workplace celebrations should bring joy. They should bring togetherness and community, not financial pressure.You can show generosity and professionalism without draining your wallet. And I've got answers on today's show to help you navigate this with success.

Speaker B00:01:41

This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Speaker A00:01:53

Hello there. Welcome to the show. I'm Ralph.Thank you for joining me again today on our daily Financially Confident Christian where every day my goal is to help you break that cycle of financial shame and do it with confidence. And today we're talking about office parties as we continue in that finding joy in the holiday season without going broke.And I want to share a story about a good friend of mine named Brooke. Now Brooke shared this with me. I was planning for the show last week and she said, Ralph, these office parties have gotten out of control.She said, Ralph, truth is, look, last year I spent more on all this holiday events than I spent on my own family's gifts. She said, I can't do that again. So she said, you know what I'm doing for this year? She said, I'm planning some things.I'm going to bake some homemade treats. She likes to cook. She likes to make some wonderful chocolate chip cookies. Not good for me, but man, they look fantastic.And when she's going to do this, she says, ralph, I'll bet I'll get more compliments than ever. And I said, Brooke, that's a great mindset because that's the key. I think today's episode really focuses on one thing, your mindset.You got to remember, this isn't a competition. I think so many times in the office gift world, it becomes a competition. It's that comparison trap we talk about on the show all the time.Which leads me to a quote from leadership author John Maxwell. And I think this one is one we can hang our hats on today. People don't care how much you spend. They care how much you care.And I'm going to tell you right now a little truth here. I'm not great at gift giving and my wife is. She's nailed me on this one many times. We got to embrace that today. People don't care how much you spend.They care about how much you care. So let's get to today's question. This is a great question. How can I still participate without overspending and feeling awkward?Well, I've got some tips for you today. Number one thing, a lot of people don't think about this. You plan for your relatives, you plan for your friends, plan your spending for these two.Plan those office events. You know it's coming up. It's not going to be a big surprise to you. So plan for those things. Set a budget for that.Add it to your overall holiday budget. And listen, set that and don't exceed it. Just say, this is what I'm going to do. That's the first thing. Nothing you can do like Brooke is doing.Be creative. You can do homemade gifts. People love that stuff.Maybe make a point of writing handwritten notes to all the people that really impacted you this year because that's so much more meaningful and memorable to them. Because remember what the author said. The key is impact, not the cost. They want to know you care.Which leads me to this again, I probably said this 10 times already in our series. It's all about your presence, not the presence.And see, if you're so worried about competing with everybody, if you're so worried about being awkward and not having enough money and so concerned about the comparison thing, it drains the joy away from it. When you can have that joy, when you can have those conversations, when you can encourage people, that's really true generosity.Here's one other thing I'm going to recommend that you do. The Meghan Trainor says Just say no song. Well, I think you need to do the same thing. Practice saying no.Sometimes there's so much going on at the holidays, you just got to decline some optional events. You know, say, look, I can't do that this year. I'm going to do this one, but not this one.I think we drive ourselves crazy trying to do this and trying to do that. I remember when our kids were real young, everybody wanted to have us on Christmas Day. We got to go here and there and here and there.And my wife finally said, ralph, this is insane. We got to stop this. And we said, you know what? Here's the deal. We're going to stay home on Christmas.This has nothing to do with office parties, but we learned to say no. They want to come see us. That's great. Our kids are going to stay home and enjoy the holiday in their home. Sometimes it's okay to say no.You don't have to continue to do stuff if it's making you feel awkward, if it's making you feel stressed. Another thing I'm going to encourage you to do is express gratitude. Sometimes your co workers just need to hear kind words from you.Hey, I really appreciate your help on that project with me this year. Or hey, can I help you out with something that's so much more valuable than store bought gifts? Because that's really speaking to you.Care for somebody? Here's a great idea. If you don't have a lot of extra money, offer them service.Maybe you work with a couple and they need a date night, offer to babysit their kids one night or maybe offer them a homemade meal. Maybe they're going through a tough time. Show appreciation. Here's a great idea. Help them with errands.A lot of people don't think about that, but that's a huge gift for somebody. Help them save time. You know, it could be a busy time for a lot of us. That's a great thing to do.Well, let's get right to our Bible verse today comes to us from the book of Colossians, chapter 3, verse 23. And it says whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not. Not for human masters.And I think that's really our takeaway verse for today. If you think about that, it's not about gifts. It's about working from your heart. What the authors say, they care about how much you care.Stop worrying about that comparison. Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing. Well, I got to have the best gifts. Stop doing that. People don't care about it. People care about you.They care about your presence. They care about being engaged with you. Because that's the stuff that matters. I can tell you right now.I've been to many Christmas parties around Office stuff. I cannot remember a single gift that anybody ever got me.But I can sure remember those times talking to people about what's going on in their lives or sharing a funny story about something that goes on at their house during the holidays. That's what really matters. How about we pray together right now?Lord, we come to you right now and we ask you to give us strength during this holiday season. Help us to honor you through our attitudes, Lord, even at work. Teach us to celebrate without comparison, without that pressure.And help us to speak kind words to each other and help us to understand that that kindness speaks louder than any spending. We ask this in confidence in the name of Jesus. Amen. Now listen, today I want to tell you something you might be thinking about.Ralph, you're doing a great job with this 30 day series, but I might have missed some. Well, you can always go check out our prior episodes. Just go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com but here's something you might not know.You can actually see me every day as well. We're on YouTube. We're on Rumble. So I'm going to encourage you. I would love to see you subscribe to my channel on there. You can do that real simple.I made a simple link for you. If you go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/YouTube, you can see our YouTube channel.So not only can you listen to us, you can see my smiling face, like right now as I record this. I've got a red microphone for Christmas. So I'm going to encourage you. Check it out. Financially confident Christian.Okay, Are you ready for your one action item for today? Pretty simple one today, simple decision. I want you to decide today your total office event budget. Write it down.Before those events, before the invitations even start rolling in, before you start to commit yourself, say, here's what I can afford this year. Pick a number and stick to it. Because here's the honest truth. Your impact at work isn't what you spend. It's how you show up. So lead with gratitude.Give from the heart. Show that you care. Enjoy this holiday season and don't make it this comparison thing that just makes you feel awkward and anxiety ridden.I'm going to encourage you today. Go be a financially confident Christian. You can do this. I have confidence in you.Every day when you come and we sit together and we talk about these things, you're building up that confidence. So stay financially savvy today. God bless you and, and you have a great day today.