Commercialism gets my Goat

In my current declutter mode, I’m trying to reduce the amount of crap I purchase. Let’s face it, around this time of year between Black Friday and the January Sales needless commercialism and excessive spending run rampant. One of the impacts of this new zen approach is the difficulty I’ve encountered while searching to find the ideal Christmas gifts for some co-workers.

What do you give somebody you don’t know really well, and want to balance the gesture of giving, with the goal of not cluttering up their lives with more needless objects?

Don’t Kid Around about Christmas

After much on-line surfing, I’ve decided to give each one of them a goat! No, don’t worry – I don’t expect my gift-recipients to have to work out where to buy a roasting tin large enough to fit all four legs or have to start googling “roast+goat how+long+until+crispy?” My goats will be the “gift that keeps on giving”. Did you know that goats make ideal donations to families in need? Each gift of a goat:

• Provides milk, cheese and butter for nourishment. Goat milk is easy to digest, and one animal can produce up to 4 gallons a day
• Boosts income through sales of extra milk and wool to enable the family’s children the opportunity of going to school and getting an education
• Encourages better crop yields by creating fertilizer and clearing land. They’re also ideal for zero grazing – which means it doesn’t take much land to sustain them

How much does a Goat Donation Cost?

I shopped around to see how much a goat costs, and here’s my Top 3 options:

Heifer International:  Heifer International’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.

• You can gift a full goat for $120, or part of a goat at $10 per share
• They have lots of other animals you can donate, including different flocks of birds for $20

 World Vision: Building a Better World for Children

• You can donate a goat for $75, and even designate the recipients (by selecting Goat for a women, it ‘ll be donated to a widow, single-mother or abandoned family)
• Bundle up your goat choice by throwing in a plush goat or 2 chickens… both bundle deals cost $100 each. The goat and 2 chickens is actually one of the top 10 sellers on this site.
• Not sold on a goat? How about donating a group of Nativity animals? For $548 you can donate a donkey, a sheep, a goat and two chickens. Donkeys to help till fields, sheep to produce warm wool, chickens provide an abundance of nutritious eggs, and of course our trusty cross-functional goat. If this price tag is too steep, shares in the Nativity animals start at $25 — Jesus plush NOT included.

Oxfam: Helping People Help Themselves

• Oxfam’s Kids start at $45, and a goat is $50. You can also buy a pair of goats, or a herd (5 female and 1 male)
• Peruse Oxfam’s other offerings, if only to read their blurbs. A copywriter somewhere has been having a field-day – The Birds and the Bees will cost you $150.

So if this herd of goats doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, and you still want to buy someone a crap present …. Oxfam has just want you need:

And when the recipient tells people they got S**t for Christmas… they’re being honest!