5 Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Neighbors - Amy Lively
Here are five simple, powerful, and affordable gifts to share the joy of Christmas with the people living around you. Gifts open doors for natural connections that can lead to spiritual conversations.
No matter how you decide to bless your neighbors, download these free Christmas Gift Tags “From My Home to Yours.”
1. CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT
Purchase a large set of ornaments in bulk then divide them up between your neighbors, or upcycle and re-gift an ornament from your own collection.
2. PLATE OF COOKIES
It doesn’t matter if they’re homemade or store bought! Wrap your sweet treats in cellophane on a paper plate, and add a recipe card if you baked them yourself. You can even add a box of tea or a bag of coffee.
3. CHRISTMAS CARD
Buy a box of cards or make them yourself (this is a great activity for your children to get involved in!). A greeting card delivered with a personal greeting instead of a postage stamp is a wonderful gift!
4. CHRISTMAS ADVENT CRAFT
Print this free Christmas Advent Craft to share with your neighbors. Simple instructions and a supply list are included on the printouts. You can even provide the items needed to complete the Advent calendar if you’d like.
5. THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS “PRESENCE”
Give the gift of yourself this year! Hosting an Open House for your neighbors is an easy way to welcome several neighbors at once. Take the stress out of Christmas with free invitations, a planning guide, and even icebreakers. If you prefer more intimate ways to connect at Christmas, check out our ideas for introverts.
The Ghost of Christmas Past
Twas the day after Christmas And all through the house Mama was yelling, "Hey, clean up this mess!" On the day after Christmas, my girlfriend had a serious holiday hangover…Her sweet smile and that cute little emoji make light of a heavy complaint: Christmas…
How to Have Hope at Christmas
We’ve heard the Christmas story a million times, but if we read it with fresh eyes and soft hearts we just might find ourselves in this magical tale. It begins in Israel: When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the…
5 Ways to Love Your Neighbor at Christmas
Tis the season to be jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Or is it the season to be busy? Overwhelmed? Overcommitted? Is it the season for celebrating “God with us,” or complaining about others with us in line at the grocery store and the post office? Planning…
How to Love Your Neighbor at Christmas for Introverts
Celebrate the season in your own special way! Some people have the spiritual gift of hospitality… while others of us provide coffee and then forget the cups and spoons, and we're out of sugar, and then… oops, we made decaf by accident. Others simply prefer…
Merry Christmas… Maybe.
When "There's No Christmas Like a Home Christmas" hit the airwaves in 1950, less than 10% of homes contained only one person. Today, one in four of the homes on your street is occupied by a single person living alone. Twenty-five percent of people say they have no one…
Christmas in the Neighborhood
On that first Christmas morning, in that dingy stable, the King of Kings was born as a helpless baby. John 1:14 says, “…the Word (that is, Jesus) became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the…
Christmas Cookie Brigade!
Christmas it the BEST time of the year to love your neighbor! Everyone loves to receive Christmas cookies, so why not make some plates for the homes on your street? I've seen God use this simple act in my own neighborhood to impact lives over the course of…
Church Outreach Tools for Christmas
Guest post from Valley Community Baptist Church, Avon, Connecticut Our church in New England isn't in the heart of the Bible Belt. This area is full of stoic people behind stone walls. Folks in our neighborhoods can even be hostile towards the Gospel. But that…
Christmas Advent Countdown Craft
This simple craft is a fun and festive way to count down the days until Christmas while remembering the real reason we celebrate! It’s made by removing the glass from an old photo frame, inserting Christmas paper, and gluing on a small clothespin to hold a card…
How to Love Your Neighbor this Christmas
“Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only…
Advent Devotional
In our Bibles, there is one flimsy, thinner-than-paper piece of paper between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In reality, this single page represents 400 years of silence as God withheld Himself from the world… from the end of Malachi in the Old Testament…
Neighborhood Cafe Podcast Christmas Episode
All was not calm, all was not bright in the dingy stable where they slept that first Christmas night. It will be a "Silent Night" in many homes on your street this Christmas because of loneliness. Christmas is the perfect time of year to break the silence and fulfill…
Friends from Far and Near (and Christmas Gift Ideas)
Last weekend [12/2013], I had the joy of spending time with so many incredible people! We dodged snowstorms to come together from all corners of the country, and God's Spirit made us instant friends as only He can do. Today I bought milk that expires after Christmas,…
