One of the most appreciated gifts we can give to family and friends is the gift of our time. And it usually costs little or nothing.  One year, when our family was short of cash, we gave our sons the gift of a dozen or so coupons that were homemade out of old cheques. Looking back now, they seem almost silly, yet our boys still think they were among the best Christmas gifts.  One coupon said “We will make a fire in the fireplace any evening with this coupon.” Another said “We will bake cookies any Saturday with this coupon”.

In one of our recent seminars “Scrooge’s Christmas”, one of our facilitators used a similar example: We gave my grandmother  coupons that she could redeem as she needed them— coming over to visit, taking her out for coffee, taking her shopping, agreeing to come over and play cards, running errands.   She was more interested in spending time with her children and grandchildren than getting another pair of slippers.

Do you have some suggestions about coupons for the gift of time?