Holiday Tips and Gifts – What’s Your Take?

I'm not sure about you, but I feel like every year there are more and more additions to my Christmas gift list.  Growing up my parents always talked about 'doing the right thing' around the holidays and definitely passed along that mentality to my sister and I, and this proves especially true during the holidays.

Teachers, bus drivers, your regular people at the nail salon, hairdressers....yikes!

When I bought my first house I was surprised to find out that the other people in my neighborhood did not do anything for the trash/recycling people around the holidays, as I have such vivid memories of my dad running down the street with an envelope for ours.  I always make sure I have tips ready close to the last trash/recycle pickup of the year.  This may have been a state of MA thing (they do weird things in general) so I didn't feel so alone once I moved back to NY.

Same goes for USPS/UPS/Fed Ex/Amazon, etc. - my parents always keep some singles in an envelope near the front door to tip, especially during the holidays, so I make sure to do the same, and, I'm always sure to have something for our mail carrier around the holidays as well.  I know that this is often a controversial topic of conversation - what can they accept, what's permitted, etc., but i've never had a problem with a gift card or cash gift in the years that I have done this.  I'm also a big believer in leaving a basket of treats/drinks out for delivery people around the holidays - it's a nice touch, no?

Where do you stand with holiday gifting/tipping - we'll touch on this more during the show next week for sure!