The Season of Giving

Thanksgiving. The time for family, reflection, and gratitude.

Black Friday. The time for frenzied shopping, crazy deals, and mall fights?

Yikes. During the holidays, we can sometimes lose sight of what really matters. Thankfully, there’s two holidays that we really love that put the center back on giving. Check out these two that you can celebrate right after Thanksgiving to keep the grateful season going.

Small Business Saturday

Immediately following the crazy day of Black Friday is Small Business Saturday. This day is dedicated to shopping small, AKA spending your money at locally owned businesses. We love this holiday because it showcases our neighbors. Literally! Shopping small is one of our favorite ways to stimulate our local economy and support our follow neighbor.

Often, people will skip Black Friday, and opt for Christmas shopping at locally owned stores on Small Business Saturday instead. We recommend doing this as well. Here’s ten reasons we think you should be shopping small, for more details.

Giving Tuesday

If you’ve never heard of Giving Tuesday, it’s a nationwide holiday that encourages people to stop the holiday spending, and volunteer to make their community better. A lot of communities set up local activities that you can easily take part in: clothes or food drives, volunteer days at homeless shelters, donation drop offs, and more.

There’s always an easy way to get involved, personally or as a business. One easy way is to save some of your Christmas shopping budget for a donation. Or, do a quick clean out of your closet and donate items you don’t wear anymore. Even better? Use Black Friday deals to purchase winter items that you can donate to local homeless shelters.

You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to make a difference, donating your time can be just as, if not more, valuable.

Which holidays are you participating in this season to give back?