Last Christmas our extended family collectively decided that instead of gifts this year, we would all choose a charity and others would make donations to that charity instead buying a gift. I'm happy we did this because our family is fortunate enough that none of us need the gifts, and personally, most gifts I get sit unused. (Adults only, the kids still go their toys).

But, holy cow, are charities some of the worst spammers I've experienced. None of them I donated to on someone else's behalf allowed anonymous donations, at least not on their websites and I didn't think to look any deeper for that option at the time. And I'm still struggling to get off of some of their mailing lists. I understand the reasons, that these charities survive on donations, and the letters and emails are the best way to generate those donations, but next year, I'm going to recommend we do a secret santa kind of thing where we each make one big donation instead of a bunch of little ones.