Giving Gathering Ideas from CanadaHelps
The holidays are already full: dinners to host, gifts to buy, candles to light and countdowns to celebrate. Adding another tradition to the list may be the last thing anyone needs.
As Canada’s largest online giving platform, connecting Canadians with more than 85,000 charities, CanadaHelps wants to make generosity easier by weaving it into the traditions Canadians are already celebrating, not adding more to their plates.
Here are seven simple ways to bring a little more giving into the season.
Give the Gift Exchange a Generous Twist.
Keep the name draw, but add a second challenge: choose a charity that feels perfectly matched to the person you picked. Your dog-obsessed cousin might inspire an animal rescue, while your outdoorsy friend leads you to a conservation charity. Instead of a traditional gift, make a donation in their honour, then keep the cause a secret until the exchange. When it’s time to reveal, have everyone guess why that charity was chosen before sharing the story behind it. It makes a familiar tradition feel more personal and memorable, without adding another present to the pile.
Gelt for good. For Chanukah, along with chocolate coins or gelt for the kids, invite family members to choose a cause they care about and make an individual donation to that charity in its honour. For younger children, let them pick the charity themselves, whether they care about animals or the environment, and make it part of one of your eight nights together.
Make Your Host Gift Do Double Duty.
There are only so many bottles of wine or dried fruit plates a host needs. If guests ask what they can bring to your holiday dinner, give them another option: support a charity that matters to you. Add the charity’s CanadaHelps link to the invitation or group chat so anyone who wants to participate can make their own donation directly. It turns the classic “Don’t bring anything!” into something much more useful.
Become One of Santa’s Helpers.
If your family already exchanges gifts, add one more to the list: a gift for a child you may never meet. Ahead of your gathering, invite each family or guest to pick up a new, unused toy for a local toy drive, almost like becoming one of Santa’s helpers for the day. For families with kids, you could make it part of the tradition by letting children choose the toy themselves and talk about who might enjoy it. It’s a simple way to turn the excitement of giving into part of the magic of the holiday season.
Turn the Group Chat Into a Good Deed.
Before everyone leaves, take the inevitable “we should do this again” and turn it into a date with purpose: choose one cause everyone wants to learn more about, then make the next get-together a volunteer day. Your crew could reconnect at a food bank in January, cousins could plan a spring community cleanup, or a group of friends could spend an afternoon helping at a local animal shelter. It gives everyone something to look forward to long after the decorations come down.
Put Ujima into action. Kwanzaa’s principle of Ujima is about collective work and responsibility. Before your gathering ends, ask, ‘What does our community need more of next year?’ Then choose a cause connected to that answer and make a plan to support it through volunteering or an individual donation. It turns a Kwanzaa principle into action that lasts beyond the celebration.
Shop for Two Tables.
When guests ask, “What can I bring?”, suggest two things: a dish for your table and a non-perishable item for another. Encourage shelf-stable foods inspired by what they’re serving, then donate the collection to a local food bank or community fridge after the gathering. It turns a familiar hosting question into an easy act of generosity.
Let a tasting night choose the cause.
Host a blind tasting of wine, cheese, dessert, hot chocolate, or whatever your group loves, and have guests guess what they’re trying. Ahead of time, share a short list of charities you’ve picked. The winner and the most creative guesser each choose one from the list. Put a QR code card for each charity on the table so anyone who’d like to give can do it on the spot, in their own amount. There are no tallies and no pressure, and giving is always optional.
Send guests home with the gift of choice.
Swap the usual party favour for a CanadaHelps Charity Gift Card. Tuck in a note: “This one’s yours to give.” Each guest chooses the charity, and you’ll receive the tax receipt as the buyer. Add a gentle nudge to use it by New Year’s. The spirit of the gathering lasts a little longer.
