Beauty Tips for Ministers

Holiday Gifts For the Pastor/Supervisor

December 4, 2009 on 2:26 pm | In Beautiful Holidays | 9 Comments

Bea wants to know if I have gift recommendations for her, since she and her minister (she’s a Director of Religious Education) exchange small gifties for Christmas.

I don’t know!

I feel as a minister that I just want to thank the staff in some small measure for the amazing job they do all year. I take the office staff out for a lunch so we can have a bit of relaxation in the middle of the crazy. I shop all year ’round for staff gifts. I like themes (candles, gardening, snowmen, etc.). If I find multiples of something really cute somewhere, I snap them up and save them.

I would think that books are always a winner for a minister.
Who doesn’t love nice soaps and lotions and candles?
My office staff gave me a totally cool cheese grater one year. They know me very well; I had been lusting after it at Williams-Sonoma.
My secretary owns a little general store in Rhode Island and always gives us a hunk of amazing cheddar cheese from her place. I eat that cheese from Christmas through to the New Year. I melt it, I cut chunks of it, I eat it with chutney, I eat it on tuna melts. I probably have three pounds of permanent lard on my posterior from that cheese but why quit when you’ve got a winner?

Gift-giving can be stressful if it feels obligatory. Just give something that you would enjoy sharing with your minister. If nothing seems inspiring, I don’t think any gift is necessary. I know that sounds weird but as fellow church workers, I feel like we absolutely understand that there is NO way we would want to add stress at an already crushing time of year, you know? A card or a hug totally suffices.

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1. My favorite gift-giving year was the one I made the rector, deacon, DRE, and choirmaster/organist all platters of crackers, cheese, chocolate & wine (and probably fruit & water, it sounds reasonable). I figured they have to be at church ALL day on Christmas eve, why not make it enjoyable during the down time?

   Comment by Charlotte — December 4, 2009 #

2. Charlotte, I love that idea. Very thoughtful!

   Comment by Sian — December 4, 2009 #

3. Who doesn’t love nice soaps and lotions and candles?

   People with allergies!! (or asthma, other sensitivities.) PLEASE folks, be very careful about giving scented things. Some of us really have no tolerance. And it seems like every single thing in the world now comes in a scent!
   [OOps! My bad!! Thanks for the reminder, Carol! - PB]

   Comment by Carol — December 4, 2009 #

4. I love to get staff Christmas ornaments for their Christmas tree/home – something simple, yet elegant which can be used year after year (or not, as they choose.)

   Comment by Kathleen — December 5, 2009 #

5. For my minister If I could afford it, I would get her a Dunkin Donuts gift card. A Movie theater gift card, A book store gift card, a grocery store gift card, A membership to the local Film festival, Tickets to a show (with promise of company) and a kindle. If I could afford it. That’s what she’d get. She’s got way too much stuff, she needs the way to do what she likes.

   Comment by Joy Lightning — December 5, 2009 #

6. I love your answer PB, because I hate the sense that we are all wandering around looking for something suitable to wrap that no one really wants or needs!

   I love giving and receiving Heifer International animals. The funds go to support families who have real needs, and the cards from Heifer are adorable and look wonderful on a mantle with the Christmas card collection. And it works for any budget! [Heifer is wonderful! Thanks for the mention! - PB]

   Comment by Donna+ — December 5, 2009 #

7. I would also nix the scented things, being asthmatic. However, gift cards come in all sizes and stores. A reader would appreciate Barnes and Noble; a super chef like you would love one to the Williams Sonoma. If you know they are an avid shopper on Amazon, likewise. For college students or seminarians, you can’t go wrong with a Starbucks card in a nice travel mug.

   SMOOCHES to you

   Comment by Deb — December 6, 2009 #

8. I like a little pastor’s Sunday emergency kit as well–a tide pen, a bottle of static guard, a small hand mirror, mints and a lttle lint roller brush. [As a gift? If someone gave me that I might think that I look a rumpled mess and have bad breath! But it would be a great colleague gift, because we KNOW we all have bad breath! - PB]

   Comment by beckydv — December 7, 2009 #

9. Yes, nix on the scented things from this allergic minister!

   Food can be a similarly sensitive issue if you don’t know the person’s diet & allergies.

   I’ve been asking what to give my child’s kindergarten teacher, and the same results would apply to ministers. Anyone who gets lots of little gifts from numerous people who don’t know him or her very well gets lots of ornaments, Christmas decorations, lotions, candles, and food.

   The answer I’ve received about kindergarten teachers seems to be to give them gift cards to anywhere, or something that they need in the classroom.

   For ministers, I would suggest books. Don’t we always love books? We don’t always have the money or time to get all the latest books out from Beacon Press and Skinner House (or other denominational publishers), or the latest book that everyone is talking about. Look two or three months ahead on our sermon schedule and see what we might be preaching on that has a book related to it and get us that one!

   Gift cards? Specifically for that coffee shop that we keep having meetings at, or for the book store in town, or for something we seldom have time to treat ourselves to, like the movies.

   Comment by Cynthia Landrum — December 10, 2009 #

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