Sentimental gifts crowded out under tree

Growing up in a scrappy Pennsylvania mining town, Eilene Corrie remembers stockings weighed down by hard candy and oranges and one gift under the Christmas tree to be shared between her and her older sister.

The girls knew what that doll, game or bicycle represented. Corrie's father, a DuPont laborer with a fourth-grade education, would collect metal shards at construction sites in the weeks leading up to the holidays to be able to afford something special for his family.

"I always appreciated the fact that my parents did what they had to do because they wanted us to do better," says Corrie, 68, of Newark.

Nowadays, she adds of holiday shopping and gifting, "It's way out of hand."

U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $806 on the holidays this year, including gifts, decorations, flowers and candy, according to the National Retail Federation. That's a 15 percent increase from 2004.

Clothing and accessories, consumer electronics, computer-related items, books and video games have dominated wish lists over the last decade, along with gift cards that double as no-fault insurance.

Sadly, that hand-crocheted Santa hat picture frame no longer makes the cut.

But if you want it, it's $4 at the Newark Senior Center gift shop. The Whitechapel Drive store exclusively carries items handmade by local seniors, including wooden reindeer, farm-themed tissue box covers, stuffed gnomes with tufts of white hair and wreaths festooned with beaded candy canes and plaid ribbon.

When customers shop for their grandchildren during the holidays, they whisper to Corrie, the cashier, "I hope she'll like it."

Corrie shrugs. Her 50-year-old son usually requests computer equipment.

Times have changed. There weren't always 18 gifts jockeying for space under that bedazzled evergreen. Hanukkah used to entail seven days of socks and puzzles and one day of what we actually asked for.

Historically, research shows that manufactured gifts always factored into holiday spending, just not in such large and expensive quantities as today.

In 1910, the rocking horse captured our imagination. In 1920, it was the Radio Flyer wagon and Yo-Yo.

Sock monkeys and BB guns dominated the 1930s, followed by LEGO and Slinky, Barbie and Mr. Potato Head, the Etch A Sketch and the Easy Bake Oven.

By the 1970s, Star Wars action figures were trying to overpower Rubik's Cube, until the Cabbage Patch Kids sprouted in every store window.

And then the millennium hit, offering a multitude of gadget gifts. Tickle Me Elmo and Furby had no chance against the Nintendo Wii.

Which brings us to today and the $800 iPad Pro and $400 PlayStation 4.

Jennifer Mattison's 13-year-old stepson insists on upgrading to the PlayStation 4 this Christmas, even though he already owns a PS3 and Xbox.

The Newark mom of three, stepmom of five and grandmom of six, tried to put her foot down.

"I tell him that's all he's getting," she says, adding that she'll probably have to throw in a game.

Elaine Ryan of Bear says her husband "hates the idea of Christmas because it's so commercial." Ryan, however, remembers a time when nuts were considered a stocking treat and a Girl Scout camera entertained her through Christmas Day and beyond.

On a recent visit to the senior center gift shop, the 68-year-old bought a fabric poinsettia bag for her sister, who enjoys quilts. Ryan's two grandchildren, ages 2 and 4, want "whatever they see on TV."

"An orgy of value destruction" is how University of Minnesota economist Joel Waldfogel has described the holiday season.

In his 2009 book, "Scroogeconomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays," Waldfogel asserts that buying gifts is economically inefficient because the givers waste their money on gifts the recipients don't need or want.

Waldfogel estimated that in 2007 Americans spent $66 billion on gifts, but produced $12 billion less satisfaction than would have been achieved had the recipients spent the money on themselves.

There are alternatives, of course. Some forgo traditional gifts altogether in favor of charitable contributions or invest in "experience gifts," which involve building non-virtual memories.

For Corrie, Christmas was always about gathering with her 15 relatives for a Christmas Eve dinner of pierogies stuffed by her Slovakian mother.

"I loved the holidays for all the right reasons," she says.

As in years past, this year Corrie embroidered a Charlie Brown blanket and pillow to donate to a holiday fundraiser for the Delaware Hospice.

She knows that some sentimental gifts bring lasting rewards.

Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.

Holiday spending by the numbers:

• Average spending per person this year is estimated at $806 compared to $802 last year. Spending on gifts for family members represents more than half that amount.

• More than half of holiday shoppers (56 percent) expect to splurge on themselves or others for non-gift items.

• Nearly six in 10 consumers say they prefer gift cards, making this the ninth consecutive year that gift cards top the list of holiday gifts.

• Slightly more than one in five shoppers say they plan to shop primarily online. Nearly three-quarters of millennials plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, a 15 percent increase from last year.

• A slight majority of consumers (51 percent) prefer to shop on Thanksgiving Day this year, compared to 48 percent last year.

(Source: Surveys by the National Retail Federation and the website, Offers.com.)