Donate Differently: Give A Holiday Tip

Giving is my favorite part of Christmas. Not just my giving, but seeing the world loosen the grip on its wallet and helping those in need is a beautiful part of an otherwise stressful holiday.

I’ve already written about giving wisely to charities; now I want to offer a slightly different way to enjoy the holidays: a holiday tip.

What’s A Holiday Tip?

Holiday tipping is pretty straight forward.

• Buy something that requires a tip (eating out, pizza delivery, etc).
• Do everything like you normally would (telling the person being tipped takes the fun out of it).
• When it’s time to tip, wrap a few ones around a $50 or $100-dollar-bill.
• Leave before the person knows what’s going on!

Not only does this ensure great service in the future, most of the people working tipping jobs are either young or doing it as a second job. Your tip could double or triple their total earnings for the day and will create a memory they will never forget.

It’s fun, easy, and will be something you never forget!

Some Tips On Tipping

Hiding the tip is probably the hardest part. If you tell them they’re getting a huge tip it makes it awkward and takes the fun out of it. Also, always tip with cash. There’s nothing wrong with tipping on a debit card receipt, but seeing that $50 or $100-dollar-bill makes it more memorable for the gift receiver. Plus they can show it off to co-workers, friends and family.

How do you hide a big cash tip? After doing this for a few years I’ve come up with some clever methods.

Pizza Deliver

For pizza delivery, the best way to hide the large tip is pay with your debit card but tip with cash. If you pay with cash, they’ll have to count it at the door and will see your tip. With a credit card, they know you’ve paid for it, so after signing hand them the large bill rolled up in a few ones. They’ll pocket it and not check it until they get to their car.

Restaurant Servers

This is the easiest person to tip. Here you have the option of paying cash or debit card but each method works a little differently.

With debit, pay normally and after the server brings you the receipt tip with cash. If they use a receipt book or tray, I like to put a deceptively small tip on top (maybe a dollar) and the much larger tip behind the receipt. When the server first sees the tip, she’ll be disappointed. But when she goes to throw away the receipt she’ll find your tip!

With cash there are two methods that work. The first is to pay the bill and tip after you get your change. Make sure to put a few smaller bills on top of the big one or someone might steal it off the table.

The more fun method of paying with cash is telling the server to “keep the change”. For this to work, you need smaller bills (5’s and 1’s) to fold around the larger bill. The server will take the cash, you tell them to keep the change and then get out of there. If you wait too long, the server will see the large tip and it will turn into an awkward situation.

Get Creative

Holiday tipping is a great opportunity to spread joy and say thanks to the people who work hard for you. These are my favorite ways to give big tips, now it’s your turn!

How do you creatively tip?

What are some jobs I didn’t mention that you can holiday tips?

Let me know in the comments!

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