An American group founded in 1979 which sought to reform Christmas by eliminating much of its commercialism. Charles Langham of SCROOGE suggested spending a maximum of 1% of income on Christmas gifts. Its Four Principles are:
- Try to avoid giving (and receiving extremely expensive gifts, particularly the heavily advertised fad/status symbol items that are often not very useful or practical.
- Make every effort to use cash rather than credit cards to pay for the items that you do purchase.
- Emphasize gifts that involve thought and originality, such as handicraft items that you make yourself.
- Celebrate and enjoy the holidays but remember that a Merry Christmas is not for sale in any story for any amount of money.