Today's Trade-Off Thought

A friend of mine sent me a link to a very nice bauble today. Now, I do like the occasional Shiny Thing, but as it's getting to the end of the year I've been thinking about charitable donations. It occurred to me: should I buy something I don't really need but will make me temporarily pleased or maybe commemorate this period in my life, OR take that same pile of (not insignificant) money and donate it to the Alameda County Community Food Bank? How many people will it feed? And why is the "standard" amount I consider donating so much less that the amount I would consider spending on an otherwise optional item?