I'm mulling over this idea from Malia Russell at homemaking911.com
Here's the intro:
Several years ago I heard about an easy way to narrow down Christmas gifts for children. Instead of buying a bunch of toys or other clutter, each child receives the following:
Something to Read
Something to Wear
Something to Play
Something to Share.
She goes on to give some thoughts on how to implement this. Like - if four gifts per child is still too many gifts for your budget, considering asking people you know will be buying gifts for your children to choose a category (or two). And - if they'd like to spend more, ask them to contribute to a savings/investment of some sort for the children.
Any thoughts? I like the idea, but would welcome some more practical implementation ideas.
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3 comments:
We could always count on at least one book at Christmas from my parents, sometimes more, sometimes used. Frequently socks or mittens, too. The younger ones all got a toy, older ones might get something more tool like. I'm wondering what the something to share would look like... maybe a package of small things to trade between the siblings?
I think my parents used the routine of what to get each child more as a way to stay organized and make sure each of the 6 got approximately the same number of gifts than to cut down. We generally got a few other gifts from relatives, and of course, sibling to sibling gifts so there was always a big pile under the tree anyway, to our delight. :-)
My faimly is really trying to cut down on buying presents for each other. It can get pretty excessive - even though the giving and receiving and opening are so much fun.
One great place I've found to shop are thrift stores. Some of them have some pretty classy stuff you just have to dig a little to find them.
I love this idea. It really distributes the gifts between needs and wants. I will start it this year.
I forgot about this until now and I need to start again. I started a tool box for Levi when he was a year old and for each birthday or Christmas I asked for a tool to be put in it, used or new, so that when he is ready for them, he will have a full set. I quit that about 4 years in and Paige doesn't even have a box. I will start that again this year. I love practical gifts.
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