We are starting a new Christmas tradition this year. Each child will receive something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.
I cannot claim ownership on this concept but when I heard about it I totally loved it.
It allows for a little of everything. The children will learn what to expect, so there will not be any disappointment. With three children there has to be some restraint to Christmas shopping.
In the past, I have sought to find the perfect gifts for everyone. I would strive to outdo myself each year. It is ridiculous to place that kind of pressure on myself. I would much rather spend my energy on decorating the Christmas tree, enjoying our family traditions, spending time with the kids and J. Focusing on being together, celebrating our Christmas. Despite my efforts somehow I would still disappoint at times. That was even more discouraging!
There will still be stockings and gifts from each other to look forward to. However I hope to shift the focus from what they receive to the joy of the season. Allowing for anticipation but also knowing what to expect should take some of the edge off (at least I hope so)!
I hope to get the shopping, sewing and creating for Christmas done early but it is already November and I have barely started!
How do you decide what to buy for Christmas? Do you have a financial limit? What do you think of our new tradition?
A Canadian mom with three cute kids. This blog chronicles our lives my creative pursuits. 
I think that is a great idea.
It would not work for me, however, since I am an impulse buyer, lol.
I don’t really have a limit, which is a bad thing, but I gotta make sure they have the same amount of gifts to open. My kids get way too much stuff, i will admit that. But that is my fault & that has something to do with my past & the way I didn’t have much as a child so now that I can do it for them, I do. It’s not really a good thing, but I feel guilty if I don’t buy them what they want. I feel like I’m depriving them of things…which i know, is my issue to deal with & they’re not the ones that feel like it, I am.
As they get bigger, their items will get bigger & therefore they will get less of them. They’re only little once so this is how I justify it to myself.
Can’t wait to see the gifts in all these categories for your kiddos. I really do thing that is a great idea though.
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Limit? – yes!
Do we stick to it? – not always! okay hardly ever!
Love your idea. That would be good for me as I am a buyer of things that you would not buy for yourself gift giver.
We might be trying the name pick thing with the ‘adults’.
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I love the idea about the 4 items. Do you also give gifts from Santa. I am stuck on what to do. Hope you are doing well, I still read daily! Love seeing the pictures.
We usually sit down, at the beginning of the season, and discuss ideas for each person’s gift and how much we’d like to spend on everyone. We usually keep it the same amount for everyone so whether someone gets 3 gifts or 5, we try to spend the same amount. With the young kids, however, we try to get the same amount of gifts for the same amount of money. That way one person isn’t feeling left out.
We don’t always have a ton of money to spend on everyone so we try and group together families, if we can and send homemade gift baskets to those families with homemade treats that our family has made together. It’s something we like to do and will be doing, again, this year.
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We tried it once, but it didn’t really work for us. Sorry to be your next downer. Too many exception – we always give an ornament, and stockings are half the presents in our house. I ended up feeling “guilty” I was “cheating” instead of enjoying the holiday.
This is the first year I’ve made a list way ahead of time and I’m sticking too it. Again, not so much for stockings (always excepted
) but I’m just too busy to be impulse buying; my time needs to be focused. It’s a relief.
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That is a great idea. I don’t know if I could stick to it but it may be good for a guideline.
I do try and limit my shopping and not spend too much money. My kids have been happy every year so far and I am not too worries (except that I haven’t started shopping yet, that worries me).
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I know people (like my ex-friend that stole that money from me) that have very little money and buy their children SO much stuff for Christmas! I’m talking $600 a piece and up. Me? I’ve never spent more than $300 a piece on my kids and now that I have four, I usually stick to $250 per child. I look for really good sales and of course, for the littel one you can get a LOT for that amount. Last year my daughter wanted a camera. I got her the camera and case and told her that was all she was getting because the cost was almost $300. She was fine with that.
This year, I have let Ariana go through store adds and toy books and cut out the pictures of things she wants. We put them in the pages of a small photo album that I can take to the stores with me to ensure I get exactly what she wanted. I did explain that she won’t get ALL the items, but at least this way I forget what she wants.
OMG, I LOVE this idea! It covers all the basis, you don’t go broke and everyone gets what they truly want…why not add something to SHARE or DONATE? Maybe give two books and donate one to a program that provides books to kids who don’t have any.
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We had something similar. Now I’ll have to tell you the posturepedic Christmas story.
I love this! I think I am going to have to borrow that.
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I love that idea as well! I am assuming that those 4 things are what you, as parents, give to the children and Santa gifts are separate? Or perhaps you don’t do Santa?
Here in our house we do one gift from Mom and then Santa gifts. They get three gifts from Santa ( they know this) , just like the baby Jesus got three gifts. We also do charity things together as a family…usually deliver Christmas dinner baskets with our church…and then donate some things to people in need. We have taken things to Adsum House and Bryony House and toys for the toy drive and of course the schools and the churches are pretty busy this time of year with donations of hats and mittens, warm clothes and food for the food bank. I also try to get them away from the “want, want, want” aspect and push more the spirit of the season instead.
This year we have picked names within the family….It is so pricey to buy for 5 nieces and nephews, brother and sister and spouses, Mom, Dad, Step mother and then some special friends as well. We thought it would be better to pick names and buy “nicer” gifts , things they need or want rather than budget limited gifts that can be stressful to find. So I have 4 people ( other than my children) to buy for, rather than 12! I hope it works out well….although as some mentioned it is sooo hard to resist picking up things for others that you know they would really love!
Keep the ideas coming…Love them!
Love it! I couldn’t do it because I love shopping too much but I think it’s a great idea! I could probably do it as long as I could give a big basket of books. My kids usually get about 20 books each at Christmas. And if stockings & Santa gift were additional I totally could.
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we usually do one gift from santa. something that he really wants. and it is the only thing he tells santa that he wants when we visit him (at CB Fox).
i would love to do just the 4 items. and to a point we incorporate parts of those 4 items. esp the READ part.
they both get special jammies to wear. i’m not entirely an impulse shopper. i keep my ears open to what he’s talking about and then i also choose something that i think will really hit home with them. (willow is getting a stroller/crib/combo thing for her many adored babies and some home-dyed play silks if i can get them done. nate is getting a cat that i’ve been crocheting for him–again, if i can get it done in time–some moon sand and a movie and a few other small things. i got them a joint gift, too (season 1 of Between the Lions).)
i’m already mostly done cmas shopping, if you can believe it. got much of it done today, in fact. i don’t feel like i went overboard, and i don’t feel like i’ve spent too much. and being done now (and **calling** myself done) makes me much less likely to keep going. it takes my mind off of it, i guess.
i can’t wait to see how this plan works for you. i’m thinking this would also be good for birthdays.
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i forgot to mention . . . since we are staying home for cmas this year (yay!) and will presumably be sans visitors, i have every intention of spreading out the gift thing. it seems like every year we spend the morning unwrapping every gift and all they want to do is play with the first one they opened. so this year, we will let them. if it takes all day, or all week (which is my preference) then so be it. we won’t start until cmas morning (or cmas eve), but if it lasts until new year’s it would make me very happy. open a gift in the morning and then play with it all day!
i want a relaxed, happy, stress-free day. not a race to the “finish.”
and we will be looking through the toys we already have to see which ones we can pass on.
Halo Golden´s last blog ..whoa, 6 months?
That is a great idea. We tell the kids they can ask Santa for 3 things and Santa tries his absolute best to bring them all 3 things. Then Mom and Dad give them a few extras too. I shop during the year and pick up things on clearance.
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I think this is a wonderful idea too and it ‘maximizes’ the value of the gifts. Usually we are ‘loaded’ with too many gifts that we tend not to treasure it
It is an early start here in Spore too…all the Xmas light-up at the shopping malls, gosh I think I better start too
You said it so well! We are having to restrain ourselves a bit, as well.
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I love your idea. It brings back fond memories of when our kids were young. Each Christmas Eve we gave them a new pair of pajamas and a story book. They always looked clean and fresh in the Christmas morning photos and they loved the book – we read it to them as a calming measure on Christmas eve! Thirty one years later we still carry on adding our daughter and son -in-law and our two grandsons.