Normally I would be almost done with my Holiday gift preparation by December 1st. Not so this year.
In addition to Christmas, we have Hubby’s Birthday on Dec. 17th and mine on December 29th… once the Holidays are over, we celebrate Little Critter’s Birthday on January 21st. Wowsa.
We have a rule in our house, it’s not a set in stone rule, more of a guiding post. We are trying to downsize the number of gifts the kids receive and to ensure each gift is something that will last a long time.
That said, our kids get one gift from Mom and Dad, one (two tops if accessories are needed) from Santa and one from their sibling group. All the kids receive the same number of packages to open. We also try to get a family gift, usually a game. Sometimes its an inexpensive board game, last year it was a Wii system… what the family gift is depends on what Santa has for a budget that year.
Even with limiting the kids gifts to 3-4 each, we are looking at 15-20 gifts for them each year. That’s a lot. I normally avoid clothing for Christmas and Birthdays, because its not so much fun getting something you need for a gift. However my 6 and 8 year old daughters are starting to enjoy clothes, so they each will get a new outfit as their gift form Mom and Dad. This is mostly because they are outgrowing their current clothes! I can easily pass down clothing from K2 to K3, but I feel bad that K3 seldom gets new clothing just for her!
Some of the things our children might receive this Christmas:
Piggy Paints Nail Polish (safe, non smelly, non toxic polish!)
Nature Discovery in My Backyard (book)
K-Man has requested an iPod Nano in black, K2 and K3 have requested a DS system and Little Critter wants everything, but specifically a ride on Barbie Jeep, that crazy Dinosaur or a Leapster game.
They all wrote letters to Santa, they got to pick the top three items from their wish list and only one could be expensive. I explained to them that Santa’s budget might vary based on how many children and what their needs and wants were, so they needed to represent a good price range. 
Lucky kids, their Santa found some really good deals so they should be thrilled Christmas morning. I would much rather they receive one good gift that will last years then to give them several plastic gifts that will be tossed aside in a month.
I’ve had NO luck with the family regarding toy purchases for the kids. We aren’t a plastic toy free home, as the kids do have Barbie, Polly and Legos… we are trying DESPERATELY to limit plastic and poor quality toys. I would much rather they receive wooden food for their play kitchen, organic cotton clothing (socks rock!), wooden puzzles, non-toxic art sets, books, etc… Last year my favorite gifts the kids received were the Daring Book for Girls and the Dangerous Book for Boys from my Aunt Lisa. K-Man and K2 read the book almost daily and are sure to get many more years of enjoyment from them.
In the stockings they find items such as new undies and socks (isn’t it always a good feeling to have new undies?), organic candy canes, homemade maple Santa candy, maybe a rolled up organic cotton t-shirt if a good sale was found. Santa likes a sale.
How’s your Holiday shopping going? Do you have a good plan for financing the Holidays? Do you give your children only HandCrafted items? Do share!
All posts are originally posted at Looks Good In Polka Dots.
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