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Christmas Shopping the Simple Way: 4 Gift Ideas

October 25, 2017

Christmas shopping can turn into a crazy “keeping up with the Jone’s” escapade. Tame the crazy shopping peer pressure with these simple gift ideas.

Christmas shopping can turn into a crazy keeping up with the jones escapade. Tame the crazy shopping peer pressure with these simple gift ideas. 

Christmas shopping used to stress me out a bit. I would worry whether I had bought the right gifts. Did I get enough presents for each child? Then I came across a concept that simplified my Christmas shopping significantly.

It’s this:

Buy them something they want, something they need, something to share and something to read.

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This idea is not original. Any google or pinterest search will turn up multiple spins on this idea. Here is our approach.

Christmas Shopping Gift Idea # 1- Buy something they want

Most children have very long Christmas wish lists, but if you pay attention, you can find an item or two they keep bringing up over and again. If they continue to talk about it, you really want to pay attention. What if they aren’t asking for anything?Sometimes it may be a little more challenging and require some sleuthing. Last year, our son was chronically snagging my phone to take selfies and do photo shoots with his toys. Although, he had not asked for a camera, we thought it might be a gift that he wanted. Pay attention to not only to what your child asks for but also hobbies and activities your child has shown an interest. When you do, you’ll likely find some great ideas for gifts.

Christmas Shopping Gift Idea #2- Buy something they need

This is, typically, a more practical gift. Perhaps they’ve outgrown their car seat, or need a new pair of rainboots. Sure, they probably won’t hug you incessantly in gratitude for this gift but it is a need being met. There are ways to make a practical gift special. For our “something you need” gifts, we bought the kids bath towels because they needed them. We gave our daughter a Frozen Themed Towel. The oldest got a Yoda bath towel and the baby received one that looked like a monkey. They loved them, as it matched their interests, but it also met a practical need. A year later, they are still working well.

Christmas Shopping Gift Idea #3- Buy something to wear (share)

Confession time. I truly thought I had seen the phrase include “something to share” but everywhere I look online, the phrase is “something to wear”. Oops. Although I only have personal experience with one, I will cover both.

Something to Wear

This could be any article of clothing including a jacket, several outfits in the next size up, new hair-bows, socks, sweaters, or shoes. To make these practical gifts more exciting, consider socks or shirts with their favorite characters on them. Match the hairbows with a pretty mirror or brush.

Something to Share

I truly thought the phrase was “something to share”. It speaks such an awesome message. Being something that we could all value. Last year, we bought a futon that we put in the playroom where we read bedtime stories nightly. It was a major upgrade from being on the floor! This year, we plan to buy a video gaming system. Not only will it be a fun family past-time, it will also be helpful in building relationships with the middle school teens that my husband mentors from church.

Christmas Shopping Gift # 4- Buy something to read

The Parkers love books! As a result, this gift idea was both easy and very difficult to . It was easy to find the perfect books; difficult to to narrow the list down. We decided to find a book that the entire family would enjoy and one age/interest appropriate book for each child. This kept it simple and the books we chose are still treasured by the entire family several months later.

How to Know Your Gifts are Enough

In years past. I didn’t know when to stop. I found myself questioning over and over whether I had bought enough gifts. I would fret over whether the gifts were enough so I kept buying. Weeks later, Christmas was a distant memory and most of the toys lay scattered throughout the house forgotten and unused.

Using this simple approach last year removed a lot of the questions and fears. I want you to know I wasn’t without fear. I still worried whether the gifts my children received would be enough. I even had to “cut myself off” on the stocking gifts. And we did Amazon Prime Now a gift for our eldest after he asked Santa for it last minute. All the same, I feel like we were more successful at keeping the main thing….well, the main thing.

Christmas shopping can turn into a crazy keeping up with the jones escapade. Tame the crazy shopping peer pressure with these simple gift ideas. 

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Filed Under: parenting, Tips and Tricks

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  1. Living Clutter Free in the New Year: 9 Tips That Will Rock Your World ⋆ PattyParker.me says:
    January 2, 2018 at 3:26 am

    […] materialistic?  What if I considered purchases from a more scrutinizing lens. We started doing this approach at Christmas and it’s helping minimize the clutter tremendously. So as weird as it may seem, […]

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Today we’ll walk for a friend we’ve never met but today he would have been 26. 
His life was snuffed out not because of anything he did. Rather, because his skin color was *wrong*. So today we walk because our skin color is *right*. And we just can’t take these lies any more. 
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“Dom. Charlee. Come meet your baby brother, Devi “Dom. Charlee. Come meet your baby brother, Devin.” My 4 year old son and 18 month old daughter peered at the little red ball yawning and stretching in my arms. “Can I hold him mommy?” Dom held out his arms to hold his new little brother. 
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Charlee was equally smitten. With her own baby in her arms, she followed me wherever I went. When I changed the baby’s diaper, she changed her baby doll’s diaper. When I rocked Devin, she rocked her own bundle of joy. 
A family of five felt wonderful. Until—“Mommy, I don’t feel well.” Marshall took Dom to the Doctor. I put my fretting to good use while rocking the baby with Charlee by my side. “It’s pneumonia,” read the text. 
A few days later, Charlee began tugging at her ears. “Looks like an ear infection,” said the dr. “I’ll prescribe an antibiotic.” Worried about the baby, we began Operation Sibling Quarantine. Too late. 
Devin tested positive for RSV at two weeks old. 
Little did I know this was just a taste of what was ahead for our family. Dom would get sick. Two days later, Charlee would come down with a fever. Two days later, I wouldn’t feel so hot. The cycle continued—each family member generously taking his turn with a bout of sickness. “What are you doing?” Marshall asked. 
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The struggles extended into nap schedules, car seat arrangements, laundry, bathing, and clothing our family. “It’s our third baby! Shouldn’t we know what we are doing by now?!” At a MOPS meeting, seated across from a mom of three grown boys, I got my answer.
“It takes at least a year to find a new normal after having a baby. Every time.” She continued, “Every time a child is added into the picture, the entire family will need to get a handle on the changes that come with the new addition.” Oh.
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