I love Christmas! I love everything about Christmas, but I especially love Christmas presents. It actually is really easy for me to go overboard, so I have some systems in place to help me not to. Today, I just wanted to share what we do for presents each year and what we've gotten for the kids this year. It's really just a way for me to talk about it, because I love thinking about Christmas morning :)
We try to not buy too many gifts for the kids. One year when Ashtyn was two, I bought way too many gifts and ended up opening most of them on Christmas morning for her. We ended up with too many toys afterward, and in fact, four years later, we don't have many of those toys still. That year, we decided to try something different, and changed to getting one big gift for each child. We also get a combined gift for all the kids. We budget $50 for each child, though some years, this is less.
For each other, we also budget $50. Some years, we get something we really want, though some years we just get the cash to spend on whatever we want. This can be really fun. While we're trying to pay off the house really fast, we don't usually budget spending money for ourselves.
Anything smaller I want to get the kids, Santa brings. We budget $50 for stockings and try to get some nicer things, though I do make a stop at the dollar store for things like puzzles.
My grandparents also gives us $25 for each child. I pick out the gift from them and then we wait until we're at my grandparents for the kids to open them.
One other tradition we have is for the kids to make gifts for their siblings. I try to keep these as cheap as possible, though sometimes I need to buy some craft supplies.
We don't exchange gifts with my in-laws. Instead, in December, we find a family in need and put together a little gift basket and give the money we would have spent on gifts to the family. It is one of my favorite traditions.
We do exchange gifts with my brother and his wife, and I love to find a way to give a gift to my parents and Ben's parents still. Often, I try for more sentimental items, or I'll find a book I think they'd really like. I also love to find a book to gift to the ladies I minister to.
Now onto the presents I'm getting this year!
Ashtyn's main gift is Legos. I'm really excited for this, because I think she will LOVE it. We have big blocks, but this will be the first time we have little Legos. She loves to build and create, so I think they'll be very well used. My mom actually gave us some of her old Legos, so we were able to not budget for Ashtyn's gift this year.
Parker's gift is Disney Polly Lockets. This is another thing my mom gave us, and I'm so grateful because it's the perfect gift for Parker, but I couldn't find anything even similar online anywhere. I loved them as a child, and I know Parker will be ecstatic. It has a Cinderella castle with it, too, and I can't wait to see her face when she opens it.
For Rylee this year, we got her a Little Tykes slide. This is something that I honestly never thought I'd buy for our kids, but it's the perfect gift for Rylee. She doesn't really play with toys very well, but she loves to climb and she LOVES the slides at the park. We decided to not wrap it, but to simply set it up on Christmas Eve so she can come down and see it on Christmas morning.
For their combined gift, I got them some Kelly Barbie dolls. Parker and Ashtyn were asking for Barbies for Christmas, but I was really reluctant to get them. I honestly don't think Ashtyn would play with them very much and Parker is still young enough that she would need a lot of help (dressing, undressing, etc.) to play with Barbies. In October, though, my mom brought her Kelly dolls and let the girls take some into the bathtub. They LOVED the Kelly dolls and I found some for not very expensive. I also found a couple of mermaid ones that can be bath toys, which I think they will really love.
From Santa, Parker is asking for binoculars, Ashtyn is asking for a bike bell and a bike basket, and Rylee is asking for Winnie the Pooh and Minnie Mouse (wooden puzzles). They also are asking for a princess dress each, and I'm most excited for Rylee's (it's ADORABLE). Santa is also planning on bringing little writing tablets, which they've used before (their cousins have some) and really liked. They also have puzzles, scarfs, and candy for inside their stockings.
Ben just wants cash this year, so I put his money in an envelope and wrapped it up for him. He also sent me two different games that he wants from Santa, and I managed to get both of them (I think that will be a little surprise for him). My gift this year is a little bit of a splurge, because it's over budget (I'm putting all my Christmas and birthday money towards it, and we still needed to add some to the budget), but it's a new phone, a Google Pixel 3a. I'm very excited. My current phone's battery is dying (and it has other issues as well), and my new phone will have an amazing camera. That will be great not only for taking pictures of the kids, but also for my YouTube and Instagram things that I do. I can't wait!
Deciding on gifts from my grandparents felt tricky this year. For Ashtyn, I ended up deciding on stencils and sticky notes that are black and turn to rainbow as you draw on them. For Parker, we got her toy sunglasses and a little toy purse that has things like keys and make up in it. For Rylee, I got an adorable Winnie the Pooh train and little Winnie the Pooh hand puppets.
For sibling gifts, Ashtyn made Parker a little tie quilt, Parker made Rylee some puzzles from popsicle sticks, and Rylee made Ashtyn a picture frame with a picture of the three sisters for her nightstand. Ashtyn also upgraded to real pillow this year (she was using a small doll pillow before) and is going to give her old pillow to Rylee. This was something she came up with on her own and really wants to do. It was so fun this year to make the gifts and then help the girls wrap their presents and put them under the tree.
I am very excited for Christmas morning! As a parent, it's even more fun to get gifts for your kids than it is when you're a child and on the receiving end. I have been loving the Christmas season and am so glad we can end 2020 on such a positive note.
No comments:
Post a Comment