Five gifts

[pegkerr]

I don't recall if I've written about this before, but I thought it might be helpful to other parents to expound a little bit about the five gifts policy that Rob and I use for Christmas, which we have found to be very helpful. My sister Betsy told me about it, and I am sorry to say I have forgotten the author she got the idea from herself. Every Christmas, we get each of our girls five things:

Something to read
Something to love
Something to do with a parent
Something to make them artistic
Something to make them active

It's a very flexible guideline, and we find it helps keep us from going overboard on gifts. In fact, some of the gifts can be very modest indeed. It makes us give some thought to the philosophy behind our gift-giving.

Something to read, well that's obvious. Don't forget magazine subscriptions as well as books--kids love getting stuff in the mail.

Something to love. This teaches nurturing and other responsible social behavior. This could be a doll, or a pet, or a plant, although we've stretched the definition at times to something like a cozy bathrobe that encourages snuggling with mom or dad.

Something to do with a parent. This can be very modest: a puzzle or a board game. Use your imagination: you might give a set of gardening tools and a pack of seeds, and then you can create a garden together. Once it was tickets to see "Cinderella" at the Children's theatre.

Something to make them artistic: paints, paper, crayons, Spirograph, modeling clay, beads, knitting and needlepoint kits, simple musical instruments like a recorder or penny whistle, etc.

Something to make them active: a ball, scooter, stilts, etc.

So, I offer this to all you other parents out there. This has worked really well for us.

Comments

[ceilidh]

I heard something very similar to this once:

Something they want
Something they need
Something to play with
and something to read.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

I really like this. It has nice balance and keeps the focus on finding the right presents, not quantity.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful - thank you for posting it. We've already gotten Liam most of his Christmas presents (except for some books), but I've just added this post to my memories to make sure I remember it for next year.

[dawn-came-dim.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful guide.

*scoots off to share with the new moms-to-ber in her life*

[aome.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I really like this - calliope14's idea, too! How old were they before they understood the pattern and purpose? Do you do a few Santa gifts too, or just these five?

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is wonderful!

*ponders*

S.

[aerden.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I like this! You're right, it's a wonderful way to avoid overspending, and it makes you think about the gifts you're going to give. I'm adding this to my Memories section.

Chantal

I'm not a parent...

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

...nor do I play one on t.v., but what I've been getting for my nephews for Christmas has been a toy & a book. They're pretty wild about Legos, so that's what I'm going to get 'em this year - I want to try to cut down on expenses.

(A few years ago I ran across a toy accordian at Creative Kidstuff -just across the street from my apartment. I walked away, but kept circling back, and finally got it just because of the sheer eeeeeevilness of it. Turns out my sister-in-law plays the accordian, so everyone loved it. The coolest part of it was Cole's reaction. He opend it up, gasped, and said, "This is my favorite present!" Someone asked him what it was, and he said, "I _don't_ know!")

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I memoried this too. Thank you for sharing!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm not sure we've actually talked with them about it much, overtly. They just know they'll always get a book, for example. We also do stockings, but Santa generally keeps that pretty modest, too, and useful presents are included with stockings. (It is a custom, for example, that the stocking always includes a pack of new underwear).

And we also do the mini stockings on Twelfth Night, but those are filled with stuff from the super sales after Christmas; all four Twelfth Night stockings together never total more than $20.00.

[mmmgood.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing the list -- it's helpful to have those kinds of ideals written out, concretely and simply.

We've been following this by default, just in trying to think about what kind of gifts we want him to have, at least from us.

[kokopoko.livejournal.com]

What a great idea!

I forgot to add...

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

...that I normally buy 'da Boys' a bag of Hanukkah gelt. Oddly, the toystore across the street doesn't seem to have any this year.