HOW WE DO: Christmas Morning and Gifts for Kids

How We Do :: Christmas Gifts

We keep Christmas gifts very minimal for our kids. Just today, we walked down the aisles of Target and asked the girls what they wanted for Christmas, their response “I don’t know.”

For us, filling that gift void with toys isn’t worth the financial investment. Also, family and friends gift our children generously enough in that department!

We focus on gifting experience gifts (days bowling, outings to the ice cream shop, etc.), as well as arts and craft supplies or other tangible, usable toys/items that have a shorter shelf life in our home. And surprisingly (I think because they’re so hands on) these are the two gifts in our home that our kids love the most!

How We Do :: Santa

Santa always stops by our house and brings one small toy. The more emphasis we put on the magic of Santa, and the less we focus on the gifts he brings, the more appreciation and gratitude our children learn to place on actual physical people. Santa’s presence (and the anticipation) seems to bring enough magic into our home!

How We Do :: Christmas Morning

We take the morning of Christmas very slow. The more we can savor the experience the better! We let our children open presents one at a time, so each child feels special in the moment. And if they open the present and want to play with the item immediately, we let them! We don’t focus on getting through the pile of gifts. Our focus instead is on the experience of receiving each item, and the excitement a new gift may bring!

So chances are, this coming Christmas we will be taking lots of breaks between gift opening to color, create and paint! And the slower this magical morning goes, the happier this mama will be!

Looking for some gift ideas and don’t know where to start?

Head to this recent post where I include gift ideas for the person who has everything, the person who wants nothing, the kids who don’t really need any more toys, or the family that just wants something they’ll use and love.