Holidays can easily become more about who’s bought what for who or how much money did I spend on that person, etc. than what it’s really supposed to be about. Whether you’re religious or not, the holidays are about spending time with the ones you love, not worrying about how much you did or didn’t spend.
My first Christmas as a mother, my kiddo was 3 months old, so we didn’t buy him anything but an ornament and a chewy necklace. For his second Christmas, I talked to a few other friends that year trying to sort through the buying chaos: do they set a budget for Christmas? I learned that some families set up a holiday account! How many gifts do they buy, is it even for each kid? What do they do as the kids get older and the items get more expensive? I got many mixed responses but my husband and I knew we didn’t want to be going all out breaking the bank at Christmas. It’s just not what Christmas is about and our kiddo will get a lot from grandparents and aunts and uncles.
After some researching I came across the: want, wear, need, read. I loved it and we have decided to try it out this year.
Want: For us this year it’s anything that has to do with cars or the movie Cars. I bought a car track mat and a few small cars to drive on it.
Wear: I bought a cute PJ Masks shirt he had been reaching for at Target.
Need: I mean, he needs nothing, we buy him what he needs all year round but this time it’s a cute puzzle.
Read: We love books at our house so this was easy. We got 2 books.
The Big S: This is the Santa gift. I added this in on our gift giving. Santa is bringing: well, I don’t know because he hasn’t come yet! 🙂 Though my kiddo has been really interested in vacuuming recently so I put a play vacuum on his list! Hopefully Santa comes through! 🙂
Stockings: I put little odds and ends in stockings. My husband usually gets candy he likes and an ornament. My son will get a PJ Masks ornament, a PJ Masks play toy, and an apple sauce pouch (which is probably already in the pantry).
All of this, including what Santa may bring, was a total of $35 for my son for Christmas!
*side note: everything except the shirt and PJ Masks stuff I bought second hand from our sweet neighbor who was having a garage sale. He’ll play with it all for a bit, probably lose the car, and will outgrow that new shirt by June.
Variations I’ve seen are: want, wear, need, read, and something for family (the want gift would be the Santa gift). Make it your own! Be flexible when need be. You don’t have to spend a ton to make it memorable.
The Give Back Sack
With my help of course, my son has to fill the give back sack all year with things he wants to give to other children. On Christmas Eve, the sack will go next to the tree and Santa will take it when he brings his gift. After Christmas, I’ll donate the items. I had the sack made from the St. Louis Crafted website on Facebook for $25. It’s cute and encourages him to open his heart to others.
Have a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy new year!
This is exactly what we started doing this year, with the arrival of our second baby! I love this idea and it really kept things manageable for us!
Love this Leah! So happy this is something other families are into as well. Enjoy your littles this Christmas!
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