So, Matt and I have been truly frustrated with the overwhelming toys in this house already. We were really starting to dread Christmas. We know that Zachariah will receive lots of toys. And we usually find a few things that we can't help ourselves and buy for him too.
Not this year. The more we talked about it, the more we realized that buying more toys will not help. (I mean, duh, of course buying more toys isn't going to help a toy problem.) What I really mean is this: we know he will get toys from grandparents and aunts and uncles who adore him. So why add to that mix.
Here are a few ideas that we have.
1. A big boy bed - It's about time for one anyway, and my sister got one from a friend that we can have for free.
2. Sheets for the new bed - Something fun that he'll love
3. New pillow
4. CD player for his room - His is done. And we'll probably get a shelf to mount this on too.
5. Storage shelves for toys - Hoping to help the clutter a bit
6. Books
7. CDs
8. Puzzles
9. Bubble bath - He loves it and I rarely spend money on it.
10. Stocking stuffers - Not sure what all to include...maybe some craft supply things.
So, what do you think? Any more ideas for me? I'd love to hear them. I am officially declaring it our Christmas with no toys. (Besides his birthday will be coming in a few short months after Christmas.)
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7 comments:
Books, puzzles, CDs, and games are all good ideas. Do you play games? Within the next year he'll probably be old enough for some simple ones.
I'm a fan of consumable things - like craft supplies.
We also get Harper fun toothbrushes and fun underpants - I will stop including those as gifts as she gets older, but for now they are exciting to open. She also usually gets a new pair of slippers at Christmas time. I can always find good ones pretty inexpensively through the overstocks section of the Land's End website.
It would be so cool if his new bed could be all set up on Christmas morning with the bedding, etc.
I think a big boy bed with all the trimmings is going to be E's birthday present. Have you seen the John Deere sheets they make?
I usually use xmas and their bdays to get them things they need like clothes and whatever. This year we are painting the older boys' bedroom and they picked out the colors themselves so I thought it would be neat to give them all the things we would need to paint their room. They get a lot of games and puzzles too and I usually try to include some sort of crafty item. We just went through all of their toys and got rid of a lot of them through kijiji and freecycle. The boys liked the extra bit of money they got for toys they didnt play with anymore and I enjoyed being able to walk around their room without tripping on toys.
I wish I had focused more on non-toy gifts when they were a bit younger because now they've come to expect toys for xmas.
I love the idea of a nice cushy special pillow. Darsie loves her very own pillow and I bet if you got him a couple of special pillow cases, he would be in heaven.
We're doing the same thing (kinda) this year. The kids are getting puzzles, games, books and clothes for the most part. Liam's getting some bath crayons/paint (a huge treat for him) in his stocking. Sydney is getting some fun, patterned tights and hairbows which I know doesn't help you, but you can file it away for when you have a girl.
We're big on the experience gifts like trips to the museums or moonbouce place. Last year we also did new sheets for the room as well as new curtains and wall hangings in the same theme. We also decided to spend 1/2 what we had budgeted and put the rest into their college savings. Since their grandparents are there on Christmas morning, they have a TON to open. They don't even notice how much they got.
Finally, Santa only ever brings them 3 gifts each since that's what baby Jesus received. Mommy and Daddy give them one gift each. (Usually an ornament for the Christmas tree.) We wanted to lower their expectations for gifts now because the amount of stuff they want will only increase over the years.
Each of my kids are only getting 1 toy from us, and 1 from Santa. The others things they are getting are clothes, a piggy bank (with 3 sections - SAVE, SPEND, GIVE) and a couple books.
I vote for a big boy bed, if you're going to get one anyway, that would be an awesome gift!
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