This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Have you ever heard of the 4 Gift Idea for Christmas?
The other day, my mom and I were talking about Christmas gifts for the kids. We started talking about how it seems that by the time that the kids go back to school after Christmas break, they are already “over” the gifts.
To be honest, I don’t think that our kids or their friends can name more than 3 or 4 gifts that they got for Christmas within a week of getting the gifts.
It seems crazy, right? We give and give and give until they get so much that no one even knows what they got.
Do they even care what it is? Sometimes I think that we’ve conditioned our children to just “want” presents. From Santa, from parents, from grandparents, from relatives... so many toys.
If the words on Christmas mornings turns from: “I’m SO excited!” to “What else has my name on it?” I’d say there is an issue…
I would love to try something new and I wanted to share it here.
I had always heard of the 3 gift rule, but I had wanted to add one more to our gifts, so we came up with the 4 Gift Idea. It was actually something that I had always heard:
- SOMETHING THEY WANT.
- SOMETHING THEY NEED.
- SOMETHING TO WEAR
- SOMETHING TO READ
We gave it a little bit of a “makeover”, if you will. We changed the WEAR to GO.
I wanted our kids to have an experience, a memory. Science proves that this is more beneficial to children.
The four things they would get:
1- Something they wanted (a toy or bike, etc…)
2- Something they need (a new coat, new shoes, sports equipment)
3- Somewhere to go (a camping trip, out for ice cream, tickets to a movie)
4- Something to read (a great new book or subscription to a kids magazine).
Another idea, as I mentioned before, is to do three gifts, like the three wise men.
My friend does this and she loves it.
To be honest, it will be harder for me to do it than for them to receive it. I love shopping and finding great deals, but I need to remember that it is important to shift the focus to the WHY instead of the WHAT.
As they get older, these places might become more expensive, but they are creating memories that will last a lifetime, instead of spending money on something that will be lost, broken or throwing in a toy box in a month.
We will still plan on doing stockings. 🙂 That’s just so much fun and they love it!!
MORE POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
