Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas is coming. On December 25, to be exact. I believe it was the same day last year as well.  I feel prepared and will not be stressing about gifts in the days leading up to Christmas.  My goal is to have all presents bought before Thanksgiving and I will be done before others have even started. Thankfully, I got the difficult ones out of the way first and only have a few left to buy. To keep it simple this year, and also fun for me, I picked a theme for gift buying.  I chose one type of gift and everyone is getting that gift, but specific to their interests. If all goes well, I will do something similar next year

In my opinion, gift buying is getting out of hand.  Most, if not all, of the people we are buying for don't NEED anything. It becomes a dreaded chore to buy gifts.  The other chore is coming up with a list of what "I" want for everyone who will be buying "me" a present. "Don't get me anything" seldom works, so you're pressured to come up with something. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to buy gifts, wrap gifts, and give gifts! For any occasion and for no occasion. Christmas just tends to get stressful because there are so many at once. 

So here are 10 ideas if you need a place to start with your gift buying this year.

1.  Color
Pick a color and everyone gets a gift that color. Blue socks, blue craft paper, blue hot wheels, blue legos, blue baby doll outfit. That would cover gifts for my brother and his family. Pretty simple, huh? By the way, this is NOT what they are getting this year. Maybe next year...

2.  Alphabet
Buy each person a gift that begins with the first letter of their name.
Bobby gets blocks, Nadine gets notecards, Frankie gets a fishing lure, Patty gets pajamas.....

3.  Grateful
Buy/make each person some type of journal or notebook as simple or elaborate as you want.  There are MANY types of notebooks/journals from a basic spiral on the school suppy aisle or a nice leather one.  Decorate a child's with their name, stickers, etc or let them decorate their own.  Throughout the year, everyone will keep track of what they are thankful for. Daily would be optimal, but if they do it weekly or every few days, that is fine too. For young kids, it would be good family time to do this together. For babies, just make it up-thankful for clean diapers, milk, big brother making me laugh, kisses from my dog, my new sophie the giraffe toy, etc. Then next year, either at Thanksgiving or Christmas, everyone can bring their notebook and share a few things they were grateful for in the previous year.

4.  Same Thing
Pick an item that pretty much anyone can use. Everyone gets the same thing, but specific to them-different color, size, fragrance, etc.
Game, crazy socks, pajamas, movie, hat, candle or necklace for gals/something manly for guys, ....

5.  Gently Used
Got this idea from a friend. In her extended family, all their gifts must come from a thrift store/second hand/resale shop, etc. I know in Stillwater, the proceeds of these stores go to good causes like the humane society, domestic violence center, and habitat for humanity.  If I did this idea, I would make a tag to add to each present saying something like "your gift was bought from a store that will give money to help animals who need a home" (if it's for a kid) or "your gift was purchased from a store whose proceeds support our homeless shelter, hospice, habitat for humanity, etc"

6.  Donate to Charity
Instead of buying a present, make a donation to a charity. I have actually done this for my brother in the past. I think I simply told him, "instead of buying you a gift, I made a donation to your ministry that helps the homeless."  If you wanted, you could wrap a note or give them a note in an envelope. This could definitely work with adults. For kids, I think it would depend on age and the family.

7.  Small Christmas
Everyone gets a very small present, not necessarily cheap, but it has to be small enough to fit in a shoebox or even smaller box.  You could also do a very BIG Christmas, but depending on how many gifts you're taking to one location and traveling, it could be a challenge fitting everything into your car, or luggage if you are flying.

8.  Make It
Make everyone's gift.  Not sure why all my examples are my brother, but he loves my homemade granola and would rather have that than most things I could buy.  This option may take more time, but in some cases in may actually save you time.  You could sew, bake, make a photo book/album, wood items, paper items... I really should just stop because the possibilities are endless. If you don't want to make it yourself, you could buy items hand-made by someone else. 

9. One Store
Pick one store. Buy everyone's gift at that one store.

10.  Buy Yourself a Gift!
This idea came from a recent conversation I had with Matt. Instead of telling everyone what you want, what your kids want, what your dog wants, and what your neighbor's dog wants. Just buy yourself a present. Wrap it. Take it to your family get together.  (each person buys their own gift). Then you all open presents. It's a surprise to everyone else.  When you open it you say, "this is something I've really been wanting!" Everyone can admire each others gifts, everyone got what they wanted and everyone is happy. :)