Get kids into the spirit of giving
October 30, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Christmas, Holiday Thrift, children's activity
For holiday gift giving, kids sometimes need a little push. I’m not a fan of giving gifts galore, but that’s mainly because I’m interested in more meaningful and less expensive holidays. That said, I also think it’s smart to include your child in what gift giving you do participate in, because kids tend to get, get, get during the holidays, so a little giving can go a long way at forming their mindset about the holidays. Also, this creates a good opportunity to discuss money and budgeting issues.
How to pull it off:
Give each child a set budget for gifts. I think it’s best if they use some of their own saved money too – from an allowance or birthday, but I’m not too strict on this because I know my son can’t get a job at eight years old. I usually give him some money and he’ll use $10-20 of his own (a lot for a little kid to give up if you consider the situation from their POV).
Have your child make a list of gift ideas. When Cedar was too little to write he’d draw his gift ideas, now he makes a short list. It’s often really hard for kids to think of gift ideas. Try the following to encourage them…
- Go through sale ads in the paper.
- Ask the right questions – “What does aunt Susan like to do for fun”, “Do you think your teacher would like homemade cookies or a nice pen?”, “What are your little brother’s favorite types of toys?” Leave the questions open ended so your child can come up with gift ideas on his own.
Have your child write down estimated cost per person before heading to the store – i.e. $10 for dad, $8 for his best friend, and so on.
Encourage meaning over the gift – for example, if your child buys the material for making a homemade picture frame will it be more loved than a flat out purchased gift? Could he help his grandma clean her basement? Get him thinking about how he can make the holiday gifts more meaningful and less $ related.
How do you handle holiday shopping and gifts with the kiddos?
[image via stock.xchng]
