Thursday, December 03, 2009

Christmas Budget?

It has been interesting to read on different Blogs thoughts and opinions on Christmas Gift budgets and things along that line.

Sheila at "To Love, a Honor and Vacuum" suggested doing (and I quote her): "the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh ritual, where they each get three gifts, and nothing more. The gold gift is something they want. The frankincense gift is something they need, like socks. And the myrrh gift is something to nurture their souls. It could be a journal, or a book, or a CD, or a movie. It’s something that reminds them of their purpose here on earth, or encourages them to think, to write, and to pray about what’s important. It’s always the biggest challenge to find such a thing, but it’s a challenge I’m up for, since it reminds us of the reason for the season. And I’m pretty sure, despite what the flyers might say, that reason should not be greed. Pass it on."

What do you think? I thought this was an excellent idea. I had all ready got all the kid's their gifts at the time that I came across this but I applied it to the gifts that I bought my husband ($30-$50 limit). I think that he is also doing the same for me. I am excited to see what he comes up with as he is always very creative in his gift giving. I am considering doing this 3 gift things, for the kid's, next year. When I mentioned it to our daughter and she wasn't at all keen, thinking she would miss out, but our son thought it was cool. So we shall see. I like the idea of fighting against greed...and not going all crazy with so many gifts.

Our family decided on what i consider to be a very modest $100 budget for each child. Then an additional $30 each for stocking stuffers. This is a challenging budget to keep with kid's that are getting older (ie. asking for more expensive items) but I have been blessed to find great deals (ie. a bag at old Navy for our daughter that was .97 cents!!!) and I have not gone over on our agreed budget. They will have about 7-8 gifts, each to open under the tree.

So, that is what we are doing this year. What about you?

3 comments:

Patty said...

Our budget is modest - about $150 for all three kids total. But we just got back from Africa & that is what we can do. They are younger so I think it's probably easier for us to keep the budget tight than for older kids. Webkinz are $5 at Target so that is a big help! :) I also bought them costumes after halloween for $2.50 each. They love to dress up any time of year. Also, they are going to get gifts from other people too...

Maureen said...

Great Ideas.
My neighbour used to do 3 gifts representing Father Son Holy Spirit.
These were wrapped extra special and 2 gifts from Mom and Dad and anything else unwrapped came from Santa.This was many years ago.
Patty, she also had her husband make a chest and she painted it bright colours and throughout the year she collected old clothing and went to used clothing stores,then filled the chest.Written on it was Christmas Tickle Trunk. She would fill it every year,the one thing the kids looked forward to.
As for me The grandkids are the spoiled ones and my kids something small and a gift card.Steve and I don't buy for each other anymore and have decided our Christmas gift is getting up early heading to my daughters and watching the kids open up their presents. We have so much fun remembering our kids when they were small and making new memories of excited sleepy faces and also the Joy on the faces of their parents.

redeemed diva said...

Thanks for sharing what Sheila wrote. I like it. We usually do Christmas--the whole shebang for $300. I'm an eagle-eye shopper who picks up things after season when everything is 75% off. I can see this budget increasing as my kids get older. We also buy Christmas for another family which is usually 1/3 of our Christmas budget. Stocking stuffers needs a budget all it's own, eh?! I actually get more of a kick out of buying for the stockings!