My mom and dad (well okay, mostly my mom) buys tons of stuff for all of the grandkids for Christmas. They used to do this for their birthday's also, but two years ago I suggested they take them somewhere one on one....their choice of a day, overnight, two nights, etc...and they let my kids pick the locaton. My parents only rule is no diapers.
So what else can they do for Christmas without my kids having too much STUFF?
I'm thinking next year for us that we might plan a cruise for the day after Christmas and have that be what the kids get from us instead of a million things. Santa will still bring 3 gifts a piece...but then we'll do a cruise as our family gift. MAYBE.
Obviously I don't want my parents to have to fund all types of vacations...but is there anything you all can think of that is clever, still gives the kids something they love, and doesn't fill my house with unnecessary stuff?
(My parents are AWESOME shoppers and the kids got great gifts, but they also got some that were only to fill under the tree...I want to avoid those :).)
Memberships is good! We live about 90 minutes away from DC and Baltimore, so I'm not sure the amount of use we;d get, but that's a great idea :).
Love the stocks too! The kids could learn how to work the stock market (along with me) and that would be awesome!
Casey are you kidding me? My parents are wonderful people, but my mom likes to buy my kids stuff. I'd much rather them give them experiences than stuff. Just because I don't wait for the last minute to plan for big changes doesn't mean I'm a bad person. I think your response is rude and non-helpful. That's what the site is for. OBVIOUSLY you should have not responded.
My mom was so excited at the idea of giving the kids experiences from here on out rather than tons of gifts. The kids LOVE their individual trips, so why not build onto that?! So excited!! And the hubby is really warming up (haha) to the idea of a cruise!
Tickets to a sporting event
Season passes to Kings Dominion or other amusement park that is closer
For any girls: Bath sets (they are useable and therefore disposable)
I saw an article on yahoo several weeks ago that I wish I could find for you. It gave me some other ideas about non-"stuff" Christmas gifts that are more meaningful. Most of them were memberships to various places or consumable things (lotions, bath sets, shampoo sets, etc)
What about zoo memberships, childrens museum memberships, movie tickets, waterpark tickets, etc. Experiences, not "stuff"!
I would suggest a stock portfolio. For instance they could open etrade accounts for each kid. One year buy Coca Cola Stock. They could give them each a little Coca Cola Bear or an old fashioned glass bottle of Mexican Coke to open to represent it. The next year buy Disney and give the kids a DVD of Mickey Mouse cartoons. If they just buy stocks in iconic things that are never going to go away, the kids should have something of value by the time they are old enough to understand it.
what about greatwolf lodge or christmas town at busch gardens. or season passes to kings dominion or busch gardens.
My mother buys a bond for each great grandchild for birthdays and xmas. She wraps up the receipt for the kids to open so they know they got something and they get very excited seeing the number of bonds and amount growing! They all know they will have some money to use to get started on their own when the time comes. It's the gift that keeps on giving!
$ for university - to my in-laws we suggest a fun, small toy to open, then cash/money order that we invest on the kids' behalf ...may not sound glamorous, but our 5 year old already likes to see the numbers increase in his account and he notices when he hears something about "his" companies (stocks) on the radio etc. It's more fun than it sounds. :D
I didn't read all the responses, but I would defnitely start steering the children away from receiving so much stuff period, from anyone. Have you sat down with your parents and had a frank discussion about the fact that you want them to give less stuff? When my only child was a toddler, all of my husband's family gave 2 or 3 gifts each for his 2nd Christmas and birthday, and the number of items was embarassing. I frankly told them that was too much and please don't do that again. One gift each is plenty, and they listened.
Have you thought of helping your children each pick a favorite charity, then asking your parents to "help" them donate time, items or money to those charities all year long? Most folks only think of helping out during the holidays, but suffering people and animals need help the whole year. Have an SPCA birthday party where the family gives the birthday kid one or two gifts, and the guests all bring gifts for your local animal shelter. Same thing can be done for a local pregnancy crisis center or homeless shelter, soup kitchen, etc. Then let your child actually deliver the stuff and get a feel for the need that exists. Best wishes to you!
Christmas town at Busch Gardens
Williamsurg at Christmas
Day trip to the zoomuseums with Metro ride
Museum trip to Richmond
Great Wolf Lodge
Skiing at Massanutten
Lighthouses trip, see all the lighthouses in VA and MD. WE've done all of NC's, its; a blast, if they are open this time of year.
Chincoteague
NYC trip to see a show, or even DC theater
Stay in a fancy hotel, like the Ritz Carlton for a weekend
Rachel:
Just ignore people like those who don't "get" you or understand your question! URGH!!!
I think this is WONDERFUL!!! I did something I typically don't do - I read through the responses first!!
I LOVE the idea of your parents buying the kids stocks - my parents set up a savings account for Greg and Nick this year at Navy Federal (GOOO NAVY!!) so they can see their bank account in person (USAA is only in Texas as you know!!)
My girlfriend, Mary, bought her kids stock in Hershey Park. They got an certificate that was framed and it hangs in their room.
I love love love the idea of a family cruise. Building memories is better than ANY gift!!!
