This year I took a different approach to gift giving for the family. Instead of buying a bunch of toys for my kids, that would inevitably end up cluttering up the house, I opted to buy one family gift and accessories to go with it.
Early this year I began saving for a Wii. In September, when Wiis became available at Target, I had the money saved up and paid for one with cash. I had money left over, so I got some extra controllers and a couple of games. That’s all my kids got from us. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, and I was a little bit worried about how it would go over.
At first the kids were a bit disappointed when they saw that every gift under the tree was addressed to both of them. The disappointment didn’t last long though, and it was fun to hear them discuss what they would be getting. Sam was sure they were getting NASCAR stuff, and Liz determined that the gifts must be Webkinz related.
When Christmas morning rolled around, there was no arguing about opening presents. The kids each took their turns opening gifts, and they didn’t argue about who got to open what. My son’s reaction when he opened his first gift (a Mario Kart game) was “We don’t have a Wii!” It was kind of funny.
When all the presents were opened, the kids had fun playing the different games together. It was refreshing to see them playing together, as there aren’t a lot of interests in common between a 10 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. Later on, Grandma even got into the act.
After all is said and done, I would definitely consider a family gift again. The Wii has provided us with lots of family time, and my kids are actually moving on those rainy days when we’re stuck in the house.
Most of all, I appreciate the lack of clutter. It seems like every year my kids get various toys from all their relatives, and though they appreciate the toys, I think they get overwhelmed by the sheer number of new things. And eventually the things turn into extra clutter.
By investing in the Wii, we can keep adding games to it. Games that don’t take up a lot of space. It was a worthwhile purchase, and it was made even better by the fact that we saved and paid cash.
Last year I wrote about how my son wanted a Hot Wheels Game and a Wii for Christmas. I said it was not a good purchase for us at the time, because we would have had to go into debt to buy it. This year, the timing was right, and my son got his Wii. And last night when we had our Christmas party with the extended family, his uncles got him his Hot Wheels Game. I think my son would say it was worth the wait.
Have you ever done a family gift? How did it go over with the kids?
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December 29th, 2008 at 5:42 am
I think that’s wonderful. This year we told the kids (8 & 6) that they could ask Santa for 1 thing each. They did and that plus a few stocking stuffers was all Santa left. They were thrilled! We really focused them in on the anticipation factor of their “1 thing” so when it arrived it was VERY well received. The other gifts they received from us were all handmade and practical (but NOT boring) and there were only 3 each of those.
Last year we went crazy at Christmas (still dealing with my Mother’s absence) and this year we kept things VERY small and controlled - this year was nicer by far!
We love our wii and try to only buy games that are 4-player (or 2 for just the kids). What I like about the wii is that it’s fun for the whole family; we love board games as well.
December 29th, 2008 at 5:44 am
we are close to another family and we agreed that we would only make presents for each other this year, and they had to be for the whole family. i made a big supply of cookie dough (their favorite) for them, and they made a charades game for us. for the game they put in cards of various things from our shared history, like interests (football) and particular events (my daughter’s eye surgery). they made sure to include simple things that our kids can all do — they range from 5 to 7.
we played the game on christmas eve when they came over for dinner and it was so much fun! my daughters wanted to play again last night and we did. this was such a simple gift, but so meaningful.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:47 am
For my extended family I sent a puzzle from Ravensburger. As puzzles go it was expensive, but it is very family friendly. It consists of 4 smaller puzzles (32 pieces to 500 pieces) so there are 4 levels of difficulty. Each puzzle can stand alone. When all four puzzles are pushed together they make one large picture. My parents have a large dining room table with room for 4 groups of puzzlers, and the family got together on the 27th for eating and this was there for them to do!
This is definitely something I am going to do next year again!
December 29th, 2008 at 6:59 am
We do a big gift and stockings from Santa for each boy, and a gift from Mom and Dad for each boy. Basically 4 gifts and stocking stuffers. And they still have way too much stuff!
For birthday parties, in lieu of gifts the boys collect for a cause. For my youngest’s first birthday, we did Toys for Tots. Two Marines attended his party, one just back from a combat tour in Iraq. This year my oldest (5th birthday) chose his cause; school supplies for foster children.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:27 am
I do give family gifts some years - this one included. And mostly I like the idea that it promotes family unity, and eventually, good shared memories of spending good quality time together.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am
We often got “share” gifts as kids. I can’t remember anything specific at the moment, but probably things like movies, games, and that sort of thing. No video games in my house growing up, but I think something like what you did would have gone over very well.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:09 am
We were going to do the same thing and had saved all year for it but some financial things came up so we didn’t do it. We did however, have my mom get them all a Nintendo DS and they share the games and help each other a lot!! It’s wonderful. I will be doing a Wii for Christmas next year and getting games for each of them!!
December 29th, 2008 at 10:08 am
We did a large family gift this year, actually a Wii, and did a few small gifts from Santa. Otherwise they got clothes and my stepdaughter is really into cooking so I got her a cookbook for her age group. For one thing, all of us love to play the Wii so it’s some great family time, plus it really did save us from having to open 904876348576 things and then pick up after them. Plus, their cousins also did a family gift Wii too so now they can play online with their cousins. I definitely am considering doing something like this every year, especially since we have a house now it’d be nice to get something that we all can enjoy.
Also, since we always give donate toys every year, it seems like most of them end up being the toys they got for christmas the year before. It got my husband and I to thinking about what a waste that can be for us, when they don’t even enjoy them for a full year!
I think next year we’re going to look into getting a play area for the kids as their gift including swingset and bike area. We have a great dane and a lab so the backyard is pretty much off limits!!
December 29th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
No we don’t really do that. We have friends that do it though. They have bought a flat screen t.v., a foosball table, a ninento, and things like that. We never did because it was to expensive. Besides, somebody gave my kids a ninento for free when they got a new one.
If we had the extra money and could afford it we would do something like that probably. The only “family” thing we give is a vacation (about every four years or so) and we buy dvds ever so often.
My kids are four years apart and so buying a family gift when they were younger would have been difficult.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’m glad that your kids are happy with their gift. My kids have a Wii, also and I think it’s a great game system. This year, I asked my kids (both teenagers - 15 & 17) what they wanted for Christmas and neither could think of one thing. So, since we’re saving for a car for my daughter and a possible trip to Texas for my son, we decided to do stockings only. Nothing very expensive, but each item thoughtful and fun. After we watched them open the stockings, my daughter (the 15 yr. old) said, “This is just enough.” And later on in the day I asked her if she had a nice Christmas and she said it was ‘perfect’. I have to admit - it felt strange not rushing around purchasing this and that and the frenzy of wrapping, but I’m over THAT. It was very enjoyable, much less stressful, much more economical, and I intend on doing it again next year.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
My family always did the family gift until the last of us had left home. We got much a much loved trampoline, games console and even a computer one year that way.
When we got a little bit older, we got to choose what we wanted together and went shopping with our mother for our “Santa” presents.
This is something I plan on doing with my own children when I have them.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I think the wii was a great idea. We bought a wii last year and shortly thereafter my wife parents, brother, sister, and grandparents all ended up buying one because of how much fun they had playing with ours. Enjoy the gift.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I think that was a great idea! It might not work every year because you may find it difficult to find one gift and/or gift + accessories that both children will be excited about - especially as boys ad girls get older. But the Wii is the perfect example of how this can work very well. Very cool.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Let me tell you as a ten year old gamer to always buy used games from Gamestop or even Craigslist.
You can save plenty of money, and I have never had a disc that didn’t work.
Also, check out gamefly for rentals. Email me if you want more details…
January 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Usually we do gifts from each of the kids to each other person in the family (so each person would be giving 5 gifts . . . that makes 30 gifts, PLUS Santa gifts!!). This year we toned it down a few notches (quite a few) and I purchased 4 family gifts. The kids drew numbers on Christmas Eve, and I put said numbers on the packages. They didn’t get to open them until Christmas, but they went over really well! (We got Guess Who, Dominos, Speakers for the kids computer, and Pictureka (you can see it here: http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/pictureka/). They loved them!! And it was much more budget friendly!!
They still got “Santa” gifts (although, NONE of the presents had a “from” on them).