Try this wise man’s Christmas gift plan if you want to keep the holidays simple and focused on the real reason for the season.
If you love gift-giving (and gift-receiving) as much as I do, I’m sure you have already stashed away a few items for your loved ones or perhaps you are preparing lists and beginning to scope out sales. If you haven’t yet thought about Christmas gifts, no worries. I hope this ideas helps you plan and strategize to make gifts a stress free part of your holiday season.
Throughout the season I’ll share gift ideas for kids of all ages. I hope to offer you helpful suggestions while introducing you to some of my favorite products for kids. But before we start making lists, I am sharing my personal Christmas gift plan – the one I’ve used since my oldest was first born – in order to establish from the very beginning that while gifts are one way we share Christ’s love on His birthday, it is not the main purpose of Christmas and needs to be kept in check each year.
I can easily get carried away, spending way too much money and buying things my kids don’t really need because I absolutely LOVE to give gifts. It’s one of the love languages that I not only love to receive but love to express to others. Knowing my weakness for a happy surprise, all wrapped up and ready to be revealed, my husband and I determined 5 years ago to follow a simple gift-giving plan with each other and our children as a way to keep Christmas under control and purposefully point our family to Christ with our gift-giving.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of frankincense and of myrrh. Matthew 2:11
Three gifts.
It was enough for the Son of God and it’s more than enough for us.
Each year we choose three gifts for our kids.
Gold – something big they’ve been wanting.
Frankincense – something for their body.
Myrrh – something for their personal or spiritual development.
And besides a few, fun stocking stuffers, this is what they receive every.single.year. Many years (depending on our finances that year) we keep the budget for these items at or under $100. We have learned that extravagance is not about quantity. . .it’s about the heart and pointing our children to the greatest Gift of all. Giving them gifts that go along with those given to Baby Jesus by the wise men, opens up our conversation about the story of Christmas in a tangible way their eyes can see and young hearts can understand.
If you’re following along our Advent Family Bible Study, your reading will purposefully lead up to the story of the Wise Men on Christmas Eve. Prayerfully consider adopting this or a similar gift-giving strategy and see the meaning of the season come together for your family. By keeping this often stressful and wallet-draining part of Christmas simple and strategic, we can allow space for Christ to come and fill our open hands with his extravagant, never-ending gifts of love, joy, hope and peace. . . gifts we never have to wait in long lines for and never, ever have to return.
Have you started a Christmas gift tradition or strategy for your family?
BLOOMTOWN FAITH – our family devotion Podcast is here! Join us December 1-24 for 5 minute, audio Advent devotionals you can listen to on the go!
Looking for SIMPLE ways to enjoy the season with family traditions that won’t bring overwhelm?
- Lead your family through a Bible ADVENTure from Genesis to Jesus’ birth with this simple Advent Bible Reading Plan.
- Follow hashtag #gatherforadvent on Facebook and/or Instagram where I’ll post the daily reading and a conversation question so you can continue your journey – anytime, anywhere!
- Listen to BLOOMTOWN, our brand new Podcast with a corresponding, 5 minute audio devotion you can listen to on the go!
- Grab our adorable Advent Story Cards, created in partnership with Color + Kindness, to give your kids a meaningful, hands on experience as you countdown to Christmas.
Advent Story Cards and the Bloomtown Podcast follow our #5andthrive Family Bible Study method.
A few years ago we put together these gift guides for kids of all ages. Take a look if you need some ideas for your kiddos!
I’m curious –I believe you also do santa. Just wondering are these 3 gifts from you or from santa? Or do you just do the stocking from santa? Love how you decided on the 3! Just trying to figure out how to do this but still keep the spirit of santa as well for our 18 month old. How do you handle gifts from others, such as grandparents? My mom really has a tendency to go overboard with gifts for our son…
Chandelle
http://www.midwest-mama.com
Love this idea. Perfect as they get older and the gifts they want get more spendy!
We don’t have a certain limit or plan that we follow, but we keep it simple as well. Each child usually receives 3 gifts plus a stocking and one gift of something we can do together as a family (game, outing, etc) . One thing we do as well is for them to each pick one item (under a certain $ amount) from the Samaritan’s Purse gift catalog. Then we give that gift in their honor. I’m looking forward to your gift suggestions! I still have a few to buy. On my blog I’m going to have a post up this week with an extensive gift guide of companies you can buy from that are ethically sourced or give back through your purchases. It’s such a fun time of year.
Lindsay, Love that!! Please share your post with us so we can tell our readers about it!
We’ve been doing this for 20+ years. Something else we do is take turns opening gifts. With 7 children it could be mass mayhem if everyone grabbed and opened at once (which was the tradition my husband grew up with). We start with one child (this rotates every year) and then rotate through the birth order and include mom and dad. This way, everyone gets to see and appreciate what everyone received.
Karen, I love that! And I bet it helps tremendously with seven kids! We only have two but still, it’s great to take turns so everyone can focus and be completely thankful and mindful of each gift. Thanks for sharing with us!