As Christmas season is in full swing and many people have already bought way more gifts than anyone needs, I decided to share a unique experience from last year. If you want your children to think a little more about what they're buying/giving and take away the focus on money, this idea could help give a new perspective.
Last year, was the 2nd Christmas since I stopped working. We've never really spent a lot for Christmas anyway, but we knew that 2012 would be even less. On the first weekend of December, the fuel pump went out on the the truck while I was driving down 75 and that took the small amount that we had managed to save for Christmas. We informed the children that they would get gifts from grandparents and all that usual stuff, but that we wouldn't be able to buy them any gifts. They were totally ok with it. Our children usually have to struggle to come up with 1 or 2 things to put on their Christmas list anyway. Since they didn't ask for anything, they weren't upset to not get anything.
There was just one disappointment. We have one Christmas tradition that we really enjoy and we didn't want to miss it. Every year the kids receive their gifts in a scavenger hunt. They each get a unique clue that leads to one present. When they find the gift, they bring it to the couch. When all 3 of them are on the couch, they take turns opening the gift. After the gift is opened and reactions are enjoyed, they receive the clue for the next gift. They usually have between 3 & 5 gifts, none of which are really a big deal. The process takes a while and it really is more about the fun than just about getting a gift. How could we keep the family tradition?
On either Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve eve, Floyd was at work and the kids and I were discussing how we really wanted to have a scavenger hunt. It became a brainstorm session on how we could still have our scavenger hunt and boy did they come up with an excellent plan! We all went to our rooms and brought out what little cash or change we had. It was just over $16 on hand, which is a little more than $3 per person. Here is their genius idea: we put all 5 names in a jar and each drew one. Each person got $3.25 (that's enough money to spend $3 and cover the 8.25% tax) to spend on the person whose name they drew. We would take a trip to the Dollar Tree just around the corner from our house. You could only spend the $3.25 and everything had to be from the Dollar Tree. When Floyd got off work, we all went to the Dollar Tree for our adventure. Since the funds were so limited and it was the only gift the person was getting, you had to choose carefully for that person. What would they really like? What would mean something to them?
Once we got home with our gifts, we had an excellent plan on how to exchange them. We all have stockings with our name embroidered, so we would use those. Instead of our own gift being in our stocking, we put the gift that we bought for someone else in our stocking. A little scavenger hunt with clues would lead to the correct stocking for each person. When they finally got the correct stocking, they would know who bought for them.
We had just as much fun with our $3.25 gifts as with any other Christmas gift before. In fact, it might have been a little more fun. As we pulled our gifts from the stockings, it was neat to see how well the other person knew you and what they really thought you'd want from the Dollar Tree.
It might seem silly, but having such a small amount required more thought. If I gave you $50 or $100 you could find lots of things for someone and I'm sure they'd all be lovely, but how hard would you really have to think? There is no right or wrong way to do it, but I'd encourage you to give this a try. Let us know if you do. We'd love to hear how it worked for others.
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