3 Ways to Simplify Christmas Gifting

It was Christmas Eve circa 199_ and I was anticipating the following day like any typical American kid on Christmas Eve. I was excited for it all, the gifts especially. My mom always made Christmas feel magical. Her love language is gifts and it shines bright on Christmas. I knew I would probably get the things I wanted as I drifted off to sleep that night. On the big day, we were knee deep in wrapping paper and we got everything we dreamed along with some money to go shopping. A few days later we piled into the car to go shopping a town away. The 30 minute drive turned into a few hours and my parents played it off as if they were lost. They pulled into a hotel parking lot and my mom went inside to ‘ask for directions’. We were too young to catch on. A few minutes later she came out and said we were staying in the hotel for the night and going shopping. We went to the mall and were able to pick out anything we wanted and although it was fun to spend my own money, I most remember experiencing it all with my family. The hotel, the pool, the fancy glass elevator doors, the shopping together. It’s probably the Christmas I remember the most in my parent’s home. It was most definitely magical.

Fast forward a little over twenty years later and I am in charge of the Christmas magic in our home. Like my mom, I truly enjoy gift giving. It brings me joy to give gifts to the people I love. Being in charge of Christmas in our household makes me happy, but can also become a burden if I let it be. Over the years, I have learned some ways to simplify gift giving from friends, writers, and a whole lot of trial and error. These three ways to simplify gift giving have saved me time, energy, and my sanity during the magical Christmas season. Most importantly, because they have helped to save my time and energy, I am able to use those precious resources on the my family and focusing my attention on the reason for the season: the baby in the manger.

Most of you already know about my Christmas Plan, so you already know I am close to completing my Christmas shopping. These things have helped make my shopping lots easier.

3 Gifts

When I first started having babies, we did four gifts at Christmas. Something to wear, something to read, something you want, something you need. That worked for awhile, but then I discovered my kids didn’t always need things that fit into those specific categories. Now we do three gifts for each kid (and separate stockings) based on Jesus’ three gifts from the wise men. My mother-in-law does this as well and I may have talked my mom into it this year, too! #allthepraisehands

The average American will spend approximately $700 on Christmas gifts this year. My husband and I’s focus the last several years has been on quality over quantity. Instead of giving my kids 20 small things that will break or get tossed the first few months, we want to give them things of quality. The three gifts Kevin and I choose for our kids are thoughtful and special and tailored to them.

If your family is wanting to implement three gifts this year, but have done big Christmases in the past with lots of presents, it might be good to have some conversations leading up to the big day so everyone has the same expectations. Almost like clock work, every Christmas Eve I look at Kevin in a panic and think we don’t have enough presents under the tree. He talks me off the cliff and of course the kids are thrilled with the presents they receive and it is always enough. Implementing three gifts is one way to simplify Christmas gift giving.

Exchanges

Anyone else feel like there are so many gifts exchanges with so many different groups of people? Me too. I enjoy them, but sometimes they can be a little overwhelming. Below are a few ways to make exchanges simpler.

If you don’t want to participate in an exchange, don’t.

It’s okay to get off the hamster wheel. It’s definitely okay to opt out of a gift exchange for any reason. Just be sure to give the group or person a heads up that you aren’t going to participate. When one of my cousins and I started having babies, she asked if we could stop exchanging gifts and focus our attention more on the kids. I was thrilled and was so glad she brought it up. Communication is important. Stepping away from an exchange can be hard, but if it saves your sanity, it’s worthwhile.

Instead of buying something for everyone in the group, do a favorite thing.

A good friend recently brought up this idea in a friend group. We all usually bring small gifts for one another and she asked if everyone would be okay bringing one favorite thing instead. YES! It simplified shopping and this way everyone goes home with one really nice thing.

Ask

Okay, so this one is super simple. Ask people what they want. I ask my kids and husband what they want, I ask my parents what they want. I ask nieces and nephews what they want. It takes the guess work out of the ‘perfect gift’. There are times I want to get something special for someone that I think they will really like and then other times I will just ask. And I don’t think it’s lazy or not thoughtful this way. In fact, I think it’s super thoughtful to ask someone you love what they want. This way you aren’t wasting money on something they aren’t going to enjoy and they aren’t having to think about what they are going to do with something they didn’t want in the first place.

Gift giving doesn’t have to be drudgery. It can be fun and light and simpler with a few tweaks here and there. Tell me: how do you make gift giving simpler in your home?