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Asking family for Christmas gifts
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A toddler might like a felt book of Bible stories. When my children were toddlers, their great-grandmother made them a “Quiet Time Book”. It was all pieces of felt with background scenes, and each scene had its own plastic baggy of felt characters. There was an Adam and Eve scene, a Noah’s Ark scene, a scene of Jesus coming out of the tomb. All we had to do was sit with them in our laps and tell the stories using the characters. The book was bound in three places by yarn, and we stored it in a gift box. It was such a simple, precious gift, and my children enjoyed it for years.
That’s all I have time to post for now. I’ll try to think of more…
Several years ago, I asked the many grandparents if they would give money instead (rude, I know). Then I pooled it all together to get passes to a theme park. We live in Florida : ) We’ve done this every year since and have gone to different theme parks over the years. We’ve considered getting camping equipment this year or maybe saving it for a big trip somewhere as a family. We get time together and no toys added to our small house. : )
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention – Play Silks. My kids love these and use them for all kinds of dress up and pretend play. Add in some of these Jumbo Chip Clip Things and they transform spaces into all sorts of forts, caves, etc. These have had the most use in my home second to none and we’ve had ours 9 years now.
My 3 yo has this felt Busy Bible and loves it.
A zip line, sandbox, or see-saw to share.
For those who are handy or who have friends/relatives that are, here are some ideas that my husband has made over the years.
- One year my husband made a set of play stands like these for the cost of lumber and time.
- He also made a pair of stilts for some friends’ kids for the cost of lumber.
- Ladder and platform on tree for the zip line we bought
- Homemade Nuts & Bolts – takes only an hour tops to make and my little ones love this
I like this thread!
They have very high quality microscopes at Nature’s Workshop workshopplus.com
I don’t know what you mean by not costing an arm and leg, but they have elementary school models for below $100 or up to $160 I think. We got our high school one there, and it is so amazing. We wish we had gotten it years earlier.
I love all the other ideas people have posted. I needed some good suggestions for grandparents this year too. My mother in law will be asking soon.
Thanks
Oh my goodness, Missceegee … those chip clips have a million and one uses, don’t they?! I swear, my 3yo could carry one around all day and find a million ways to entertain himself.n(Though I generally have to interject, “No, don’t clip your tongue! Not the dog’s tail, either!”)
Though this may be a little gauche, I actually make up Amazon wishlists for my kids, so if anyone asks what they’d like, I can just direct them there. It cuts down on duplicate gifts and the “wrong” item being bought by mistake. (My kids are the only grandchildren on both sides, so we’re inundated with gifts every Christmas! This is one way to make sure the stuff they get is fairly high-quality, too. My ILs in particular have a habit of buying a lot of little inexpensive things that break quickly instead of just one or two nice, quality items.)
Sanveann, I hate to tell you, but my 6yo son will still try to clip things like tongues, dog tails, and the like. Sort of like my 3yo who sticks her brother’s nerf bullets to her glasses and will walk around like that for an hour, but I digress.
Sanveann,
That’s exactly what my in-laws have been known to do in the past too. Last Christmas was, by far, the best yet; but my kids still received several questionable and cheap items. My mom even found some cheap stuff, and I was like, “Seriously??”
This has been a fun thread! I’ll have more time tomorrow to browse through everything thoroughly and make a pretty extensive list!
Sanveann,
That’s exactly what my in-laws have been known to do in the past too. Last Christmas was, by far, the best yet; but my kids still received several questionable and cheap items. My mom even found some cheap stuff, and I was like, “Seriously??”
This has been a fun thread! I’ll have more time tomorrow to browse through everything thoroughly and make a pretty extensive list!
I’m new to the forum, but I thought I’d add what we do at our house for Christmas. I am trying hard to teach my ds (5) that Christmas is not all about presents. I have explained this to the grandparents and asked that they try hard to restrict their gifts to a new article of clothing and one toy. We have a rule of no batteries and must be something that requires the kids to interact with the toys. I really like all the suggestions for things to get the kids as I too am running out of stuff (and bookshelves) to tell the grandparents. Another question. What is good for 1 year olds? I can’t stand the plastic stuff they make for babies and my dd puts everything in her mouth.
I am resurrecting this to say THANK YOU!!!!! I was completely out of ideas this year. I just happened to be searching for something else, and found this thread. Absolutely the best timing ever.
For toddlers, here is my preliminary list (this is for a boy, 17 mths, 4th child but 1st boy)
Basketball hoop
Toddler T-Ball set
Activity cube
Toddler tools
Stacking cups or blocks
Toddler-sized cars
Another question: we buy only for our godchildren, so we have a 10yo girl and an almost-13yo boy to buy for. What in the world do you get them? LOL Our kids are no older than 7, so I have no idea. They are not homeschooled, but they do go to private Christian schools. Any great ideas that are not twaddle or “dumb?” Thanks!
What a great thread! My boys (9 and almost 8) get so excited when the new Vision Forum catalog comes in the mail. Then they will spend hours going over it (and online) picking out what they like. Everything from toys, dvd’s, cd’s and books. We then send the list to grandparents. (we usually go through the list first though to narrow it down).
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