As a new mom and with the holidays approaching I’ve been doing some serious thinking about what I want the holidays to be like in our family going forward. When it comes to Christmas and gift giving, I have always struggled with the consumer culture that has seemingly taken over the holiday season. When I learned about the five gift Christmas rule, it seemed like such a good solution and something I’ll be trying to implement in our family.
What is the Five Gift Christmas?
The Five Gift solution is pretty simple and follows these general guidelines: want, need, wear, read and be.
- Want: Something your child wants and where most larger gifts would fall. Think toys, electronics, craft kits, etc.
- Need: This gift provides an opportunity to provide your child with something they need- maybe a backpack for school, new shoes or new bedding.
- Wear: This one is simple, find your child something they’d love to wear!
- Read: Develop your child’s love of learning with a new book, magazine subscription or cookbook.
- Be: This gift is experience based and somewhere to “be.” This could be a family trip to the zoo, a sporting event or even something like swim lessons!
How do you keep the holidays simple in your home? Drop a comment below!
[…] stress. Shifting the focus away from gifts is important to me, so we’ll be following the five gift rule. Check out my post on this concept! You could also choose to do a family gift exchange to limit buying, or opt for homemade […]