No matter how old your kid is when the holiday season starts, you are probably already packed with clutter.
Our friend Sunny suggests a few gifts that will not result in more stuff to put away, step around, or sterilize. Feel free to share this post with your parents, and please add your own feedback if you have more ideas.
- membership to a museum or zoo
- music classes
- babysitting hours or payment of the babysitter
- gift certificate for shoes for baby: Nordstrom, Stride Right, etc
This tactic is especially delightful if you have to travel for the holidays — nothing to carry home or set off the security alerts!!!
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RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents and are the authors of The Rookie Mom's Handbook and Stuff Every Mom Should Know.
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Great post with great ideas. I’d love it if somebody made a charitable donation in my name rather than giving me a gift.
The site Buy Nothing Christmas ’06 has lots of ideas, too. (http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html)
This is so true. I always have my stepson go through his toys right before Xmas and we fill up bags of stuff to give to Goodwill to make room for all the new toys! I would love for someone to give him/us a membership to a museum or something like that. It really is a better idea than a toy that will get used 3 or 4 times!
With the articles about the toxins in plastics… some of the best things are free… that is what my depression-era grandmother taught me. I believe it is true.
Planting trees, etc. are also good ideas.
My husband and I have a tradition with his sister and her husband that we all go out to dinner together during the holiday season. My husband’s mom watches the kids, and we have an a dinner with grown-up conversation. It’s a really nice way to celebrate the season with an emphasis on sharing quality time with our family.
[...] 12-18 months We’ve been waiting all year to tell you about the cuteness of Jasper Hearts Wren clothes. Please, buy some for your favorite toddler. We also love personalize shirts with favorite parks, nicknames, or inside jokes. For toddlers who demand to be near you all the time, we love the LeapFrog Fridge Farm. For the non-material gift, we love a gift membership to a nearby children’s museum or zoo or a semester of a music class like Music Together. [...]
[...] Related post: Babies should wish for non-material possessions [...]
Very smart ideas!
I would love for someone to give our small family the gift of getting the three of us together in a pretty spot and taking our photo. Not just a passing snapshot where two out of three are blinking or looking away, but a series of photos so at least one would turn out lovely. Then we could have that as our 2008 Christmas family photo. I might do that for someone…
Maybe a friend with lots of kids; they probably have even fewer proper photos than me
I mean…OK, a photo isn’t really non-material in the exact sense, but if you use digital film then it’s not adding to someone’s physical clutter!