Five Gift Christmas {Plus a Free Printable}

5 Gift Christmas

This is a new tradition we are starting this year.

Over the years we have spent too much money and too much time late at night, the night before Christmas Eve or Christmas wrapping numerous gifts. It’s not like all of them were toys; items often included lots of things like clothes, socks, underwear or others but I feel like it was getting in the way of what the season is really all about.

Plus the regular ole items (undies, socks, etc.) our children need anyhow could just be purchased throughtout the year and don’t need to wait until Christmas to be given. 

It can get overwhelming buying a lot of gifts. Especially for 4 kids (we are expecting baby #4 at the end of this year or beginning of next year) 🙂 Plus they really don’t need a lot since it’s not about the gifts and we have more than enough.

So, I first came across this idea from my friend Erin, The Humbled Homemaker and Stacy, from Stacy Makes Cents. I thought, gosh, only 3 gifts, but the past couple years the concept has grown on my husband and I. 

So we decided to take snippets from both of those ladies and create our own. They will get 5 things plus one Santa gift and of course their stockings. Here are some thoughts on Santa and reasons we “include” him. 

Five Gift Christmas:

I won’t take a lot of time to explain all of these because they are self explanatory. These are the categories of what we are going to get our kids this year:

  • Something they Want
  • Something they Need
  • Something to Wear
  • Something to Read
  • Something Kingdom (faith-based)

Examples could be: Lincoln Wants a specific Lego set, London Needs a small dresser for her room. Something to Wear… Julia needs a new coat and something to Read… Lincoln is going to get a chapter book he’s been asking about. Something Kingdom, which we are using instead of spiritual, meaning faith-based. So maybe a cross necklace for Julia or a boy’s devotional book for Lincoln and a Veggie Tales Nativity for London. (We are still working on getting gifts and deciding exactly what we are getting our them.)

To go along with this new tradition, I made a printable my kids can fill out as they think of things that fall under certain categories. Feel free to use this concept with your kids! 🙂

My Christmas Wishlist {FREE Printable}

You can get your Christmas Wishlist Printable here

What new traditions are you starting this year? How many gifts do you get your children? 

About Rachel

Rachel is a mother to four children and a wife to a wellness doctor. Her passions are faith, family, and health. You can find her writing about her family adventures and inspiring you to make healthier choices for your family.

Comments

  1. Ceri yates says:

    Yeah, this year is the first we are really enforcing the 3 gift rule (cause poor) but it has girls to really think about what they would really want. And, while we don’t do Santa, we still hang stockings and they’ll have stuff in them too. I’ve also encouraged the grandparents to not just buy stuff to fill the bottom of the tree. Help us out of debt, that’d be nice. But, I really want the focus to be on Jesus, a season of giving and a house of love. We’ll see how it goes.

  2. It’s nice to break the list down into categories like that.

  3. What a terrific idea! It would really help the kids change focus from “I waaannnt!” Will be printing this out. THanks!

  4. This is our last year doing our regular Christmas. My husband & I have decided to make birthdays big and Christmas small. It is a holiday about Christ not us. We wouldn’t even have Christmas if he wasn’t born. Or salvation for that matter.

    Anyway..I really like this printable you have for us. I watched your YouTube video and came here.

    Thank you for sharing this with us.