Shop Early, Shop Creatively 2016 Gift Guide
Woohoo! Time for all the fun of Christmas shopping. Oh, you don’t enjoy it? Dreading the stores? Meeeee tooooooo. I do not enjoy crowds and fluorescent lights and overpriced things. Sometimes finding the perfect gift is nearly stress-inducing. Hopefully, this list will give you some ideas to make the joy of giving return!
I’m big on minimal gifts–minimal but meaningful. Christmas can be enjoyed so much more, I think, when the whole day isn’t spent opening dozens of gifts and then feeling an enormous crash when the last gift is opened and the kids are cranky and fighting over some new gizmo. We enjoy Christmas in our jammies, with food all day, Christmas music on, lights on the tree all day, and gifts opened here and there. Opening slowly allows us to dive into the new books right away (as a few of mine do, almost always! They start reading as soon as the wrapping paper is off.), to play a new game, to start building with new Legos. {affiliate links follow}
Zelie and Co. is a group of Catholic women who support each other in handmade business. Find a list of their shops and many with discount codes here! You’ll find home decor, baby items, and more.
Blessed Is She has the most beautiful Advent set available, and another release of the planner. Shop here.
I like to add a new Christmas story each year. This one has been on my list for awhile.
Other faves include
We also enjoy activity books, like
This one is on my wishlist! With all the birthdays we celebrate, I love cake books. This would be great for a the baker in your life.
And how fun does this illustrated Hobbit look? What a great addition to a family library.
For kids, I also like to choose gifts that can be enjoyed by a crowd and different ages. Things like blocks and games. They seem to be perennial favorites.
I think kids 6ish and up are able to learn to play Mancala.
Other ideas? In the past we have also given each child a spiritual item, like a book about a saint or movie about a saint. This year we might consider the catchy idea of “something to wear, something to read, something you want, something you need”. Experiences are always fun gifts, too, like a pack of movie tickets, or a trip to an amusement park or going skiing or something you wouldn’t usually be able to do. Consider a membership to the zoo or a museum. What are your creative ideas for gifts? With 6 kids and 6 nieces and nephews, brothers, sisters, and in-laws, grandparents and Godparents, our lists can be long! But how exciting to bring the joy of gifting back with gift ideas like these, right?
