Tag Archives: holidays

A Green Christmas Can be a Budget Friendly Christmas

There are many wonderful things about Christmas, but there are also many stressful things about it. Many people complain about the expense of buying so many gifts for family and friends. It adds up fast, not to mention how bad the whole mess can be for the environment. Isn’t there a better way?

There can be. You’ll have to change how you think of Christmas presents and be ready for people to be surprised at the kinds of gifts you give.

Give Time

For the people in your life who need just a little more company or someone to talk to, make their gift be your time. Promise to be there for them. Promise more visits where you’ll just sit and talk. Promise help running errands. Find things they need your help with, and offer your time.

This is great for grandparents and others who don’t need so many things in their homes, but often would like more company or help. It helps to create wonderful memories for all concerned and is a great example for the children in the family.

It’s also a good choice for your spouse. Give certificates promising a massage, a night out and so on.

Give Experiences

The gift of experiences is great for kids. Give fewer things for presents and give more promises of things done together. The kids may be skeptical at first, but if you choose right, they’ll enjoy the experiences tremendously.

Hiking is a good choice for those who like to do things outdoors. You may have to drive to a good place for hiking, but you can have a lot of fun together on the hike.

Taking kids to free activities is another good choice. Stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s often have free crafts for kids on Saturdays. Check the websites of your local stores and see what’s available.

Go to the Library

If your child loves books, more trips to the library is a great choice that won’t cost you anything. It’s great fun exploring all the library has to offer.

Many libraries have special activities you can attend. There may be story hour for preschoolers, for example. My local library also has a Toddler Boot Camp, which is a mom and toddler exercise time. Check your library’s website to discover the activities available to you.

The main thing to remember is that you can give more than just things for the holidays. Your time is far more valuable to those you care about than the things you can give them. They may not realize it right away, but most truly enjoy it when you give more of your time and focus less on things.

Buy Christmas Gifts That Encourage Kids to do More Outdoor Activities

Here it is, the start of the holiday shopping season, or at least the start I’m willing to admit to. I’m trying to ignore all those businesses that had Christmas stuff out back before Halloween, or the ones that tried to move Black Friday a week early.

At this time of year, kids are clamoring for all kinds of gifts. The hottest toys are discussed, and most kids want far more than they could ever play with. It can be pretty crazy.

With all the toys many children already have, I like to suggest thinking about what it is you’d like them to be doing, as well as what they like to do. Any gifts you do give you will want appreciated, after all.

My own favorite gift for my kids to get right now is anything that encourages them to be more active. They’re pretty active already, and I’d like it to stay that way as long as possible. Better for their health and certainly a better way for them to appreciate the world around them.

The really great part about outdoor activities is that whatever equipment they require is not likely to include a lot of small pieces to be left all over the house. Sports equipment and the like left around the yard, sure, but not all over the house.

Here are some ideas to get you going on shopping for outdoor toys and equipment for your own kids.

Wheeled

The right wheeled equipment depends on age. Younger kids will need more stable equipment than older kids, and any kid will need a bit of time to get used to unfamiliar equipment. But it’s all fun.

Consider a bike, tricycle, scooter, roller skates, skateboard, and any of their cousins. These help kids to be more active and learn to balance well. Don’t forget appropriate safety equipment and discussions.

Team Sports

Whether you enroll your kids in a team sport or just play at home with family and friends, team sports help your child be more physically fit and active while learning how to play on a team. Just how good the lesson is will depend on the particular team, since some overly emphasize winning and giving the top players most of the game time.

Your child probably has a favorite sport, and it’s best to stick with that when getting your child into a team sport. You can push for other sports, but if you’re going for more active, you want your child to enjoy what they’re doing. Physical activity should not be dreaded.

Swing Set

How can any young child resist a good swing set? It’s hard for many adults! Figure out the space you have and a reasonable budget, and get things moving.

There are of course many other ways to get kids active outdoors. What are the favorites in your family?

Frustrated with Halloween

I love Halloween. I really do. I make my kids’ costumes as much as they’ll let me, and I have to say my son’s spider-monkey costume came out great this year. Combination spider and monkey costume, and it took some work.

It turns out that our neighborhood is the big place to go for trick or treat. I don’t exactly know why, although a few houses do a really good job of decorating. But it was crazy. I was warned of the crowds by a neighbor, and had what I thought was a lot of candy.

It lasted an hour and a half, maybe 300 kids. My front door was rarely closed for even a minute during that time. The flow of children had barely slowed when I had to shut down for lack of candy.

That’s not what frustrated me. What frustrated me was the number of parents driving their kids for trick or treating or following them in their cars. What happened to walking?

A good number did walk, of course, but I was shocked by the numbers who drove. One family even had their kids getting in and out of the car at each house, driving in between.

This wasn’t all for little kids either. My husband said one car was trailing a group of about 10 girls who looked to be 13 or so. I’d expect a group of kids that big to be just fine without their parents following them, even on foot, never mind in a car.

First of all, the sheer waste of driving a car all around. Most people are quite capable of walking the usual distances for trick or treating. It can’t be good for the car’s engine to go at such low speed for so long, as well as how much idling there would be. What a polluting waste of fuel!

Second, they’re making it less safe for other trick or treaters by driving around. That’s more chance that one will make a mistake and hit someone else’s child. It would be low speed, most likely, but that’s still a risk.

Third, for the kids young enough to need a parent along for trick or treating, you’re missing out on the best part of going trick or treating with your kids, the interaction with them. You don’t have to go to the door with them, especially beyond the age where they’re comfortable doing so on their own.

You also miss out on chatting with other parents going the same way. Get the kids into a group and have fun chatting with the parents you know. More fun for all involved. That’s also good for having a group of kids for your own to go with once they’re old enough they don’t need an adult along.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so I don’t let the frustrations keep me from enjoying it. At the same time, I certainly prefer how it went in our old neighborhood. More fun in general, even though there weren’t nearly as many kids out.

Remember the Reason for Christmas

With all the craziness of this time of year it can be really hard to keep in mind the real reason we celebrate at this time of year. For my family it’s the celebration of the birth of Christ, but even if that’s not your belief there should be more to celebrating at this time of year than just “gimme, gimme, gimme.”

Appreciate Your Family

The holidays are a great time to remember just how much your family means to you. Not just your kids, but your spouse, your parents, your siblings and extended family. Make the most of the time you spend together this holiday season and try to really appreciate each other.

Fun things to do can include sharing favorite stories, baking or doing crafts together.

Appreciate Your Good Fortune

Even if times are tight for your family, you’re probably better off than a goodly percentage of the population of this planet. A good way to remind yourself and your family is to give to charity.  Feed the Children, for example, lets you give animals such as goats to families that need help. Or you can seek out a favorite charity of your own.

Appreciate Your Faith

The entire holiday season can be exhausting, but don’t let that keep you from celebrating your faith. Get to church or otherwise join in the celebrations at this time of year that so many faiths have.

You can also talk to your children about why we celebrate at this time of year. Get beyond Santa and the excessive consumerism that are so dominant at this time of year.

What to Do with All Those Christmas and Holiday Cards?

Much as you may try to limit your own use of cards and such at this time of year, you can’t easily stop other people from sending them to you. What do you do with all the kind Christmas and holiday wishes sent by card by loving family members and friends?

For a time, they do make nice decorations. You can hang them around a door frame or have them set up on a table or shelf. But what about after?

I know some people keep them all. But I’m not into cluttering up my life that way.

They can of course be recycled in many areas as well.

But I like to give them a little bit of reuse before they hit the recycle bin. I have kids, after all, and they love to do crafts. Cards give them something fun to work with.

Kids are good at coming up with their own ideas, which is nice for temporary use before you send their projects off to the recycle bin… those that the kids don’t want to keep for a time, of course. But you can direct their creativity a little bit as well. There’s a lens on Squidoo with some cute card craft ideas.

Another good use is to send your used cards to St. Jude’s Ranch. They are accepting cards now, and will continue to do so until February 28, 2010 for the current program. They do this many years, so keep it in mind for the future also.

Gift cards can also have the backs cut off, and then they can be reused as gift tags the following year. Just be sure nothing is written on the part you’re reusing.