Though it isn’t the point of the holiday , there’s no denying the fact that alongside thoughts of Christmas come thoughts of presents. Gift-giving is a staple of Christmas celebrations, though for some families it can be quite the burden.
One mother of either has created a way where all of her children get gifts they love in a way that severely reduces her stress and, with time, the cost too.
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Christmas is known to be a busy time of year.
Though it’s joyous and a lovely celebration for many, especially families who celebrate it together, it’s not without its troubles. Stressing over gift-giving and money spent is real, and can put a damper on the Christmas spirit.
One mom has figured out a way to lessen this, and went viral for sharing it.
Angie, @calmingthechaotic on Instagram, made waves with her idea.
Namely, because her idea involves no longer buying her children Christmas presents.
The mother of eight posted a video with on-screen text that read, “I don’t buy my kids Christmas gifts… But they still get super excited and can’t wait for Christmas. And they talk about it all year round. Past and future Christmas’.”
She explains herself in the caption of her post.
“2 years ago I changed how our family does Christmas. Having many fall and winter birthdays plus 2 birthdays close to Christmas, I felt overwhelmed with the amount of stuff. Plus not being the best at gift-giving. I decided to stop buying gifts… Well actually I still buy but will not in the future.”
She then goes into explaining what her family does instead.
She says that every kid draws one of their siblings’ names at random, and that’s the person they have to buy a gift for. All the children are under 10, so Angie is still buying the gifts, but she says that once they grow older, they’ll buy gifts with their own money.
She shares how her kids love this structure, and how it benefits everybody.
“They like what they get more because [there’s] less and they look forward [to] and wonder [throughout] the year who will get who. And even talk about what they would pick [for] each other. Everyone likes this and it took a lot of my [stress] away around the holidays.”
The comments were filled with people who loved her idea.
“We have been doing this same thing for over 10 years. My oldest is 18 and still loves it,” shared one commenter.
“That’s a good idea. I think I would still give them something little else from Santa too,” said another, adding to the idea. To this, Angie replied, “[Yes] adjust to your family’s traditions and such. But really easy to change up and add your own things to it.”
No matter your family’s current traditions, seeing someone shake it up is nice!
Whether it inspires you to change up your own routine or simply lets you gain some insight into how others celebrate the holiday, seeing a variety of traditions geared towards every individual family and their needs is heartwarming!
What do you think of this gifting strategy? Let us know in the comments!
