When you have children, birthdays and holidays seem to take up a lot of the year. The more occasions you have to celebrate, the more gifts you need to buy. This also means you must spend lots of your time on finding the perfect gift for them; one which strikes the perfect balance between being educational and thoughtful. This can be tricky to do when you have limited funds and time, but it is not impossible. In fact, it can even be lots of fun and will be more than worth it when you see the joy on your child’s face when they receive it.
Create a budget
As with most things, it can be easy to go overboard when buying gifts for the people you love. Children are no exception. Although you will want to get them something great, you should also bear in mind how much you can afford to buy. Ideally, you should set a budget a few weeks in advance of the special occasion, one for small presents, and one for the main one. There are some sites which allow you to buy otherwise expensive gifts for a fraction of the price, which will save you a lot of money.
Take note of their passions
Every child enjoys hobbies and passions when they are growing up. To encourage these passions and find a gift that pulls at their heartstrings, you should take note of what they love doing. For many children, sports are something they dedicate their free time to, and you can easily capitalize on this by buying sports gear or tickets to big games for them to enjoy. If your child isn’t that sporty, it is more than likely they will have a favorite band or artist that they listen to non-stop. Giving them concert tickets allows them to experience their passion in a whole new way, but you should remember to buy these tickets from trusted ticket sale sites.
Start online shopping
Rarely do parents have enough time to go out shopping for gifts. This is where you should take advantage of newer innovations like online shopping, where you can find the perfect gift in the space of a few minutes and have it delivered straight to your door. Not only do online outlets give you more variety to choose from, but you can read testimonials and reviews to make sure you are getting the highest-quality gifts for your child.
Make it personal
There is nothing that people love more than having a thoughtful gift presented to them. For families who are struggling with money, having a handmade gift or vintage item handed down to them can make for a truly wonderful moment. The best thing about such gifts is that you don’t need to be super crafty to make them. In fact, handmade quilts and soft toys can be made by almost anyone. If you are stretched for time, you can always go on sites like Etsy to find customizable items and unique pieces.
19 Comments
These tips work for all kinds of gift giving. I have been checking online shops also for good deals this early for gift ideas. Just remember to be careful where you use your card online. Go for trusted merchants.
Great point, mum. We really ought to be careful when using cards whilst shopping online lest we fall prey to online scammers.
This is actually one of my struggles as a mom. With my kids kasi I really wanted to buy them presents that are educational or useful, just to be practical. Although I wanted to give them high end toys that are also educational. It’s a good thing nowadays toy stores are very generous in giving discounts to quality toys. I don’t want to buy my little son toys that are cheap and yet will get broken in a few days.
Your suggestion about making toys personal is neat. Maybe I’ll try it for this holiday. 🙂
Yes, it is a good thing there are awesome promos at toy stores allowing us mums to buy high-end toys at a cheaper price. It has been a tradition at home to get Lego set for my little man on special occasions like birthdays and Christmas, so I am always on the look out for the Lego Store’s 50% off promo! ^_^
Yep, planning and budgeting usually takes the stress out! I used to wing it before and at the last minute which was crazy and I tend to overspend! ?
I know exactly what you mean. Doing it last minute can really be quite expensive and stressful!
My son is into gaming consoles these days. Dati small toys lang like Lego and Beyblade okay na, pero ngayon level-up na, haha!
I feel you. My little man is also into gaming and would almost always prefer games in disks rather than toys. Although he still loves Lego.
I feel you. My little man is also into gaming and would almost always prefer games in disks rather than toys. He still loves Lego, though.
Great tips! I wrote a similar post before (linked with my name) where I mentioned about the 4 gift rules: Something they WANT, Something they NEED, Something to WEAR, Something to READ. And this has worked for us! 🙂
Great idea. Although, I’d rather skip with “something to wear,” as my little man would definitely consider that as a gift 🙂
Finding the perfect gift for my kids is a year long process. I make note of things they mention and then reserve it for the year end.
It does take a lot of time, especially if the kids are fickle-minded or they want too many things at the same time 🙂
Very timely post. I agree in creating a budget, so we can also avoid being in debt. I also love what you’ve said about “passion”, agree that it should be something our kids will enjoy 🙂
Indeed, more than anything, I think we should always plan to give gifts that fuel the little ones’ passion so they can enjoy the gift even more 🙂
Great tips Vix!!! The problem minsan is the budget you’re setting aside vs. the gift they want. SOmetimes toys can be so expensive.
They are often expensive. That is why we only buy Jared toys a few times a year, usually during Christmas and on his birthdays! ^_^
Agree! Gift giving has never been an issue for us because we know what they want. More importantly, it should be something that they can use for a long time 🙂
Yes, the key really is to know what the little ones want. Thumbs up, too, if it is something they can use for a long time or if it is something the younger children can use, too. 🙂