Welcome to week 21 of The Mom Challenge! You can find all of the challenges here.


It’s that time of year again. Toy catalogs are coming in the mail, commercials are in full force and wish lists are being made.

The “gimmies” are in full swing and if we aren’t careful our wonderful little children turn into green-eyed monsters.

How to avoid the gimmies this holiday season:

1. The Power of a Dollar
I think one reason that kids want (and sometimes expect) to get so many things is because they honestly have no clue how much things cost. Show your kids how far money goes by giving them a budget (bonus points if they earn their shopping money!) and letting them shop for family members. I know some families draw names and others buy for everyone – it really is what works best for you.

2. Giving to those in need
Giving our children the opportunity to give to others, I think, is so important. I want to keep my son shielded from the harshness of the world, but I also want him to know that he has it pretty darn good! I don’t think it would have ever crossed his mind before that somewhere out there someone would be grateful for his ‘junk’ or that someone would be excited for a pair of shoes – even if they didn’t cost $140. At our house we only have 1 child so Josh doesn’t have siblings to buy for, but I do give him a budget of what he can spend for our Holiday giving. The chance to give is all around during the holidays – Toys for Tots sets up toy bins at lots of retailers, many stores have trees that have children (or the elderly’s) wish list on them or you can fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child (just to name a few!). We have a yearly tradition of cleaning out our closets a few days after Thanksgiving donating items we no longer use to make room for any new items Santa might bring. Clean closets and items for donations? Win win!

3. Give time – not stuff
This holiday season give the gift of your time! Pinterest has tons of great ideas on “to do” advent calendars (I’ll be making one this year!) where each day you do something different to celebrate the season, whether it is baking cookies, decorating the tree or reading a story together. I’ve also seen awesome ideas of putting things like bed time passes in stockings for kids to stay up late.

(Salt Water Kids’ fort kit tutorial)

Saltwater kids made an awesome fort kit – easy, cost effective and something to do together!

4. Choices, choices, choices
The first time that Josh handed me a Toys R Us catalog that was circled like crazy I laughed. I flipped through it and realized he circled things I knew perfectly well that he would never play with. He just circled it to circle it.

When I saw this Christmas list from Somewhat Simple I thought – how smart is she? I think it’s important for kids to know what they want and also for them to learn how to make choices! This list helps them do that. Plus, it really helps decipher those catalogs filled with circle after circle after circle! You really know the top wish list items!

5. Realize that you don’t need thousands of presents (MOM!)
I will admit that Josh usually is pretty good about telling us the top 5 or 6 items he wants. I am just not so good at listening. I wanted to buy stuff. I wanted him to wake up and walk into the living room over flowing with presents. I would buy things that I thought were cool even though I knew the chance of them getting played with were slim to none. I would buy things just so I could have more things to wrap. But I didn’t do it just for Christmas. At Disney World I wanted to buy him souvenirs. I asked him in every gift shop (you know the ones they make you walk through after every single ride?) and he would say no thanks. I should have just listened to him. But instead I bought something at most of them. I ended up spending a few hundred dollars on Disney stuff. He could care less.

As mom I want to give him everything. But I’ve learned that if I just give him the 5 or 6 things he really asks for he’s more than happy. If I buy him the 5 or 6 things he wanted plus another 50 things he’s just as happy. And I’m not broke. 🙂

How do you avoid the gimmies at your house?