Unwrapping Presents

We all know that most of the fun of Christmas Day is unwrapping the presents, right? But we don't want to just spend a lot of money on presents so that our kids can unwrap a whole lot of stuff. So what's a girl to do? Here are a few ideas I have come up with to help spread out the unwrapping fun:

1. Lost or Broken Toys

This year we packed up all of our toys that were broken (needed new batteries or had ripped pages, etc) and "sent" them to Santa to fix for us. He is going to bring them back on Christmas Eve all fixed up and wrapped. More presents for the girls to open, but no more money spent!  If your kids are older and won't fall for the "fix the toys" things (my nephew who is only a year and a half older than my 3.5 year old, didn't buy it. He asked, "Why don't you just put new batteries in?") So, if your kids are older, you could always "steal" toys and hide them away in November. Then you can wrap them up and put them under the tree and say that santa "found" them. Again, more presents to unwrap and more money in your pocket!

2. Household/Grocery Items

Do your kids have a favorite cereal that you don't get them all that often? Why not buy it and wrap it up? Or if that is too much, get the cereal you would usually buy and wrap it up for your kids! Cookies, treats, razors (for older kids), shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. are ALL great things you could wrap up and put under the tree. The great thing about Christmas is that you can buy things you would normally need (clothes, toiletries, food) and make them special by wrapping them up!

3. Activity Gifts

As great as things are to kids, they really really love spending time doing fun things with their family (whether they admit it or not!) So why not type or write up a bunch of different activities that you can do throughout the year with your kids and wrap them up? Simple things like "go to the park" "fly a kite" "go on a walk" "play a game together" and so on would be free and be a good excuse to spend time with your kids.  

Of course, it stinks to spend so much money on wrapping all of these items, so feel free to get creative with your wrapping paper options. Use old newspaper to wrap presents. Or use pages that your child has colored on (because if you're like me you have a hundred pages with little scribbles on them that would be put to better use wrapping presents). You can use brown paper bags for smaller items and staple them shut. There are lots of options! And don't forget, you can always buy new wrapping paper after Christmas on clearance to use the next year! :)