CousinW turns eight this week. His birthday party is today. We will be heading out to his house after hockey practice to celebrate with him. AuntD and I are both on a "no more toys" kick. We are both feeling overrun with toys. We both feel that our kids have enough. Now, try telling that to grandparents. Especially, GrandmaC and GrandpaI. They bring new toys, books and/or clothes when they just come for a visit.
So, I started it with Christmas. All things I recommended for presents were non-toys. I was putting my foot down. If you were going to give my child a toy -- you were going to have to guess at it yourself.:) No matter how many grandparents asked me what they should get I told them no toys. So, what did I tell them?
Zoo membership. Membership to the children's museum. Membership to the science museum. Tickets to Sesame Street Live. Tickets to an SU basketball game. Tickets to a Crunch game (we would have loved tickets to see the Rangers but no one was digging that option -- go figure? :)). A day in Washington DC (for Grandpasponge - since we would be in Maryland and Big Brother wanted to see the White House). And anything like that.
Knowing that AuntD felt the same way as me about toys I suggested an event gift for theCousins for Christmas. She thought it was a great idea and we got them tickets to see a Crunch/River Rats game. We actually got tickets for all of us to go. We also got AuntD and theCousins River Rats t-shirts (the Rats are their home team). They came and spent the night here and we saw the game. It was so much fun. TheCousins slept in Big Brother's room with him. I made waffles and sausage (at CousinT's request) for breakfast in the morning. The kids played and Big Brother was very sad when they had to leave.
So, today what are we giving CousinW for his birthday? A day (for theCousins, AuntD, Big Brother, Baby Sister, Hubby and me) at the Please Touch Museum in Pennsylvania. We will all go and spend the night at theGrandparent's(GrandpaI and GrandmaC) house (where the children can all sleep in the same room again) and then head out to the museum the next day. It will be lots of fun. It will be better than any toy that I could buy. Memories and relationships will be made and built.
So, if you have a child that you need to buy something for get them a non-toy present. Their parents will thank you. Coloring stuff, play doh, or other crafty things count as toys. Unless, this child loves crafty stuff and you know that they will go through it, it is just more stuff for mom and dad too deal with. Now do not get me wrong I am grateful that my kid has so many people who love him and want to give him things that I get to be frustrated that we have too much stuff. I realize that there are people out there who are in need. But really there is a limit. So, when giving a present to your niece, nephew, or other young child in your family consider doing something instead of giving something. It doesn't have to be tickets to something like Sesame Street Live. Take them to the movies, or out to lunch, just do something fun with them. It will be a very special gift that is remembered for a long time.
Great ideas! Spring time brings tons of birthdays for family and friends, so I will definately try to remember these! I use to try to do a group event for the kids for Christmas but that got too expensive too. So now we just do individual birthdays; this way it's spread out a little. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fabulous idea! Thank you for sharing.
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