I am always interested in hearing about cre-ative and unusual gifts people are giving for Christmas. Sometimes it’s just looking for a new twist or a new idea that will help you in your own gift giving. Perhaps I can share some ideas I have done.
Setting Up the Christmas Store
Christmas for my nieces and nephews has been a lot of fun for me. The children want to give each other presents, but sometimes it is difficult for them to have enough money to buy these gifts from the store. I seem to have collected lots of odds and ends around my house as many of us do. Often at Christmas, I do a Christmas store for the children to shop in. I gather up all the “kid” things I have around the house and set up the Christmas shop on tables in my basement. The prices for each item range from 5 cents to 25 cents, which will fit any child’s budget. With the cash box set in place, we were ready to go.
Each child goes through the store and can buy only one item at a time. After the purchase, they go to one of the rooms down the hall where my brothers take care of helping them wrap the gifts in butcher paper. The child preparing the present would use crayons to decorate the package and then place the proper name on the gift. The package was then taken to the laundry and placed in a designated box for each child. After one gift was completed, they were able to come back to the store to purchase a gift for their next brother or sister.
My niece Emily, age 7, came to me and asked if she could purchase a present for herself. She had her eye on a wonderful box of Crayola Crayons. I told her that would be fine. With her bright eyes, her smile and enthusiasm, I thought, “why shouldn’t everyone have a gift for themselves under the Christmas tree?”
The most pleasurable part of all this was that the children were kept busy all afternoon, having fun, being able to give and share and enjoying the activity with their siblings and fathers. Most of all, the children were thrilled to take home the gifts they had worked on all afternoon for each of their brothers and sisters.
Taped stories
Personalize a storybook for a young child by recording it on tape. As you come to the end of each page, pause a moment and ring a bell or tap a glass with a spoon to signal that the child should turn the page.
Money shower
Materials you’ll need:
• 6 to 8 yards ribbon or yarn
• 12 bills of different denominations
• Removable tape
• Umbrella
Cut the ribbon or yarn into 12 pieces of various lengths. With removable tape, attach $1, $5 and $10 bills on the end of each piece of ribbon. Open the umbrella and tie the ribbons to the spokes. With the umbrella upside down, close it so that the money is tucked inside. What a surprise when the umbrella is opened.
