Why do some people buy loads of cheap presents instead of just one or two good ones? Do you do that or do you know someone who does?
Somewhere along the way it seems that a lot of people have gotten the idea that to make Christmas good you have to have lots and lots of presents. I think that gifts are great but I have to admit that I am disturbed by the concept that it is the presents that makes a holiday good.
When we raise our children we should be careful about the values and concepts that we pass on to them. In our house we stress family and togetherness and not the gifts. In fact I bought only two gifts for each of my daughters. No, I am not stingy nor is it because we cannot afford more. I just want for my family to value Christmas for something other than getting a lot of presents.
How many of us have seen a child open up a present and then toss it aside to open another and so on. Many times the child has so many gifts that it is hardly possible for them to really appreciate them.
One example is a person I know who bought a child in our family 25 $1.00 items from the Dollar Store. She spent $25 for a bunch of presents that were in truth crap; the kid got to open up a lot of colorful presents from his aunt but he didn’t like any of them or even want to play with them. In that case his mother decided to take all 25 back to the Dollar Store and exchange then for one good gift that he would actually want and enjoy.
This Christmas, and any other holidays coming up, think about getting a quality gift that the receiver will truly want and enjoy. Don’t get stuck on the idea that more is better and that you have to have a ton of gifts to make an occasion a happy one. The gifts should be nothing more than icing on the cake and not the reason for joy. Children need to realize that friends and family are the important things on any day and they cannot do that if the parents focus too much on the presents during the holidays. Gifts are great, but they should never be the primary reason for anticipating a special day like Christmas.
8 replies on “Crappy Dollar Store Gifts For The Holidays”
I thoroughly agree with your views on presents being an exaggerated focus in todays society.
Thanks for sharing this article.
Thank you Jeremy
To my readers – Jeremy has written a very thought provoking article about thie subject called Christmass Control I highly recommend that you read it.
If I had my way, we would ditch the presents and give gifts that are more memorable, like a self made coupon stating that person gets to have your company for the whole day, or a small trip out of town or a trip to the putput golf, something like that, and make it more about being together. JMO
Great article!
Liderien
Hello Liderien and thank you for your comment. In my family we enjoy presents but we do not stress them as the reason for the season. Gifts are soon forgotten, but happy times together and family memories will last a lifetime and can make our children grow up to be better people who truly appreciate things.
Well, I thoroughly agree and won’t be buying my children/grandchildren anything ever again!!
Have wondered what a great excuse could be!! he he…(just joking)
Liderien, I deleted a post that you greatly contributed to and i would like to give you a well deserved reason for this. Please email me on: a_bellini@btinternet.com
Being serious for a change on here, I would just like to say how Christmas affects me.
Some of my family expect me to keep up with the expensive gifts they lavish on the youngsters, so I do feel compelled to do this also. I end up with hardly any money left to enjoy the rest of the holiday and usually have foregone a few bills to do this. It then takes me until around March time before I’m back on track again. This then leaves me dreading the next Christmas!
I am going to print off this article and show every member of my family what you have written. I will also go and have a look at Jeremy’s, which I meant to do and then forgot.
I understand what you are saying. There really is a lot of competition “built in” to holidays like Christams. Many of us compete to do better than last year and to give the most gifts or the most expensive gifts. Often it seems as though our love for a friend or family member is judged by how much we spend on them.
This post “Crappy Dollar Store Gifts For The Holidays” does have a little humor, but it is one of the most serious articles on the site. My goal here is to try to get readers to think about how the holidays go with their own family and friends.
If you are already stuck in this cycle/pattern it can be very difficult to change the situation, but you must try. If you are younger and/or just starting out with a family you should really think and consider how you want your own children to be raised and taught. My wife and I have made our feelings clear and have told our family and friends that they do not need to buy as any gifts at all, but if they do just one thing is plenty and it doesnt matter if it is new or something from a yard sail, thrift store or even something they made themselves. We want our daughter to grow up without “learning” that the presents are the only thing that matters.
Here is another article I wrote Don’t Get Stressed By Christmas
What a fantastic learning example you are passing onto people here. Even if it reaches a handful of people, it’s done a damn good job!!!
It is definately going to be passed around my family. Thank you!