I am sure you do give out of genuine caring. The point I am trying to make, is the perfect gift is not always something material
Gifts of activities or experiences are nice, too.
While it’s true that gifts are less important for grownups (they can generally buy themselves what they want or need), material gifts are HUGE for children. They are little people with little or no income, unlimited potential, little ability to transport themselves, no Amazon-shopping privileges, and little exposure to the world and all its options. So it’s up to grownups to expand their worlds and expand their talents, and gifts are one of the ways to do that.
We gave our 3-year-old a set of butterfly/fairy wings last night. She was ecstatic and going around saying, “I’m a butterfly!” Could a non-material gift achieve the same thing? Not exactly the same thing, I think. Children that age adore dress-up, and that involves material objects.
Also, the 3-year-old gets all the love she can manage, but she didn’t have fairy wings before, so love + fairy wings> love.
Likewise, our 13-year-old is an artistic critter. I saw metallic Sharpies in the store for $4, and pretty soon I had put together a “kit” with the metallic sharpies, gel pens, and a pad of black paper. The 13-year-old, although she has more earning potential and freedom than the 3-year-old, still would never have thought to combine those things–in fact, I’m not sure she knew that it was possible to buy a pad of black paper. (I actually didn’t myself, until I started looking on Amazon.)
Those are just a few examples of things that will make our Christmas break together more enjoyable. The kids are all out of school for 2+ weeks, so it’s important that they have new things to do and think about.
My husband and I were talking about gifts, and I ventured the idea that (within certain parameters) the better you know the person, the less you need to spend on them. Expensive gifts are sometimes the last resort of givers that don’t really know the recipient. My husband, for example, bought me one of those metal head scratchers this Christmas, and I believe that it cost in the neighborhood of $3, but I’m really looking forward to using it.
