As far as I'm concerned, one of the biggest perks of Baby Bunching is that you just need to buy less stuff. Less toys, less clothes (if you plan carefully, even if you have different genders), less gear. This is especially true around the holiday season.
Somehow, despite the fact that we don't buy them lots of toys throughout the year, my kids have WAAAAAYY too many toys. Probably because they are the first/only grandchildren on both sides of our family. So when Christmas and birthdays come around, we take advantage of this and the close spacing of our children to simplify gift giving using the following strategies:
- Buy gifts that both children will use/enjoy. That's not to say that we don't indulge in special requests from our (very different) children, but we try to focus on constructive stuff for them to do - Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, art supplies, puzzles, games, etc. Even better if they require interaction between the two of them and even better if said interaction can occur without my assistance.
- Buy one large gift for everyone to share. My kids can't read yet, so it is safe to post this - a little bird told me that Santa is bringing them a battery-powered ride on car this year. They may get one or two little cheapy items in addition to that, but a shared big item is easier and cheaper than a million other ones.
- Encourage others to do the same. My aunt is the master of this. Two years ago she got them both a Pottery Barn rocket ship playhouse that got major play and this year she got them a sandbox (shhhh....don't tell them). Constructive AND shared - major points for her. This year, Auntie Lindy took up this mantle as well and all three boys will get the ingenious and super-fun Plasma Car (baby will grow into it and by then his brothers will be tired of it so he will get to ride it all the time). I, and probably they, MUCH prefer this to a million different gifts for each and all it took Linda was one click on Amazon.
- Set up 529 gifts and encourage college fund donations. One of our grandmothers has gotten the hang of this, the other, not so much. If you really don't want you to suck the fun out of gift buying for them, encourage them to make a contribution and then get small gifts (coloring books, matchbox cars, etc.) for the kids to open. The best part about small kids is that they have no concept of dollar value!
I really feel compelled to take advantage of this now while my kids aren't old enough to keep track of how much I spent on whom or how many each got compared to the other. I'm hopeful that if I train them to appreciate shared gifts now, maybe I can look forward to a lifetime of streamlined holiday shopping (yeah, right).
We're doing the battery powered car too for my almost bunched pair. We'll see how that goes over.
Hell will freeze over before we buy two of those things.
Of course I said that about wearing leggings and I'm the poster mom for those.
Sigh.
Posted by: Motherhood Uncensored | Dec 12, 2008 at 01:19 PM