How to SIMPLIFY Christmas (with family who don’t want to!)

By Dawn, Christmas, Healthy Relationships, The Minimal Mom

Most of us want to simplify Christmas, but we hesitate because we know everyone in our family won’t agree. Still, it’s so important to push past our fear and have these (sometimes) tough conversations about holiday gifts & get-togethers!!

A few years ago we had just finished a Christmas celebration and gift exchange, and as soon as we got in the car, I started my rant:

“Oh my goodness, did you see what they got me for a gift – a jar candle?! It was like they said, ‘What’s the most thoughtless gift we can give Dawn?’”

And as I was telling this to Tom, I was disgusted with myself – What is WRONG with me?? It’s Christmas, what am I doing?!

I had put a lot of thought and even extra money into the gift that I had given in the exchange, and it felt like they had put no thought into my gift.

I was also frustrated by the fact that I didn’t even want to do the gift exchange in the first place — WHY did I agree to it and go along with it? WHY didn’t I just stick to my guns and say no, I don’t want to do this gift exchange?

And then I felt further guilty because this is NOT what Christmas is all about!! This really isn’t the spirit of the season!

Even if I received a gift that I thought was a bit lame, I still should have been able to focus on the time that we got to spend with our friends and family and enjoy that time together.

Or watch this video on YouTube here!

The desire to simplify gifts

You can probably relate to this – you WANT to simplify gifts, but your mother-in-law or sister or kids or spouse won’t agree.

Of course, we don’t want to be selfish. I’m a people pleaser through and through, and definitely do NOT want to unnecessarily bring on conflict for our family. And chances are, you probably are too!

But if we just keep going along with it to make everyone else happy, we will continue to set ourselves up to be frustrated and feel resentful towards the people that we’re supposed to care about the most — our friends and family.

And I know, these conversations aren’t always easy to have!!

What about the people who value gift-giving?

I have people in my family whose love language is gifts, like my sister and my dad. So for quite awhile I still went along with the gift exchanges because I knew that it was important to them.

But I’m realizing that no material gift makes anybody happy. You can still respect their love language, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive gift. It’s more that they’re being thought of with some kind of physical action.

You could bring a favorite food or even just write a thoughtful card. It doesn’t have to be something big to honor a gifts person. You can still recognize them in meaningful ways without having a full-blown gift exchange.

Dare to speak up — others may feel the same way that you do!

I want to challenge you to step outside your comfort zone!

If there are gift exchanges or different holiday traditions that you don’t agree with anymore, or that cause unnecessary stress, speak up and say something! Be true to yourself, even if things don’t change this year.

It took at least a few years till we actually got Christmas to be more simplified, and we’ve still had to discuss it a few times since then. But it IS worth having the conversation!

There are people in my family who I didn’t expect would agree to it, and but when I sent a really tactful email about how we wanted to simplify Christmas, they replied, “I think that’s a great idea!”

What!? Was it really just that easy? I had built it up in my head that this was going to be really hard!

And of course, they might get frustrated or complain to somebody else about it or call you selfish. But you’ll never know if you don’t try!! They may even want some of these exchanges to go away too!

How to have the discussion about opting out of gift exchanges

I’m really glad that I had the courage to speak up, because our holidays have changed quite a bit and it’s been really awesome!

If you need ideas on how to have this discussion, here are some suggestions:
>> How to get or opt out of Christmas Gift Exchanges (without looking like a Scrooge!)
>> 5 Effective Phrases to Opt Out of Christmas Gift Exchanges with Friends, Family or Co-Workers

If you’re going into debt and spending money that you don’t have just to please someone else, it’s not right to be buying gifts for other people.

You won’t wreck someone’s Christmas if you don’t participate in a gift exchange!

It doesn’t always have to be all or nothing

There are no perfect solutions, but you need to do what is best for you and your family — whether it’s saying NO to gift exchanges or certain get-togethers, or just letting friends and family know that you want to enjoy this upcoming season, and not be stressed out over buying gifts.

You can’t enjoy the Christmas season if you continue to say yes just to make everyone else happy!

If you have talked to your friends and family and opted out of gift exchanges or found other ways to celebrate together, would you share that with us? It can be so encouraging to hear others’ stories!

Wishing you all the best as you work towards simplifying your Christmas traditions!!

A few more posts to help make your Christmas merry!

Our 6 FAVORITE Christmas Minute to Win it Games (All with Dollar Store items!)

How to Create a Holiday Budget (when YOU’RE BROKE!!) & Save MONEY!

5 Things It’s Important to Declutter BEFORE Christmas (& tips to do it QUICKLY!!)

DIY Family Photo Ideas on Your Phone (Tips & Poses from a Professional Photographer!)

Save this to Pinterest!

A new way to look at Christmas gifts! (More meaningful, less excessive ;)

By Dawn, Christmas, The Minimal Mom

I often feel misunderstood when it comes to gift giving, especially around the holidays. I know that I bring this upon myself and that it isn’t possible for everyone to see my point of view…but have a new way of explaining it that may be helpful!

Here are the questions that often come up this time of year:

“So, you don’t buy gifts for your kids, but make friends & family buy gifts for them?”
“It’s Christmas! Kids are supposed to get a bunch of gifts, let them enjoy it!”
And on the other side: “How do I get my family to give our kids less this year???”

A different way to look at gift giving this year (that supports both sides!)

*The video should display directly above here, if you don’t see it you may have an ad blocker installed :)

Another way to look at gifts…

A question I’ve been thinking about lately is: Do gifts add to our happiness?

And I think the answer is yes and no. If we look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we don’t see gifts on it but we do see love:

When do gifts add to our feelings of happiness, joy & experiencing love? I would propose that there are a few criteria that need to be met:

The person receiving the gift has a first or second “love language” of gifts
The gift is thoughtful
The sentiment behind the gift is for the recipient to feel noticed, acknowledged or loved

Do all gifts create happy or loving feelings? I don’t think so. For some of us, we often feel:

Overwhelmed
Like we’re not fully understood
A sense of let down or like something is missing

For me, I look forward to holidays like Thanksgiving where there are not gifts exchanged, but still plenty of good food and quality time together.

So ultimately, what do we do about gifts this Christmas?

I think it’s important to remember that to some, gifts are VERY important. So canceling all gift exchanges is not sensitive to their feelings of being appreciated and loved.

And on the other hand, to acknowledge that excessive, thoughtless gift giving rarely benefits anyone or causes them to feel loved.

So for us, we’re participating in a few thoughtful and limited gift exchanges and forgoing any that don’t have meaning to us.

Is that right or wrong? We each have to decide for our own family!

A few favorite Christmas Links:

DIY Family Photos: Take your Family Picture on your phone!

Easy Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses!
Revise your Elf on the Shelf Tradition: Have Elf work FOR YOU!

Make a Bundt Cake Gift Basket!

6 Super Fun Minute to Win It Games!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

We hope you have an awesome holiday season with your family and friends!

DIY Family Photo Ideas on Your Phone (Tips & Poses from a Professional Photographer!)

By Dawn, Christmas, The Minimal Mom

This year we wanted to try something new: Taking our Family Christmas Photo on our phone. With the awesome cameras that our phone’s have now, we knew it had to be possible!

So we invited our friend Chris Knorr, a professional photographer over to give us his best tips and tricks for DIY family photos. He helped us figure out great family poses and tips to make our family photo look pro.

And we couldn’t be more THRILLED with the outcome! Check out these awesome tips and poses for taking your family photo yourself this year.

Top Tip for DIY Family Photos

TAKE VIDEO NOT PHOTOS: The best thing we did was to take video while we were doing our family photo session and not actual pictures.

By having the video running, we were able to slide to just the right spot where everyone is smiling. This is especially helpful if you’re taking a family photo of a large group or small children.

We’d still count down and say “1-2-3-Smile!” to try and get everyone smiling at the right time, but it was really nice having the flexibility to move a frame or two forward or back to get just the right spot.

This is what we did for this large family photo above and it turned out great. I just slid through the video until I found a good spot and took a screen shot.

We’ve heard others use the “burst” feature for similar success.

What you need for DIY Family Christmas Photos:

The great thing is that you only need a couple of things if you want to take your own family photo this year:

Tripod: An inexpensive tri-pod made for cell phones will work perfectly
Cell Phone: Cameras on cell phones are awesome these days. They still won’t replace the skill and knowledge of a family photographer, but are a close second!
Treats: If your kids are young, having some candy might not be a bad idea either!

Watch the Video of Chris Helping us with our Family Photos

*The video should display right above here, if not, you may have an ad blocker installed!

Chris was a huge help getting us all in place. He also had great ideas for where to go at our house, plus, he’s a ton of fun to be around!

Our Family Photo Poses

Sitting in the Grass

For this first family photo, we got to take advantage of the nice green grass in our front lawn with the sun setting behind us.

Tips for this Family Pose:

Chris noticed that our house was working as a natural reflector, bouncing light towards our faces even with the sun behind us
Have the dad or other person with the biggest stature sit down first, then add mom and then the kids
Watch for stray hands! Make sure all of the hand positions look natural

Bring Indoor Furniture Outside

This is one of my favorite poses, it was really fun bringing our blue chairs outside. They looked great in front of the corn field.

Tips for this sitting family pose:

Angle the camera down for a more flattering angle
Have everyone sit tall and not slouch
If someone has to crouch in the bag, have them squat instead of leaning forward

The blue chairs were also the perfect spot for small kids! Declan is only 6 months old and can’t sit up on his own yet, so it worked perfectly!

Tips for posing small kids on a chair:

Chris jingled his keys over the camera to get them both to look
Video was KEY for this one! By using the video feature and NOT trying to take still pictures, we got them both smiling!
Adley’s red dress really popped!

We decide to do one last pose with all of the kids on the chair. These are all of my parent’s grandchildren, so we knew this would make a fun Christmas gift!

Family with Small Kids Outside Pose

These ages can be tough! Two years and 6 months are not the most cooperative ages. We had Diana and Princeton sit back to back.

Tips for this family pose:

If the kids aren’t in the smiling mood, try giving them kisses for a cute alternative
This was another where jingling the keys above the camera was helpful

Photo pose: Standing Tallest to Shortest or Oldest to Youngest

This picture is my FAVORITE! We tried to find an interesting but not too busy background. I also wanted to leave plenty of room above and below us so that I could choose a Christmas card template that had text overlay…this one worked out perfectly!

Tips for this standing family pose:

Leave plenty of room above and below everyone (you can crop in when you’re making the card)
Don’t cut people off at the knees! If you’re going to crop in, it needs to be at the thighs OR show below the feet. Cropping below the knee looks amature.

Pose: Family group in front of a wall

This one turned out really well, too. Again, make sure to take note of where you’re cropping– don’t cut people off at the knees or shin!

Tips for this family photo pose:

Chris said that men should face the camera to look more broad
Women will want to angle slightly to look more slim
Leave room around your family for your Holiday card design

Family walking down the road pose

No family photo shoot would be complete with out doing the “walk-down-the-road-pose” ;) So we had to give it a try!

Tips for the walking pose:

Tell your family to NOT look at the camera, rather look at each other and smile!
Understand, it may take a few times to get it right (we kept getting bunched up, or some were walking faster than others!)

Family pose with sunburst behind us

As the sun was getting lower and lower we were able to have it at our back and grab this shot.

Tips for this family photo shoot pose:

Make sure there is nothing distracting in the background
Tilt your chin up for the most flattering pose

Easy Photo Pose for Kids

And if you want to keep it simple, try a pose with just the kids! Here we just had them lay in the grass.

Tips for this pose with kids:

Make sure the sign isn’t too bright, we had them lay under trees so the sun wasn’t in their eyes
Don’t worry about them laying in a perfect circle…a little bit organic is good!

The kids with their pumpkins

It doesn’t all have to be Christmas themed! We had the kids sit with their pumpkins here for a fun fall picture.

Tips for this pose:

Play around with the angle! Going a little bit higher and having them look up gave a different feel than taking the picture straight on.
If anyone is getting tired of smiling, have them say “yay” for a natural smile face!

Share your family phone photos!

We want to see your family photos, too! Use the hashtag: #FamilyPhonePhotos to share your photo and to get ideas from others!

Looking forward to seeing your family pictures and we hope you have a GREAT Christmas season with your family!

Here are some other posts that will help you get ready for Christmas!

How to Create a Holiday Budget (when YOU’RE BROKE!!) & Save MONEY!

5 Things It’s Important to Declutter BEFORE Christmas (& tips to do it QUICKLY!!)

Pre-Christmas Worksheet to reduce Stress & Anxiety

DIY Complete Gingerbread House Kit in a Bag! FREE Printable Topper with Instructions & Ideas!

…and save this post to Pinterest to re-visit later!

Baby Scrap Boxes: How I Store Baby Keepsakes (Family minimalism tips)

By Dawn, Effective Living, Mom Life, The Minimal Mom

People often ask me how we store baby keepsakes as a minimalist family.

My mom had a cedar chest that she kept our baby clothes in. I remember going through it and pulling out the yellowed pieces from when we were little. Hearing the stories about her dressing my twin sister and I in boys’ clothes because they had no money at the time to buy formula, let alone matching outfits for us.

Then a few sweet matching dresses that had been gifts. It was fun to look through and to hear the stories.

Why I hold on to a few special items

As I’ve pursued a simplified lifestyle, it’s been fairly easy for me to part with sentimental items. Items from my childhood like toys and school projects and report cards and knick knacks (that I once treasured) have been discarded as we pursue a larger goal.

But now, having had babies of our own, I’ve found that I’ve wanted to hold on to a few things so that one day I, too, can share stories of their first couple of years prompted by little outfits, hospital bracelets and baby blankets.

Or watch this video on YouTube here!

How we store our baby keepsakes

While I’m not generally one to store things that aren’t useful and used regularly (we have one bin each for the kids’ clothes to grow into, one bin for Christmas, one for Easter/Halloween, and a couple for seasonal wear-boots, hats, snow pants), I decided this was worthwhile (and we have the space!).

So I headed to Walmart to look for storage containers that weren’t too big and would stack and store easily. I liked these ones because they could they fit neatly under our bed in our townhouse. Now in our new house, they are stacked in our upstairs closet.

They definitely aren’t a beautiful cedar chest, but they are functional & practical. Plus, I like that they are separate, so I can easily add items to any of them and never have to dig through a bunch of stuff.

And like I’ve mentioned before, I like when storage is limited. In other words, I can only keep what fits in the container. I was selective and felt like I had plenty of room to keep what was important at the time.

The other thing I kept in the back of my mind while I was filling these is that we have a million pictures from when the kids were babies. So I don’t need to keep EVERYTHING, we have PLENTY of documentation of their first few years :)

What we keep for each of our children

I made a label for each box and here is what I put inside:

Hospital bracelets, hats and the name cards from their hospital bassinets
Baby cards from family and friends
A few favorite outfits, including the one they wore home from the hospital
The blanket my mom crocheted for each of them
Growth charts from their check-ups
First pair of shoes
First stuffed animals
Cake decorations from their first birthday

Overall, this system has worked really well and the good news is: I don’t regret not keeping anything. This seems to be just the right amount of keepsakes, and even having them out now to take a few pictures brought back fond memories and made me smile.

And I know I mentioned that it has been fairly easy for me to let go of sentimental items by keeping our larger goal in mind, but if you aren’t quite there yet you may find this video helpful: Decluttering Sentimental Items for Peace of Mind

I’d love to know how you keep baby memories! Please share below!

To happy memories,

Find it on Amazon!

Here are some other posts you might like!

The BEST Tips for Organizing Kids Toys

The Trick to Simplify Your Child’s Wardrobe in 10 Minutes!

Transitioning baby from co-sleeping to crib: It was easier than we thought!

Save this to Pinterest!

Our 6 FAVORITE Christmas Minute to Win it Games (All with Dollar Store items!)

By Dawn, Christmas, The Minimal Mom

During the Christmas season, we’ve been trying to focus a little bit less on gifts and more on just having fun and enjoying quality time together with our friends and family.

So we have tested out these Minute To Win It games with our family and we give these we give these 6 games our stamp of approval because:

They’re really quick & easy to put together
I can find everything we need at the Dollar Store
They don’t make a big mess
They’re also really friendly for adults & kids!

Or watch this video on YouTube here.

#1 – Reindeer Antlers

You will need:

2 pairs of pantyhose
20 balloons

How to play:

Split your group into 2 teams.
Give each team a pair of pantyhose and 10 balloons.
Have everyone on each team work together to blow up all the balloons and stuff them in the legs of the pantyhose — 5 balloons on each side.
The first team to get the reindeer antlers onto a teammate’s head is the winner!

#2 – Stack Off

You will need:

40 SOLO cups, or any plastic cups that stack together
2 cups of a different color (if they’re all the same color you can use marker, paint or tape to mark the top rim of 2 cups so they look different from the others)

How to play:

Choose 2 players.
Each player gets a stack of 20 cups with the different-colored cup on the top.
When the game begins, each player removes the bottom cup from the stack and places it in the top.
Continue doing this through the stack until the colored cup is back on top, switching hands each time to make it a little bit harder.
Whoever makes it through the stack first wins!

#3 – Jingle Bell Shake Off

You will need:

5 gift boxes
Jingle bells

Prepare ahead of time:

Put a different amount of jingle bells in each box – 2, 4, 8, 12 & 16.
If the boxes are different, once they are stuffed with jingle bells, lay them out in order and take a picture so you have a reference later. Or you could wrap them in wrapping paper and write the number of bells inside on the back, just don’t let anybody see the backside when they’re stacking them!

How to play:

Time each person as they put the boxes in order.
Shake the boxes and figure out which one has 2 jingle bells, all the way up to 16, and put them in order.
Whoever can put the boxes in order the fastest is the winner!

This is a lot of fun because you have to listen but you can also figure it out by the weight of the box.

#4 – Partner Gift Wrap

You will need:

2 sets of everything needed to wrap a gift (wrapping paper, gift box, bow, gift tag, marker, scissors & tape)

How to play:

Divide everyone into teams of two.
One person can only use their right hand and one person can only use their left hand.
Each team has to try and wrap the present just using one hand with their partner, put a bow and a label on it, and address the label to someone.
The team that can complete the task successfully first wins!

**Tip: Have the teammates pull one arm in their shirt or tie it behind their back because it is so hard for them not to automatically reach out and use it!

#5 – Marshmallow Towers

You will need:

Marshmallows
Toothpicks

How to play:

This game can be played individually or teams of two (it works well to pair an adult and kid together!)
Put out marshmallows and toothpicks on the table.
Set the timer for 5-10 minutes.
The goal is to see who can build the tallest tower out of just marshmallows and toothpicks. It takes a bit of trial and error to see what works to make the towers stand but it’s fun to see everyone’s creativity!

#6 – Marshmallow Pick-Up

You will need:

Marshmallows
Chopsticks

How to play:

After you’re finished with the Marshmallow Towers game, see who can get the most marshmallows into a bowl in a minute.
Divide into teams however you like. (We did girls vs. boys.)
The only rule is you can’t stab the marshmallows, you have to pick them up with the chopsticks. It’s fun to see the different tactics that the teams use to get their marshmallows into the bowl.
After a minute, whoever has the bowl with the most marshmallows wins!

There’s no shortage of Minute To Win It games out there but we really enjoy these and hope you and your family do, too!

I would love to know, what kind of fun games do you do at your Christmas gatherings and parties?

Here are some of our other Christmas resources to help your holiday season go smoothly!

5 Things It’s Important to Declutter BEFORE Christmas (& tips to do it QUICKLY!!)

Pre-Christmas Worksheet to reduce Stress & Anxiety

5 Creative DIY Christmas Gift Basket Ideas for friends, family & office!

Top Ten Teacher Christmas Gift Ideas (written by a TEACHER!)

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How to Create a Holiday Budget (when YOU’RE BROKE!!) & Save MONEY!

By Dawn, Christmas, Effective Living, Happy Homes, The Minimal Mom

No one wants to talk about money (or lack thereof!) this time of year, but budgeting for Christmas and the Holidays is important!!

One of my favorite lines to save more money during the holiday season is, “We just need to take a break this year.”

It implies that it’s not over – it’s not that I’m never going to spend money on Christmas again, I just need a break!

Even if you haven’t saved a penny for the holiday season, it’s not too late. You can still set a reasonable budget and stay within it without having to put Christmas on a credit card and then worry about it in January.

Here are a few simple steps for how to set a REALISTIC budget that you can actually stick to!!

Or watch this video on YouTube here!

1. List out GIFTS from last year

Write a list of everyone that you bought a gift for last year and how much you spent on them.

It blew me away when I actually sat down and wrote out every single person that I bought gifts for and what I spent. From the mailman to teachers to coaches to co-workers to bosses to family members to the kids….. We spent A LOT!!

When you have an idea of what you spent on Christmas last year, it will help you know how to budget for it.

Side note: I’m NOT against gifts and gift exchanges. I do like to appreciate people during the holidays. But I don’t like gift exchanges where we just give the person we chose a meaningless gift!! Those I think we should opt out of (see more about that here).

2. List out OTHER EXPENSES from last year

Make a list of all the other expenses – food for gatherings, travel expenses, decorations, Christmas cards, Christmas photos, stamps, new clothes, extra eating out and any charitable donations.

I know this can feel a little overwhelming, but once you have these two lists, add everything up to see what you spent!….It’s probably more than you think!

I couldn’t believe it when I added it up — we had spent $1000, even though I’m trying to be very simple with Christmas and keep everything scaled back!!

3. Set a REALISTIC budget

Once you know what you’ve spent in the past, figure out a realistic budget for your family that you could pay in cash this Christmas and NOT have to put it on credit card — because the goal is to not put ANY of this on a credit card!! No one want to start off the New Year in the hole!

If you can find an extra $300 or $400, then that’s your budget and that’s what you’re going to work with.

(If you literally have no extra money, everything is tight and you don’t know where you would come up with ANY cash for this Christmas, that’s okay — keep reading, more on that later!!)

Once you have a realistic budget of what you can actually afford, you can start getting really creative.

4. PRIORITIZE your gift list

Take the list of people that you want to give gifts to and decide who are the most important people that you need to prioritize. It might be your children, other family members or a close friend.

Put them at the top of the list.

You may have spent money last year on people like teachers and coaches, but this year you can write them a nice note and thank them for everything they do.

Just because you cut back this much this year, it doesn’t mean that in the future you can’t do a bit more again!!

I love people that serve us, but I also know that they wouldn’t want us to go in debt to give them a Christmas present just so that we can feel good acknowledging them.

(If you’re wondering what teachers REALLY want for Christmas, check out this post written by a teacher!!)

When you look at your budget and what you actually have to spend, you’ll start looking at this list a lot differently than if you just put it on a credit card.

You might be thinking, But you don’t know my family, you don’t know my in-laws, they wouldn’t understand!

I’ve heard stories from people who mustered up the courage to tell their friends and family that they simply don’t have the money or would like to simplify Christmas for a year.

So often the stories are, I didn’t think they would understand, but they’re okay with it!

And if they don’t understand that, well…. if you need a break from Christmas cards, cookie exchanges, gift exchanges — you need a break!!

There’s so much more to life than gifts. I know we have gifts people for whom gifts are very important (my twin sister is a gift person!!), so I don’t want to slight anybody during the holidays, but I also know how much freedom there is in getting out of debt!!

Just because you’ve spent more than you have in the past, doesn’t mean that this has to be your reality again this Christmas season!!

Ways to save money during the holidays

Once you have your budget, you’ll want to be super careful about the gifts that you do buy.

Use PRICE COMPARISON tools

CamelCamelCamel is an online tool that helps you compare prices on Amazon and third parties.

If you search for an item, it will show you what the current price is on Amazon and what the lowest price has been. This gives you an indication that it could go that low again during the holiday season.

Buy USED items

Look on Facebook Marketplace or other online shops where you might be able to find brand new items still in the box.

When you commit to this lesser budget, you’ll be so surprised at the things that come your way!

STOP using your credit card

When you use your debit card or cash instead of your credit card, you won’t be as tempted by all the other deals that are going on this time of year.

WATCH OUT for all the little extras!

When you have a limited budget, pay attention to all the extras that you purchase during the holiday season too.

When you pay only with cash or debit, you’ll probably find that it’s less tempting to stop at Starbucks, buy stuff for yourself or stock up on things that you don’t actually need. You’ll probably also find you’re a lot more careful about not eating out.

If you have NO extra money

If you really have no extra money, take a hard look at the gifts and things you spend money on and cut out absolutely everything that you possibly can because it’s not Christmas if you’re going into debt for it.

That’s just not what Christmas is about.

I think most of us would probably agree that it’s important for us to acknowledge our kids during this time, but beyond that… I think we really have to cut everything else out.

Instead of making Christmas about gifts, you can focus on doing more fun things together like ice skating together, sledding, baking cookies, or any other low-cost or no-cost activity.

The average parent spends only THREE MINUTES a day engaging with their children. If you ask kids what they really want, they want time with their parents.

But you won’t find many commercials, flyers or catalogues marketing free family activities or fun things you could do with your kids.

It might feel like your kids expect a big, elaborate Christmas and that you can’t go back now. But doing things with your kids is going to have such a greater impact on them and their emotional and mental health than anything that you can buy them.

I don’t want to get to preachy or tell your you’re doing everything wrong.

I just want to give you permission to scale back your Christmas. It’s too stressful to spend money we don’t have.

Maybe not everybody will understand, but that’s okay! You do what’s best for you and your family!!

I hope this helpful! I’d love to know what your holiday budget plans are for this year! Are you planning to scale back your gifts? What kind of fun family activities do you enjoy doing together?

Here are some other posts you might like!

5 Things It’s Important to Declutter BEFORE Christmas (& tips to do it QUICKLY!!)

DIY Complete Gingerbread House Kit in a Bag!

Pre-Christmas Worksheet to reduce Stress & Anxiety

5 Creative DIY Christmas Gift Basket Ideas for friends, family & office!