Giving when you are broke 2- Making Christmas Day Special

 

 

  In the last post I shared one way I have made Christmas work even when we were broke.  Today I want to talk about stretching out the gifts we give our kids and making Christmas Day special. It seems like stretching is a theme when money is tight. In lean years, when we didn't have much to open, I would get creative on how we opened presents.  We don't really have any "traditions" about opening presents, so there is no pressure to do things a certain way, and there is no feeling of failure when we do things differently. That flexibility has saved us more than once.

  Stretching out the Christmas Day magic:

• Tell the Christmas story first- Before opening gifts, we read the story of Jesus' birth. You could read from the Bible or a story book. Something short that helps fill the time and set the right mood for the day, that it's not about the gifts but about each other
  

• Scavenger hunt! This is my favorite way to stretch out the opening of gifts
• Homemade gift certificates- These can be broken down into categories: dates, future gifts, food

        Dates: lunch out with a parent, a movie or some other outing with a parent, even grocery shopping with parent and getting to pick a treat
       Future gifts: future shopping trip to pick a $10 gift, a certificate for a piece of sports equipment in the spring, day off chores
       Food: get to pick dinner, pick out a treat next shopping trip, pick a trip to restaurant from a list

•  Change up where you do Christmas- This one needs a little pre-planning, but can be a lot of fun. Go visit family for Christmas, go for a picnic, take a drive and open a gift at a designated spot, volunteer someplace open
  
• Have plans for the day- plan a movie, a game, a read aloud book from the library (wrap it in gift paper for fun), a puzzle (puzzle doing friends would probably be happy to loan/give you one) Little things to look forward to all day will stave off boredom and feelings of disappointment

• Decorate the table while they are asleep- Even if you take some decorations off the tree, you can make a fun table, use hats, scarves and mittens, branches in a jar hung with ornaments, or paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling, you can get super creative here and spend absolutely no money- you could make it one of the activities for the day

• Skip the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey or ham and have whatever food your family loves! This year we are having tacos. We love tacos, so knowing we are having them for Christmas Day I haven't fixed tacos in a couple of months so that everyone is excited to have them. We have also done Coney Dogs, Lasagna, ribs and homemade pizza for dinner over the years. The secret in making the meal special is in how rarely you eat that meal. I don't know many people who eat turkey more than a couple of times a year, and that is why it is special. So when you pick your meal, just make sure to not fix it for a while and it becomes special again. If the traditional meal is important, can you substitute a  roasted chicken and fill people up more on sides instead? Also, I cut up carrots, celery and cucumbers to make a plate to nosh on all day. That and popcorn are great inexpensive fillers.
  

One reason people get all funny with gifts is that we see gifts as a representation of what others think of us, or as a representation about how we feel about others. So being honest with our loved ones and ourselves and making a change in mindset, is key to feeling fulfilled at Christmas. It definitely starts with the parent setting the tone. Even if you have to fake it, setting the right tone is the best predictor of setting up a great day.
Please share any tips you have to make Christmas Day special!