Don’t spend yourself to an unmerry Christmas; kids like cheap gifts

Christmas makes moms and dads feel guilty. They feel obliged to spend big money they don’t have on gifts they think their children expect and deserve.

Expenses being what they are, and life being as it is, the savings expected to cover Christmas often are not there for mom and dad to rely on, and that means adding to the credit card bills.

The problem with that is the credit card bills already add to the stress of life and it makes deeper the hole parents are trying to dig out of with the promise of the New Year.

If you’re a mom or dad, and this scenario seems personal to you, I have a story that might ease the strain on your wallet and the stress on your heart.

I have much younger siblings, so while my oldest sister and I were adults and out of our parents’ house, our baby brother was still a little boy. We had a competition brewing over who could get him the best gift. This informal contest was a shameful competition for his affections. My sister scoured the stores and landed upon one of the coolest toys of the season — a wireless, remote-controlled, super fast, racing truck. It could jump, race, flip and crash—and it was electronic! In short, it was cool and everything little boys love.

It was also almost $100.

I didn’t have that kind of money (I’m not sure my sister did either), so I tried to think of the toys I most remembered as a boy. Funny thing was, it wasn’t the expensive toys that I remembered the most. It was the fun of unwrapping, the food, the music, the chaos, and the happiness. As far as toys were concerned, I remembered having as much fun with the empty cardboard tubes from wrapping paper as I did with any toy. So I bought my brother a few rubber dinosaurs that reminded me of some I had as a kid, but with more realistic sculpting and painting. I think they were $5 apiece with one of the more elaborate creatures being $9. I recall my total being very close to $20.

Christmas came and my sister and I exchanged glances. We would watch to see which package would bring the loudest exclamations of joy. He opened the dinosaurs, gasped in awe, marveling briefly at each one, clashed two together in swift battle with appropriate roars and grrrrs, then tossed them to the side for the next box.

After some socks, a shirt and pants, he landed on my sister’s gift. He tore through the large box, swiping off the ribbing, shredding the colorful paper and held the box aloft. “WHOA!” was all over his face. He made quick work of the manufacturer’s packaging, fumbled with the batteries and was out the door to see what it could do. My sister smiled and I knew I’d been defeated and could only give her a nod as I watched the racing truck making mudtracks through the yard at impossible speeds.

We laughed and visited, ate dinner, had dessert, played games and laughed some more. It was a good Christmas. But a couple hours after the frenzy of gifts, in the midst of the festivities, we noticed something. The remote car was silent and still in the yard, experiencing it’s first damp drops of Washington rain.

My brother was with a couple of other kids in the front room, growling like dinosaur and arranging battles between ancient reptiles and hapless lego men. He’d still be there hours later.

To be fair to my sister, every hour or so, the remote-controlled car would get another whirl, but the imaginative draw of the cheap rubber dinosaurs was too much to resist and the “winner” was clear.

At the end of the evening, my sister and I compared notes and price tags, each amazed at how much joy can come to kids from cheap toys and yes, empty cardboard tubes from wrapping paper.

So if you’ve already spent too much and regret it, take those items back now (returns are much easier before Christmas) and buy a couple little things that don’t strain your family finances.

Your kids will have the same joy on their faces. They’ll have fun with the toys. They’ll remember being with you and the frenzied fun of unwrapping presents, Christmas will be Christmas, but your New Year will be saved. Remember, when time passes your kids aren’t going to remember the dollar amount of your gifts, just the fun you had together and basking in that parental love.