Cutting Back This Christmas

I recently read that the average American adult with a credit card racks up $1000 in debt during the holiday season each year. And the average two-parent household spends about $1500 on gifts annually. With such a large percentage of holiday gifts being purchased on credit, it's an indicator that typical American holiday spending is more than we can afford and out of control.

When we celebrated my first child's first Christmas a couple of years ago, we didn't know what to get such a young baby, so we just got her a couple of smaller items. Good thing--at the ripe old age of four months, she was inundated with Christmas presents.

It was at that point we made some decisions about future Christmas gifts from us (or Santa) to our children.

Call us Scrooge if you want, but we resolved to set a relatively small holiday gift budget for each child. I've told our small budgeted amount to people before and some have gasped at the news. Or given an eye-roll. Go ahead. I can't see you and even if I could, it wouldn't bother me. But please understand--we love our children dearly and love giving them gifts.

With that said, we had a few reasons for making this decision.

1. We don't want the focus of Christmas to be on what our children are getting. While presents are fun, there's more to the holiday season than presents. The gifts are just a fun extra, not the main attraction. It's important to my husband and I that we reinforce this idea each Christmas season.

2. We don't want a cluttered house. Did you know that household clutter has negative effects on your well-being, such as poor concentration, memory and sleep habits, just to name a few? While we are far from achieving this, we strive to have a clutter-free home. Toys that aren't being used frequently contribute to clutter. Physically, there's a limit as to how many things a child can play with each day. I have found that my daughter has about ten popular toys that she regularly plays with. Everything else contributes to the clutter. So we have a set area for toys, and any new toys that enter the house either have to fit in this area or replace something else that's there.

3. We've found that some of the most popular toys simply aren't toys at all. Pots and pans, cardboard boxes, pillows. These are the things that get played with the most at our house. Why buy stacks of new toys when our children will return to playing with these old stand-bys in just a few weeks after Christmas? Now, if you would like to get me new pots for Christmas, I'm open to that suggestion.

4. Our children aren't going without toys. Friends and family give them over and above what they could ever need. Why should we as their parents just add to this massive toy pile each year? What they're being given by others keeps them more than up-to-date on toys for their ages and developmental stages.

5. The money that might be spent on Santa gifts can be used elsewhere. Perhaps it could be given to a needy child or a clean water effort in Africa? (Giving as a family can teach your child great lessons about selflessness and generosity!) Or how about giving your child a more lasting gift by investing some of their budgeted Christmas money in a college education fund?

We aren't being Scrooge to our kids each Christmas. We truly want the best for them and believe that our relatively small gift budgets for them are for their own good. My husband I don't have it all figured out, but for now this is what we've found is best for our family.

I am sharing this to let you know that you aren't being a bad parent if you don't buy into the Christmas gift frenzy for your children. Don't feel guilty if you cut back. Keep it simple this holiday season.