.

2 Easy Ways to Make Your Child’s Christmas Gifts go the Extra Mile

Though the number of children living in poverty in the United States is on the rise, there are countless kids who received an abundance of gifts for Christmas. If you would like to make your child’s gifts stretch, there are two easy ways to do so.

1) Don’t give your child all of their gifts at once. Instead, save some of the presents for the weeks and months ahead. After your child has opened their gifts, remove some of them and hide them. For example, I have a closet underneath my staircase where I put toys my children aren’t currently using. This allows them to stay novel, and it also eliminates some of the “clutter” that would otherwise be lying around my house. Store the surplus gifts in a place like this, and when you bring them out for your child to play with, put some of their old toys into the closet in their place to keep the cycle going.

2) Give to charity. If your child received toys he or she isn’t very excited about, you might consider giving them to a charity, such as a local rescue mission for the homeless. You could also make it a holiday tradition to have your child choose one item they received for Christmas to give to someone else in need. This helps children remember the meaning of Christmas, and it keeps the giving-spirit alive.

If you have other ways you get the extra mile out of your Christmas gifts, feel free to share them with me (amy.wickstrom@morethanatoy.com) and I will post them for others to read!

Source: Amy Wickstrom, PhD, Marriage and Family Therapist, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. The play therapy blog at More Than a Toy (www.morethanatoy.com/blog)