Holiday Gift Giving: 12 Days of Christmas
As the song says “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” It took me a little more time to get in gear for the Christmas Holidays this year, but the girls Holiday spirit along with the countless Christmas songs is quite contagious! Once again the excitement is building in our house and we are counting down the final days. One of the ways we try to spread out the Holiday Cheer in our house is by doing the 12 Days of Christmas. I used bigger boxes this year so it is actually pretty tall (it’s taller than me….not that I am a giant, ha), but it made it more difficult to get a great picture.
The 12 Days of Christmas allows the girls can open one gift a day for 12 days prior to Christmas. By doing it this way they have the time to enjoy each gift because they get one gift every day versus everything packed into one day! Starting December 13th the girls will be able to open one gift a day with the last one being opened on Christmas Eve. Plus, doing the 12 Days of Christmas motivates me to wrap some gifts early so I am not up late the day before Christmas trying to get all the wrapping completed, instead I can relax and go to bed at a decent time!
Some years I keep the cost to under $20 total, including boxes and wrapping paper, while other years we add their main gifts to this stack. Most of the gifts were bought on clearance, using coupons, or at discount over the past year. We did a joint stack for both of our girls again this year, although you can choose to do a stack for each person. You can chose to do whatever works best for your family.
In the past I have shared the items that I put into their 12 Days of Christmas packages, however, it is not possible to do that this year. Mainly because the girls are fluent readers AND they are frequent readers of my blog (wink…wink)! So in order to keep their gifts a secret I will not be able to spill-the-beans on the contents of the packages. I would be happy to share the list of the items I put into their boxes if you send me a message and promise not to tell my kids (shhhh….it’ll be our secret). I just cannot post publicly what is in each box. I have compiled a list of ideas on items that work well in the 12 Days of Christmas packages to get you started!
Ideas for 12 Days of Christmas:
- CDs
- Hair Accessories
- Make Up
- Socks or Tights
- Chapstick
- Socks
- Gloves or Scarf
- Card Game
- Construction Paper
- Markers or Crayons
- Matchbox cars
- Small Toys
- Baby Doll Clothes
- Christmas Underwear
- Shoes
- Slippers
- Books
- Clothes
- Pajamas
- Popcorn Tin
- Mix Nuts
- Sweet Treats
- Christmas Ornaments
- Crafts
- Games
- Gift Cards
- The ideas are endless! 🙂
I wrapped the items in the original boxes or found boxes around the house to put the items into. The Christmas paper was purchased on clearance and I used a coupon. Many of the items we purchased on clearance throughout the year and / or used CVS – ECBs and Walgreens – Register Rewards, Swagbucks Gift Cards or Coupons. I cannot remember the price for all the items but with the rewards it very reasonable price for 12 gifts and some days had multiple items in them.
We did a joint stack for our girls to save money, however, the items we picked match their individual interests. The kids recently discovered the 12 Days of Christmas presents wrapped and ready by our tree! I love seeing their faces and hearing their comments when they first see the stack.
If you need some more ideas you can check out our previous 12 Days of Christmas posts for our family over the past few years:
Magazine: “Fun for Kidz”
Our girls love getting magazines and goodies in the mail. My parents ordered the Fun for Kidz magazine for the girls a few months ago and they always look forward to getting it in the mail. The magazine has a variety of stories, puzzles, crafts, recipes, science experiments, and fun stuff for the kids to try.
This week we did a couple of the science experiments / activities that were listed in one of the magazines. We made homemade “telephones” for the girls that they were reading about in the magazine. Another fun activity we did was cut a hole in a piece of 8×11 paper that was big enough that we could fit through (even Daddy could fit through the 8×11 piece of paper once it was cut, pretty funny). They thought it was hilarious and once again they had a blast doing some of the activities in the magazine.
The magazine is great for either boys or girls ages 5 to 13 years old. It becomes even more fun as they learn to read and are able to do some of the activities, puzzles, and silly stories or jokes on their own. The magazine is smaller than a regular magazine although it is more like a pamphlet / book with heavier pages. There isn’t a huge amount of colorful pictures but it is packed full of fun information and activities that the kids will enjoy. A subscription would be a great birthday, Holiday or just for fun gift for kids.
The best price I have found for the Fun for Kidz magazine is through Ebates.
- Login or open an account for Ebates
- Search for ValueMags
- Click on the ValueMags discount link (currently offering 51% back on magazine subscriptions)
- Once you are on ValueMags website search for Fun for Kidz
- Order your subscription and you’ll receive your 51% back Ebates check in the mail
Ebates has always been really good about sending our rebate checks. It is like a traditional rebate but you don’t have to send in a form and it is automatically done online through their website when you order. You can get Ebates on many other online retailers. If you are shopping for Holiday, Birthday, or other gifts check to see if you can get extra money back by shopping through Ebates.
