I always try to aleviate some of the holiday stress by tackling the present issue early. Ideally, I like to have all my shopping done by the end of summer, but after having kids that date keeps slipping forward more every year. So this year I was stirred out of my coma with an email from my sister-in-law asking about presents for Little Boy. I thought long and hard about what he needs (nothing) and what he wants (everything...but it changes from minute to minute) and what we want as a family. And what it came down to is this:

We have too much stuff.

LB doesn't really NEED anything.What we do want/enjoy/crave for LB (and what he wants for himself but doesn't know it yet) is EXPERIENCES rather than more THINGS.

If he does get things we want them to be QUALITY rather than QUANTITY and something that stands the test of time.

Wow. What an intimidating response. I sent with it some ideas and brainstorming (wooden Thomas the Train to work on a set, a gift certificate for swim lessons for the winter, a gift certificate for the next family pass to the Children's Museum that we'll have to get this winter, etc.)

But then I thought that I needed to put my money where my mouth is. My nephews certainly don't suffer from limited toys, so Christmas and Birthdays are always difficult. Also, as they grow older, they're wishlists seem to grow monetarily so the things they can tell me they want aren't necessarily within our allowed present budget.  After a lot of thinking I came up with what I call my genious plan:

I want my nephews to have experiences and not stuff too. Especially because we live far away and toys have a pretty short lifespan, but memories last forever.

Kids need to open up presents, though! It's Christmas, after all!

So I'm giving them a bunch of little experiences that they can open together and share. My list so far: two passes to the pool, two milkshakes at Red Robin (a big treat!), two day passes to the Children's Museum, two tickets for iceskating and rollerskating, and two tickets to the local children's winter train. I'm going to put each of the gift certificates in tiny boxes along with a tiny trinket that represents the day so they have something to open and play with. Then I'm also going to give them disposable cameras from my Little Boy so they can document their "Days of Fun" for us to see.  Here's some cute packaging ideas I found online...

And the creme de la creme, I thought of putting all the odds and ends in boxes and glueing them onto a Christmas Tree or a Snowman (like the buttons are boxes) so the just take off the lids...or putting them in a decorated paint can like the one above with each of their names on them and numbered boxes so the paint can with their names on them becomes their "Memory Cans" for the pictures and souveniers.  I'll take a picture when I finally get this all done!