The Holiday Overwhelm is Real
By Aria Walerski
I don’t know about you but my house often feels like it’s bursting at the seams by December 27th. By then, we have done many of our gift exchanges with family & friends and toys seem to be everywhere. A few years ago, I found myself very overwhelmed and thinking there had to be a better way.
Don’t get me wrong, my children are very lucky to have such generous gift givers in their lives and I am truly grateful for the love that is shown to my family in this way. However, our house is not large and the amount of gifts I had to deal with created a lot of stress on me after the holidays were over. Where were we going to store all this stuff?!
So last year, I made a conscious effort to do better and I did this in a few different ways…
I asked for what my kids truly needed even if it wasn’t exciting. Yes, there were wants in there too but the list wasn’t just what they wanted. I knew my kids would need new sneakers soon so we added those to the list along with new hats & gloves for playing in the snow.
Think ahead. I love utilizing Christmas as a way to ask for outdoor items/games that can be used in winter or even spring & summer - and some of the spring/summer items will likely be priced better since they are off season. A few current favorites in our house are a light up basketball or nerf vortex. One unexpected bonus is that these items are usually stored in the garage so they aren’t taking up precious space inside your house. Plus, anything that gets my kids outside playing is ok in my book!
I offered the option for family members to gift my children more experience related things vs a ton of toys. For instance, it could be a season pass to a local amusement park or gymnastic lessons for a season. I know some people struggle with not having a tangible gift to give so these things can be paired with a small item. For instance, if you were to give a child gymnastic lessons, you could pair it with a leotard - or if you are gifting a season pass, you could give them something to use when they go or even just a fun ornament that correlates with the gift. Last year, we gifted our son tickets to see the 76ers and gave him a book all about basketball to go with it.
As someone whose primary love language is gift giving, some of this was a bit of a struggle for me at first but I have found it really is beneficial to helping with that post holiday overwhelm. Have you ever received or given an experience based gift? If so, what was it? Share the details by emailing us at dtownctc@gmail.com and we will highlight some of our favorites on our social media platforms.
Happy Holidays from CTC!