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Hoagies' Blog Hop December 2014: Holiday Gifts: Bye Bye Buy Buy

Now that we learned how to take care of ourselves and teach our kids self care in last month's Blog Hop: Gifted Self-Care, we're ready to face the holiday season... or are we? How can we "do" the holidays without the kids' chorus of "Give me, give me"?  How can we ignore the ads and the stores and the constant bombardment that the less we spend, the less we love our loved ones?  What options are there for our gifted families?

Don't miss our previous Blog Hops, May: The "G" Word, August: Gifted friendships and October: Gifted Advocacy.  If you'd like to join our next Blog Hop, visit Gifted Blog Hops.  Special thanks to Pamela S. Ryan for our Blog Hop graphics, and Deborah Simon for our "Next Blog" loop!

Remember to click the Next Blog button at the bottom of each blog to move on to the next blog without returning here.  It's a great way to Hop around our Blog Hop!  (Note: Susrise Learning Lab's Pinterest contribution is not "in the loop" this month; please visit separately.)

Find great gifts for gifted kids on Hoagies' Smart Toys & Games (and Adults!) and Hoagies' Hot Topics Reading Lists.
 

Gift giving without the Buy! Buy! Buy! by Jo on Sprite's Site

...and lots more great ideas...
 

Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat by Linda Wallin, Living with Geniuses

A common thread here is family time together. Although children are seduced by media ads, the truly unforgettable gifts are those that involve having fun together. That is my wish for you for the holidays...
 

Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything by Planet Smarty Pants

What I remember more is the feeling of anticipation, of family togetherness, of me falling asleep in a tiny apartment of my grandparents where we usually celebrated New Year’s Eve expecting something miraculous to happen the next morning. This is the true Christmas memory that I want to leave for my daughter – not what she got, but that she was loved on that day and every day of the year...
 

Hand-Made Holidays by Homeschooling Hatters

One of the things we've taken to in the last several years has been handmade holiday gifts. Granted, a large portion of that is because we're not exactly the most well-off of families, but it's also because a lot of times the holidays are a time when we all accumulate... stuff. The state of the toybox is usually the listed culprit, but it happens to all of us. So what do you do?
 

Holiday Traditions! by Carolyn K., in Hoagies' Nibbles and Bits

What traditions will your kids remember next year, in 20 years, for a lifetime? Will he remember the piles of presents, or that Grammy and Grandfather took all the grandkids to the theater every holiday? Will she recall that "perfect gift" you bought for her when she was 3, or 10, or 16, or will she remember the year Daddy's gingerbread house was a train station with the town clock on top (it's always 5 o'clock somewhere!), or the year she created a wonderland gingerbread castle that looked a little like Hogwarts, in red and black on a shimmering lake of silver nonpareils?
 

10 Free Activities To Do In The Holidays by Elgarmummy

This is the holiday season and it is time for gifts, or is it? My children get plenty of gifts round the year from us and grandparents, so there is no real reason to get them more presents. What they really need from me is time. The gift of time is something that a busy working parent like me would really want to give them. They grow up too quickly!
 

Ten ways on how to avoid the buy-buy-buy by Carolyn Fox, A 2E Fox Revived

So how best to avoid this unfettered materialism run amok?? How to avoid that herd mentality? How to avoid the emotional tugs of needing the latest and greatest?

Since the spring/summer, I have been doing much research and reading about zero waste and refining my purge and resistance techniques. I think I've come up with some ideas...
 

The Gift of Love by Aurora Remember

So how to we find meaningful gifts that don’t cost lots of money? I recently posted the question to my Facebook group, League of Excitable Women, “What would be the best gift someone could give you that doesn’t cost money?”
 

DOES 1 + 1 = 2?? by Braver than you believe

We don’t want people to know how much a really meaningful gift makes us feel loved because materialistic gain is frowned on in a season where Scrooge is the bad guy. But even Scrooge valued love.

If we take a good, long look at who we are and decide that person needs to be changed, so be it. But don’t hide who you are. Don’t pretend you’re something different. Don’t lead the next generation to do the same...
 

‘Tis the Season to be…Anxious? by Gift-Ed Connections

I can’t remember any of the gifts that I received for Christmas as a child. Unless of course you count the year I got the radio that I still have kicking around the house somewhere. I believe there might also have been a wagon full of blocks? Not sure. And while I am certain that I always received and anticipated gifts, it is the magic that preceded and surrounded them that I remember: our living room transformed into a magical Christmas wonderland with a tree full of candles that were lit while we sang carols in the kitchen waiting to be summoned...
 

Holiday Gifts (Without the Buy Buy Buy) by Catie, My Little Poppies

The gift of words:
There is nothing like a handwritten letter. In this age of texts, emails, Twitter, and Facebook, no one takes the time to thoughtfully write anything anymore. Everything is done in short, clipped bursts, without forethought. Show someone in your life how much you care for them by sending them an actual, old-fashioned, snail-mail letter. Remember how exciting it was to get mail when you were a kid? It can still happen!
 

Pinterest Board of Handmade Gifts by Sunrise Learning Lab Blog

From clothespin kinfolk, to mason jar baking mixes, to microwave caramels and peppermint candy Christmas ornaments, find dozens of great handmade gifts and wrapping ideas sure to please, and easy to create...
 

Updated December 01, 2020