Strollerderby : christmas gifts

Five Easiest - and Cheesiest - Christmas Gifts to Make With the Kids

JeanneSager — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Let's face it, even when the economic picture is rosy, Christmas with the kids is expensive. There's that darn Toys R Us lookbook that always seems to make it into their hands. Most of us won't scrimp on their gifts, so it's the rest of the family that gets the shaft.

What if there was a compromise? No need to beat around the bush here - I'm talking good old-fashioned child labor here. Yeah, it's a little cheesy in that holiday commercial where a kid hands mom a big handmade card kind of way, but what the heck. At least you can afford it.

Tempted to throw caution to the wind and make presents with the kids? Here are my five favorites:

Cookies - seriously a no-brainer here. Most people who celebrate Christmas are making them anyway (or buying them and plunking a doily on a paper plate to make it look like they are anyway). So throw together an extra batch and take them with you - anywhere. The thing about cookies is that people who say, "Oh no, I couldn't," inevitably end up digging in. And they'll appreciate not having another tchotchke that ends up taking up space on their bookshelves. Speaking of which . . .
Whatsit jars - Forget the muffin mix in a jar. Have you ever actually seen someone bake one of these things? I usually end up pouring mine in the compost pile just in time to get another shelf full. Save the jars, the gingham squares and the raffia ties, and let your kids loose in the junk drawers or their toy room. Short of the knowledge that everything MUST fit inside the drawer, all they need to know is this is a gift for so-and-so. In other words, they can't get this stuff back, but they can make somebody's day and clean up your house. See what they come up with; you might be surprised - and your best friend will have a kitshy found art piece to show off instead of the same old macaroni necklace. Speaking of which . .
There aren't many people who really like to wear kid-made jewelry (their mothers accepted, of course - and maybe some grandmothers). But a button that can be stuck in a corkboard? Not too shabby. Flattened bottle caps, with pictures glued to the front and plenty of glitter are a bit more work, but the fact that they're kid-made is a bonus for these, not a detraction. (Click here for directions).
Who says the presents have to be people-specific? The same people who will stop in awe to watch a bluebird alight on their windowsill don't necessarily have the time (or the ambition) to go out and buy a feeder. You can do the old pine cone and peanut butter trick (or Crisco, if your kids are young and you're still wary of allergies). Smear the pine cone in goo, swirl in a pile of cheap birdfeed, tie on a piece of twine and voila. Or . . .
Popcorn strings will keep the animals who don't hibernate busy this winter, and provided your kids are old enough to trust with a needle and long piece of thread, they're something a trained monkey could make. And did I mention won't require dusting or take up space for time eternal?

Call them cheesy, but they're easy on the pocketbook - and your kids will remain out of your hair for a good thirty minutes.

Image: Family Fun

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When Do You Make the Kids Give Their Toys Away?

JeanneSager — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:26:00 GMT

I remember the year my dad told us we were going to have to give up our Hess trucks. Apparently this is a New York thing (or at least a Northeast thing), but Hess trucks were THE toy to get every Christmas.

Being told we had to hand over the Hess prize for some poor little kid who wasn't getting a visit from Santa was kind of like being told the big guy didn't exist. My brother and I were devestated.

Weeding through my daughter's toy box for stuff to drop at the used toy exchange for the needy kid, I decided I'd give her a bye another year. She needs to learn about giving to others, but at three, I'm willing to limit the lesson to helping me make the food delivery to the local pantry. She doesn't need to learn the toy lesson just yet.

To be honest, we never really gave up our toys. In the habit of picking up a couple extra Hess trucks every year in case my grandmother ran short on her usual list of gifts, my Dad had extras stashed away right next to the two set aside for my brother and I. When he learned a local family was in need of some holiday cheer, he pulled from his stash and asked my Mom to do the wrapping.

He told us we'd be making a difference for little boys who might not get much else that year. He told us just how proud he was of us for being so giving. We weren't perfect; even hindsight won't color me an angel. I was a little kid, and I had little kid thoughts. But I remember the pain ebbed as quickly as it came. We watched little boys tear open the wrapping paper and drive those trucks around the room, "vroooming" like it was nobody's business, and we didn't once complain. Of course, we had our trucks under the tree on Christmas morning, my dad just grinning like he'd pulled off the Christmas caper.

He did something; he made me remember it. He turned out a kid who makes sure she does the angel tree and the toy exchange, drops food off at the pantry when she has a few dollars to spare. It's a tradition I don't just want to pass on to my daughter - I will. Because corny and hokey as it is, that's still my version of the Christmas spirit. This year, we'll do the food drop-off together. I'll give the toys she no longer uses a good scrubbing while she's asleep and drop them in the toy bin while she's at school.

Maybe next year, she'll be ready for us to do it together. And who knows, maybe I'll hold back one toy to slip under the tree - a treat for the kid who makes me proud.

Image: Hess Toy Store

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When Your Kid's is the Puny Gift to the Teacher

JeanneSager — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:24:00 GMT

When we vowed last year to cut out all non-immediate family gift buying, I forgot we'd have to add two members to the gift buying "family" this year: my daughter's new nursery school teacher and her assistant. So much for cutting back.

But as Stefenie Ilgenfritz pointed out in The Juggle yesterday, not every parent agrees on what's considered "appropriate" to spend on the teacher. In this economy, not everyone can AFFORD to spend on the teacher.

Like any blog, this one got some comments that were just way off the wall. Like the mom who says money's tight, but she can't "bear" to contribute less than $100 to the group gift for the preschool teachers. She's going to give another $100 to the two women who run the home daycare where her other kid spends the day. Therein lies the problem. The percentage of parents who would consider spending $100 on a group gift for the preschool when times are tight are few and far between.

Good for her that she has that kind of cash lying around (I'm not doubting she worked hard for it - or someone in her family did) and that she's generous enough to share it. But she makes the rest of us look like crap. A bag of cookies lovingly decorated by your toddler? Makes you look chintzy when the other parent strolls in with a wallet from Coach in their glittery bag.

And if we're truly talking about a group gift, I thought the point was to pool your resources so a little can go a long way. My little is $5, $10; not of a heck of a lot less than I'd spend if I was going it alone. To be honest, I wouldn't spend $100 on a group gift for the teacher even if the economy was booming like it was 1999. I value my daughter's teachers - don't get me wrong. But I pay for nursery school. When she goes on to kindergarten, I'll be paying for that too - via my taxes. I think a small token of my daughter's appreciation is enough.

Because, honestly, isn't that what the teachers are there for? The kids? People talk about teachers getting low pay - and in some areas that's very true (I consider myself VERY blessed with what we pay for my daughter's nursery school, don't get me wrong) - but I don't think that's something that can be fixed with an over-the-top Christmas gift. They took the job because they love kids, crappy pay or not. If the gift really comes from the kid, it's the kind of thing they'll hold on to, even if it's worth less than the paper it's drawn on.

Image:ThisNext.com

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Would You Give Gifts Bought At Wal-Mart Where Man Died?

JeanneSager — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:01:00 GMT

Even the most die hard Black Friday shopper had the good grace to stop talking deals when the news of a man trampled to death by shoppers at a Long Island Wal-Mart started hitting the airwaves.

What about those shoppers? Are they in their attics right now, wrapping the results of consumer greed gone horribly wrong? Do people actually feel good giving their kids ill-gotten gifts?

Maybe I'm just not one to ask. I have never been the "up at three a.m., out the door by four" shopper. I have taken extremely well to the push toward Cyber Monday over Black Friday, even if my mega-deal is swallowed in part by a shipping charge. I like to think I can be savvy without being swallowed whole by commercialism. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good deal as much as the next mother trying to make ends meet.

But isn't there a time when a deal is just too good? Must have fallen off the truck good? I mean, it's one thing to buy the kids a fleece with a ripped tag . . . another to buy them a box of "Tunka" trucks from the vendor on the street corner. Some people say what the kids don't know won't hurt them. But as parents, you know. Whether it's a game console purchased the day a man died or a pile of games picked up from a shady street dealer, there gift that's supposed to bring kids such happiness has already been marked by incredible sadness. I couldn't do it.

Could you?

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Is Cutting the Sitter's Pay the Best Way to Save Money?

JeanneSager — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:34:00 GMT

So we're headed into a recession, and you're going to have to put some extra hours in at work to make up for a reduction in staff and earn that much-needed overtime. Is now really the best time to give the babysitter the shaft?

A list of childcare saving options in a recent Wall Street Journal piece quotes a SitterCity poll that puts 36 percent of babysitters taking pay cuts. Providing a list of way to break the news, they admit it's not easy to scrimp when it comes to the person who is going to care for your child.

So I wonder, should you? Really? Let's revisit that sentence: the person who is going to care for your child. This isn't skipping the morning latte in favor of a travel mug full of home-brewed joe. It's telling the person you pay to be there with your kids when you're not around that they're just not worth as much this year as they were the last. In a tough economy, chances are they'll swallow that excuse. But aren't they more valuable this year than ever before?

Studies have shown a mother's ability to work is dependent on the ability of childcare. The less flexible the job, the more flexibility needed on the childcare front. And the only thing flexible about jobs these days is whether they're going to be there tomorrow. So think twice about how much you're going to spend on their Christmas or Hannukah gift this year (downgrade that spa package to a single massage to make up for putting up with your brat), but you might want to keep the love flowing their way right now.

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Judge My Familial Christmas Gifts

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:29:00 GMT

I was excited to see Moderndaydad's review of a newfangled plastic Radio Flyer Wagon over at Droolicious the other day, because I have been dying to hop in one and compare it to the old-timey wagons of my own childhood. Plus, it looks like it has comfy seats, so I figured my daughter my like it as well.

Still, it got me thinking about the potential of wagon-as-Christmas gift -- and whether I should search for the old or spring for the new? The old metal wagon is the stuff of childhood memories -- the kind you haul up a hill and come crashing down in, hopefully in one piece. The new one, well, looks like the minivan of Radio Flyers. But again, those seats! I'd want someone to haul me around in one of those.

So what do you think: When it comes to Radio Flyer is it the old or the new?

Save Up Now: Geek Dads Want a Custom Segway for Christmas

Karen Murphy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:35:00 GMT

Or...maybe not. You'd have to be a Very Special Kind of Dad to want this one, I think. But I always thought the Segway idea looked like all kinds of fun, even though it makes you look like a total tool. But hey! If enough of you got one of these custom babies, you could collectively turn Tool into Cool!

You secretly want one, don't you? Have a look!

For the commuter...

Hey, does the dad in your life have a geeky Dad Best Friend? These were for advertising purposes but I could totally see Mike Adamick and his equally-hot dad-bud hitting the town tricked out in matching Segways...

See? It totally works, doesn't it? Here's probably ~~the only place in the universe that does this~~ just one of many places that will create a custom Seqway masterpiece for the geek-dad in your life.

[via Engadget]