It can be stressful to make sure you have enough finances to give your children the Birthday or Christmas that they really want, but is that what they really need? When it comes to giving your children gifts, we will do almost anything to get that one toy, but are there other ways to give them gifts that, not only mean well but are things there you will use for a long time and not just play with them for a couple of months? Let's look at how you can do this without it having a major impact on your finances.
Giving Yourself A Budget Limit
Not just a budget limit, but also a gift limit. This is especially prudent if you are struggling in a financial sense, or have bad credit. While you can learn how to fix your credit, you may want to impose certain limitations, especially if the whole family is struggling financially. This can be difficult when you have young children and want to give them the best Christmas ever. But in bending over backward to do this, you will only get yourself into further debt which will take the whole of the next year to repair. Setting yourself an upper limit will force you to be more creative in how you spend your money. It will also urge you to hunt for bargains, so you may still be able to get everything your children want after all.
The Gift Of Experiences
A lot has been spoken of the importance of buying your children experiences as opposed to material items. While some experiences can consist of a bit more money upfront, they can work out cheaper than presents in many ways, especially if there are issues in returning your item to the store or posting and packaging problems, or any other problems which force you to get your wallet out to solve the problem. Experiences have been shown to be beneficial for children in many ways, such as fewer behavioral problems. It also is a great way for you to spend time as a family, rather than all sitting around watching the TV not talking, or playing with a toy that will be in the garbage in six months’ time. If you're looking for some inspiration, you could get an annual membership for a theater, museum, or a local attraction. It's always worth looking up cheap vacations at the last possible minute too. After all, your children won't have fond memories of when they were watching something in front of the TV, but would remember a vacation for a lifetime.
Thoughtful Gifts
If you got what you wanted for your Birthday or Christmas every year, did it make you a happier child overall? Maybe it did in the short-term, or at least until the following year when you wanted something else. Stuff isn't the be all and end all of a great celebration, and a suitable gift idea would be for you to make a compendium of images of what your children did throughout the year, and put it into a detailed scrapbook. It helps them relive all of the good things over the last year, from things like field trips to family vacations and other precious memories.
Giving your children gifts they will love without it having a major impact on your finances can be very difficult. But if you go from the angle of being thoughtful by offering up experiences rather than going for the easy option and buying them that expensive games console, it won't just be better for your wallet, it will be better for them in the long run!
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