As I was brainstorming what to buy my baby and toddler for Hanukkah this year, I hit on an idea: Why not just wrap up some of the toys around our house and “regift” them to my kids?
This approach for saving on holiday gifts, a variation on the toy rotation idea, is today’s hint. Let’s be clear: I’m not advocating that you skip buying your kids gifts altogether and only give them items from around the house.
Rather, today’s hint is a frugal gifting strategy to consider if you’re on a budget, have lots of toys going unused around your house and want to make your little ones feel as if they’re getting more new gifts than they actually are (say, if you want to give gifts for each night of Hanukkah or have lots of gifts under your Christmas tree. Tiny old toys could also make great stocking stuffers).
Regifting old toys is also only likely to work on young kids like toddlers and babies who wouldn’t recognize all of their playthings, and for children who have big enough toy collections that they won’t recognize everything they own.
For the little ones, holiday gifts are more about the act of unwrapping presents anyway, rather than necessarily about wanting a particular gift. Of course, you’d also want to be careful not to give items that belong to one sibling to another.
Another bonus of this gifting idea: It can help keep the toy clutter in your home under control, along with any toy purging you plan to do before year’s end.
Ultimately, however, I opted not to follow this approach at our home this year, since pretty much all of the toys in our home are our 2-year-old daughter’s. I figured so overtly giving her toys to her new little brother probably wouldn’t be the best move as she adjusts to being a big sister. Instead, I bought my daughter one big present (this Fisher-Price dollhouse) and seven inexpensive gifts for Hanukkah. And I bought my baby son eight board books that I figure my daughter will enjoy reading.
Still, I’m keeping this gift giving idea in mind for next year.
Would you “regift” toys in this way to your little ones? Why or why not? What are your strategies for frugally giving your kids holiday presents?
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I’ve done a version of this: replacing the batteries in toys that stopped working and my kids forgot about, or fixing broken toys. Voila, “new” toys they get to enjoy all over again!
Love that – great idea!
So true, that the fun is in the unwrapping (at least for younger children) All of my grandchildren have played the ‘wrapping’ game at one time or another – take a toy (any toy – and sometimes a hairbrush or other unusual item) wrap it or just stick it in a shoe box, then deliver it to the Lucky Recipient – Happy squeals of delight and exclaimations of joy all around – then it’s their turn to ‘gift’ someone…..