Cheap Pressies for Kids this Christmas

So this year I’m playing the role of Santa and the elves.

Reason being, Mrs Claus is heavily pregnant, with an official due date of … Christmas Eve.

“What a wonderful Christmas present!” gush people who clearly don’t already have three kids under the age of seven.

(My crew are understandably a little suspicious of the ‘present’ Mummy has been carrying around in her sack.)

Ho! Ho! D’oh!

So here are three stocking-fillers I’m getting my kids which may provide some inspiration for the kids in your life.

The Famous Five

Every night I tuck the boys into bed and read them two chapters of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five.

Honestly, it’s the best 30 minutes of my day, and easily the best thing I’ve done this year.

Now Enid Blighton may have typed these tales nearly 80 years ago, but her stories of adventure still nail it.

Better yet, there’s plenty of ’em: 21 Famous Five books, plus another 17 in the sister series The Secret Seven.

Soup and Baked Beans

My kids know that I made a major life change this year and now work in the community helping people who are stressed and broke. They also know that many of my clients have kids ... who often don’t have enough food to eat.

And so the festive season throws up plenty of opportunities to expose your kids to the gift of giving — to charities like Foodbank, or even serving up Christmas lunch at a shelter.

Okay, so technically this isn’t a stocking-filler. (Can you imagine? Santa got me … a can of minestrone soup?)

Still, setting an example for your kids, showing them how to be humble and kind, is important … and never more so than on what for many is the loneliest day of the year.

Trees

Yes, trees.

Over the past few years I’ve literally become a ‘tree hugger’.

My kids and I plant a tree together and take a photo: it’s done and planted in 10 minutes flat.

My grandfather did it for me when I was a little kid; I vividly remember the fun of planting it with him and then quickly racing off to play with my toys (which are now buried in landfill).

My grandfather is long gone, but when I’m back home I make a point of visiting that tree. Every. Single. Time.

Okay, so let me level with you: Santa will also be bringing pink bicycles, nerf guns and spy sets.

Yet the truth is that these three stocking-fillers are as much for me as for the kids.

They’re what memories are made of.

Tread Your Own Path!