The concept is to sort of streamline both the number of gifts and the amount spent on gifts for your children for the holidays.

I like this because you can either set a budget or not set a budget depending on how much flexibility you have in your spending, and no matter how many children you are purchasing gifts for, they will all have four gifts to open.

Obviously you will want to keep them somewhat close in price, but the focus is on getting meaningful and useful gifts instead of just trying to reach a target price and keep everyone’s load the same.

We have tried this concept the last two years with great success.

I felt like picking out four gifts per child was simple, and a couple of them did not even require much thought to come up with.

So here is the concept.  For each child, you buy them:

Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read.

GENIUS, right?!?!

For the record, Santa also visits our house on Christmas Eve and leaves one unwrapped gift in front of the fireplace for each of the children.  That gift is not counted as part of the want, need, wear, read idea.

My children are a 5-year-old girl, and a 3-year-old boy.

So the gifts I have chosen below fit with this age group.

Hopefully it will give you some ideas of gifts your own children, whether similar in age to my own or not, would enjoy unwrapping this year.

The gifts chosen for my son cater to some of his needs, as he is our special needs child.

So keep in mind that the 3 year-old-boy gifts shown below may not be right for your 3-year-old boy, but he can most likely provide you with some ideas of your own.

GIRL

WANT:

Girl LEGOs

NEED:

Snow boots…we had great luck with Sorel snow boots last year!

WEAR:

Our sweet girl is still wearing her favorite Frozen bathrobe that is two sizes too small, so a new robe is on her list.

READ:

Our daughter and I did a mommy-and-me style yoga class this summer.  This kids yoga book has great reviews and is both fun and practical as it teaches self-soothing skills to help relax the mind and body before sleeping.

BOY

WANT:

This Crayola “Color Me a Song” tool looks so fun and motivating for our son who loves music but doesn’t love holding onto things.

Hopefully this will make coloring more enjoyable!

NEED:

Our son will be getting a new standing frame with a tray soon, and we are in need of interesting sensory toys for him to play with while in the stander.  These water beads look like loads of fun without being messy.

WEAR:

Keeping his feet warm can be a challenge for our little guy, so these microwavable slippers look amazingly comfortable and cozy.

READ:

We love the Little Blue Truck book, and there are a few more books about the truck we do not yet have.  If you haven’t read any of them, they are easy to read, rhythmic, and our kids both love them.