Wondering what gifts to get your kids during Christmas? Need personalized gifts to make their day? Well, you are not alone, every Christmas parents struggle with what to get their kids. It can be quite challenging to find or often, afford a gift that is perfect. It can also be easy to lose sight of your budget whenever you go for shopping and come back with considerably more than your children need. Whether you’re on a budget or just trying to discourage materialism in your family this holiday season, you might want to step out of the four gift rule. The 4 gift rule has been going round the Internet the past few years. I’m not so sure about the origin but there are a few tales to it. The idea is that you are supposed to buy your children no more than four gifts for Christmas, which fall under these categories: THE 4 GIFTs
- Something really they wantSomething really they need
- Something they can wear
- Something they can read
Well, I have two little girls (twins, 9yr-old) and my son, who just turned 16. I have been going back and forth trying to decide if I’m going to follow the 4 gift rule or just put money in their investment accounts instead. Christmas doesn’t seem so far off and although I’m on a tight budget, I plan to do better. Better than I did last year or the years before that, when I only got the girls princess toys and Lego models for my son (who is obviously not a baby anymore. They grow up so fast!). Luckily, Last week I got this amazing gift ideas from my friend Cindy. She introduced me to Selfcad. An online 3D Modeling Software that is easy to use and learn and custom make your Christmas gifts. If you are thinking, “I don’t know how to use 3D software, or any software for that matter”, well, so did I. When she told me about Selfcad, all I could think of was, In what world my Arts career met the tech world. Luckily for me, Selfcad does not require background in IT knowledge. Besides, should you require any assistance when creating, you can easily contact Selfcad experts who are always ready to assist. Selfcad provides some really easy to apply instructions that I found very helpful. Thankfully, I created my models, had them printed and delivered. I think I can now confidently get my kids exactly what they want for Christmas. I should mention that if you are considering the 4 gift rule for older kids this Christmas, you may encounter some disappointment, especially if your kids are starting to develop personal interests. Say for example, my son loves nature and science, hence, he’s always keen on discovering the world by capturing every moment and on the other hand my girls enjoy all the pretty colored toys. Aligning their gifts with their interests will help them appreciate and value the gifts much more than random gifts that they’d normally just end up giving or throwing away. So this year plan on giving my girls something that they’ve wanted since the Movie Minions. Tiny minion toys. You may have grown tired of this 2015 mega-hit, but my girls haven’t: And who could blame them given the adorable single-celled yellow organisms who just love to serve their masters. With the episodic stream of slapstick gags, minions have provided visual sugar rush for my girls. On the other hand, with the science trip coming up, I know my son has been excited about it. He intends to capture every moment and to prepare for that I bought him a camera and created a GoPro bag strap mount using Selfcad. Since they will be moving around a lot during the trip, he could use the mount on his backpack shoulder straps to help support and reduce camera movement while filming. I’m excited to see the looks on their faces!! It’s a win-win, my kids get what they want, and I get to save money on one gift. Besides, I’m starting to notice that kids get more expensive as they get older, so, if I can get each of my kids one specialized gift each instead of four each, then Yes please! I can customize the four gift rule to meet my budgetary needs and still be crowned as mummy of the year.