Why Your Family Should do the 4 Gift Rule this Christmas

Want to keep Christmas from getting out of control in your family?  How about doing the 4 gift rule in your house? If you haven’t heard about this, here’s how it goes.  Each member in your family gets 4 gifts. These gifts follow a theme:

• Something you want
• Something you need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

When you follow this 4 gift rule, your house won’t be overrun with gifts, gadgets and clutter.  Plus, your children won’t become overwhelmed by the sheer number of gifts that they are opening up.  That happens you know. Kids can become overwhelmed. At some point each of the gifts is just that, another gift.  Why not make sure to teach your children the value of appreciation and thankfulness by creating a more simple, yet more fulfilling Christmas?

I am all about going in a more simplistic way this year and for all of the years to come during the holidays.  I kind of started last year, but I am definitely more intentional now. My husband and I set a budget and a gift limit and stuck to it. As an added benefit, not only did I spend less money, but I got all of the Christmas shopping done on Black Friday sitting on my sofa.  We wrote a list of what we were buying and stuck with it. No more wandering throughout stores grabbing stuff just for the kids to open more somethings on Christmas morning. Intentional and simple. Plus, now I get to spend the rest of the month just sitting back and enjoying the holiday season.  This will definitely be something new for me, but I am looking forward to it!

In full disclosure, I did also buy my children stocking stuffers so those will not be included in the 4 gift rule, but none of those are high dollar gifts. I chose stuff like $5 gift cards, bath bombs, etc.

Do you do the 4 Gift Rule in your house?  Do you have any other traditions that you follow to make the holidays more intentional and less hectic?