Trunk or Chest
Buy a trunk or chest and fill it with dress up clothes. There are many different types of trunks or chests that you could purchase. I'm including a picture of a chest that I absolutely adore but might be a little pricey for most parents. You could simply use and old toy chest. You could get a wooden chest and finish it however you want, you could even paint your child's name on the chest or trunk. I think this is such a great idea because a trunk or chest can be versatile as your child grows up. For little girls you can fill the trunk with inexpensive costume jewelry that you no longer need, or you can buy some at the Goodwill or a dollar store. You can purchase princess dresses for the trunk, if you wait until after halloween you can find inexpensive dresses and costumes to add to the trunk. Boys enjoy dressing up too. So you can do the same for a boy and fill it with army costumes, halloween costumes, play water guns, hats, pirate stuff, sports equipment and more.
I found this trunk at http://www.poshtots.com/ it is the "Little Princess Bench" and it sells for $1667.00. This site has some incredible children's furniture.
Arts and Craft Bin
If your child loves to draw, color, paint, build, and make crafts then you can buy a clear plastic tote and fill it full of art and craft supplies. I suggest getting the ones that have a latchable lid with a handle to make it easier for a child to carry around. During July and August when all the school supplies are on mega sale I stock up on crayons, pencils,markers, paper, and glue. I often find crayola 24 pack crayons on sale for 9 cents and I buy a year's worth. I often add a coloring book and a pack of crayons to children's gifts. This is also a great time to stock up on stuff to put in the craft bin. Dollar stores are also a great place to find inexpensive craft supplies such as pom poms, wooden sticks, stickers, and glitter to add to a craft bin. Kid's love getting art and craft supplies and putting them in a tote is a great way to package them as a present and parents love that the supplies are organized into one spot. You can also include instructions on how to make crafts or a small craft book. The Internet is full of free printables and craft ideas that you could pre-print and include in the art bin.
Pajama's for Christmas Eve
One of the biggest arguments that my husband and I ever had was arguing about whether our kids would open their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. The funny thing about this argument is that we had only been dating about two months when we had the argument, we weren't even married yet and we didn't have any children yet. I grew up opening all of my presents on Christmas Eve and saving one for Christmas day and my husband grew up opening all of his presents on Christmas day. Well my husband eventually won that argument because our kids do open presents on Christmas day. But they get to open one on Christmas Eve and it's always new pajamas. Opening a gift on Christmas eve helps settle some of the excitement leading up to the big day. My kids always open presents first thing Christmas morning so I always have pictures with my kids in their brand new pajamas. It's a nice tradition and my kids look forward to it.
Homemade Gifts
Never underestimate the brilliance of homemade gifts. We live in such a disposable society of consumption that we often forget about making things from scratch. Or even better, using materials that you already have laying around your house to make great gifts. My Mother has been making barbie doll dresses for my five year old. She has taken fabric from old dresses and made beautiful barbie doll dresses.
I have been saving uniforms and t-shirts from all of the sports teams that my son has played on and I plan to sew those shirts into either a quilt that I can add on to as he gets older, or even some cute throw pillows for his bed. My Mom once took a bunch of old pairs of jeans and made a quilt out of them that became our picnic quilt.
Another inexpensive homemade gift that I plan to do this year is making prayer handkerchiefs. I will include photos and instructions after I complete one. I plan to buy some inexpensive muslin fabric, and add lace and embroider initials. I have been learning a lot about the healing power of God and prayer. I have heard some amazing testimony's about prayer handkerchiefs and I wanted each of my children to have a prayer handkerchief that they could place in their bibles and pull out when they wanted or needed them. If sewing or making your own handkerchiefs is not really ideal for you then you could always buy handkerchiefs from the store and have them mongrammed. I found some beautiful handkerchiefs at http://www.thelaceshop.com
This picture is from http://www.thelaceshop.com/
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