What to Get the Girls with Everything?



Steve and I have really struggled lately trying to find gifts for our girls.  With 3 girls, they have every Barbie doll, doll house, and dress-up stuff you could ever imagine.  We've finally decided we are just sick of the CRAP!  The cheaply-made China toys just break.  The must-have toys are played with for a few days and then forgotten, lost in the black hole of the playroom.  A few years ago we did the last-minute run to Toys R Us and just started grabbing toys off the shelves.  While the girls were excited when they opened all the toys, their excitement was short-lived, and I was fed up!  We had a revolving door of toys being shipped off to Goodwill.  What a waste!  And I couldn't help but feel very un-environmentally friendly.

So we've taken a different approach.  We want to shower our kiddos with experiences, not CRAP!  Last year it was the Florida trip (and although Santa couldn't be so generous this year), we decided taking the girls to a nice play would be perfect!  So they each received a small "Santa" gift and tickets to The Grinch.  They absolutely loved their small gift and were ecstatic to go to a fancy show.  It was perfect!

So we headed out to the dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with Kenz in tow.  What a fun place to eat - it felt elegant but kid-appropriate.  Always a win-win!  



It was so cold but the girls were good sports trekking around downtown!

The show was amazing - great acting, singing, and props.  To see the looks of awe on the girls' faces was priceless and beats any toy any day.  Let's hope we can keep filling them up with the experiences rather than the crap, but how do you do that in a materialistic society?  Ugghhhh