That’s been my big question…when do we transition? My children are the youngest, so I’ve watched the “kids” move from teen years to high school graduation to college graduation to owning a home. Since she has the oldest children, I’ve waited for my SisterIL to say they are old enough, let’s do something new. It’s an uphill battle. I’ve made hints, but this is my husband’s family and so I feel I can’t push this too hard.
I think part of the equation is how big your family is and whether you see each other at other times of the year. If I were to buy something for just our parents, siblings, and their spouses and kids (not cousins) we’d be at 46 presents. Even forgetting the expense, who has the time and creativity to buy that many meaningful presents?
Most of us live close to each other and spend enough time together that our gifts can be hosting each other for holidays and other occasions.
Are the adult kids buying you presents? If not I’d just send them a holiday card.
As I mentioned above if you’re doing family Secret Santa/Gift exchange by picking names it can be fun to have a theme.
As I mentioned, our family has done the theme of “food” for years. We really don’t tire of it! Here are some themes a blogger I follow has used in their family - I wouldn’t mind trying some of these!
Hey Hot Stuff! (spicy food, things that keep your warm, items related to hot places or destinations)
Book It (books or other reading related items, but also things about booking a trip or running)
Travel Junk (things you pick up while on trips or vacations)
Say Cheese (photo or cheese related gifts – we got a Wisconsin-shaped cutting board for our cousins who live in Madison)
The Good Ol’ Days (vintage items like these retro-style Scrabble and Sorry game sets)
On The Road (gifts good for road trips or travel, like this travel art kit we received)
The Year of Granny (to honor my grandma’s 90th birthday we chose gifts that reminded us of her, like an automatic card shuffler)
Be A Good Sport (sports-related gifts like memorabilia for your favorite team or actual games to play together)
Feeling Green (eco-related gifts, or things that were literally the color green)
Across State Lines (local gifts from the town of the gifter)
I thought these were all fun.
Also, there are now online Secret Santa name generators so people can be assigned a family member easily and everyone is accounted for. If you do this (we don’t) people can even post a wish list on this webpage. https://www.drawnames.com/