Tag Archives: Christmas

October 5, 2021 · 10:21 am

Unique Christmas Gifts for Caregivers in 2021

By Katie Tejada

Caregivers are the heart of many families and facilities. Most caregivers are responsible for both the physical and emotional care of their patients. From various illnesses, disabilities, or injuries to handling financial and legal affairs, caregivers do it all, often without much recognition. If you’re looking for meaningful gifts to give a caregiver, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s take a look at 5 unique Christmas gifts that are perfect for caregivers in 2021.

Custom Photo Prints

Memories can fade, but photos make a moment last a lifetime. Give a caregiver a custom photo print from a special moment that they treasure. Every time they look at the picture, it will trigger those fond memories that will stay with them for years to come.

Religious Trinkets

Being a caregiver is not always easy. Gifting a caregiver with a religious trinket may help them feel motivated and inspired throughout their day. If you know a caregiver who is dedicated to their faith or one who would appreciate a spiritual boost, this gift idea is definitely the way to go.

Floor Cleaning Robot

Most caregivers are tired and exhausted at the end of the day. A floor cleaning robot is an exceptional gift choice. While they’re busy tending to the needs of others, their floor cleaning robot will be busy making their floors spotless. This gift is perfect for caregivers who move in and out of their homes quickly.

Engraved Chairs

Engraved children’s chairs are great gifts for caregivers who enjoy spending time with their grandchildren, Godchildren, nieces, and nephews. Most people who love spending time with children like to ensure they have a comfortable space while they’re away from home.

Engraved children’s chairs are beautifully handcrafted with solid maple. Allowing them to be comfortable and sturdy. This gift is not only unique but it is also timeless because it can literally last a lifetime. Add the family’s name to the chair and enjoy seeing it be passed down from generation to generation.

Self-Care Basket

Self-care baskets are ideal gifts for all caregivers, although women may appreciate them just a tad bit more. Whether you’re searching for gifts for women or men, a self-care basket is a great choice. Here are a few items you can put in a homemade basket to encourage your favorite caregiver to pamper themselves every once in a while:

Bath bombs – Bath bombs are great for unwinding after a long day
Cocktail glasses – Perfect for solo wine nights at home or intimate date nights in the living room
Candles – The right scent, like lavender or eucalyptus, can provide excellent aromatherapy
Body oil – Most caregivers do not wear heavily scented fragrances while at work. Body oil is a great way to moisturize skin while also adding a subtle scent to the body that isn’t too strong
Snacks – You can’t go wrong with snacks! Add a few of your caregiver’s favorite snacks to their self-care basket, they’ll enjoy having something to munch on throughout the day

Wooden Sign

Coming home to an uplifting wooden sign in the perfect place is a great feeling. Gifting wooden home decor is tasteful, timeless, and appropriate. Because of their unique look, wooden signs can effortlessly be placed in any room – regardless of colors or themes. Help your favorite caregiver make their house feel like a home with a beautiful wooden sign this Christmas.

If the gifts on our list didn’t particularly catch your eye, there’s no need to worry. Regardless of whether you’re choosing a gift on this list or not, the top two things you can keep in mind are:

Pampering gifts – Everyone needs to take care of themselves, but especially those who work tirelessly to take care of others.
Gifts that make life easier – Gifts that make life easier are a dream for most caregivers. Imagine not having to worry about a clean floor at home after spending the day cleaning up after others or instantly feeling encouraged when you enter your home

We hope this list is helpful and you have a wonderful time Christmas shopping for a caregiver who has impacted your life.

Guest Post: Best Holiday Gifts for Grandparents.

This week’s guest post is provided by Libby. As a 60-year-old grandparent of seven, Libby prides herself on successfully spoiling every child with minimal complaints from her daughter, son, and their respective spouses. Even with chronic back problems, she is determined to earn the title of “World’s Best Grandparent” and spends every afternoon loving on her kids’ kids, one child at a time. Libby created Grandparenting.info to share what she’s learned as a grandmom and to help new grandparents make the most of every second with their grandkids.

There’s no doubt that you love your grandparents, and this holiday season is a great time to show them just how much. When choosing a gift, you can make their day by getting them something they’ll truly cherish. They might be extra appreciative of gifts that they can use to make their lives easier or more comfortable, such as tools for their favorite hobbies or a senior-friendly phone. Here are some ideas.

Sentimental Gifts

Letting your grandparents know how much they mean to you is always appreciated. The holidays could be a great time to gift them some sentimental gifts that will remind them they’re always in your thoughts. According to Personal Creations, personalized gifts can hit the right spot. They can combine sentimentality with function or add a great aesthetic to a room. Your choices can include daily use items like clothes, bowls, mugs, and jars. Decorative gifts like photo albums, throws and pillows can really brighten your grandparents’ day.

If your grandparents are like most, they like to talk about family and the great, big family tree. Why not get them a gift that will showcase these interconnections? Family tree frames can be used to house pictures of a family tree of varying sizes depending on how large you’d like to make it. You can even get creative and combine more than one of these frames.

Tech-Based Gifts

Yes, it may seem that technology and older adults aren’t always a good match, but you might be surprised by the number of senior-friendly technology devices out there. According to Gear Brain, some tech gifts your grandparents might appreciate include robot cleaning devices and a truly simple Wi-Fi product that your grandparents can have set up in no time. If you always want to send pictures to them but they’re not that tech-savvy to use email, consider getting them digital photo frames that you can update with pictures at the touch of a button.

If your grandparents need a new mobile phone, then consider checking out some flip phone options like the LG Exalt LTE or the Kyocera DuraXV LTE. Both of these phones work well for seniors, but the Kyocera phone is great for those who love the outdoors. Where tablets are concerned, you should definitely check out a few Samsung devices which feature large display screens and are easy to use.

Companionship Gifts

If your grandparents aren’t close by and you don’t get a lot of time to visit, it might be good to consider getting them a gift of companionship. There are numerous health benefits for older adults who have pets, but there are also quite a few responsibilities involved with taking care of an animal. In this case, it might be good to strike a happy medium where your grandparents get to interact with animals but aren’t completely responsible for their care.

If your grandparents live in a location that is frequented by birds, then a good birdhouse might be just what they need. When it comes to birdhouses, Gardener’s Supply Company suggests paying attention to the material that it’s made of and where you intend to place it. Make sure to find a birdhouse that is the right size for the kind of birds you expect to visit. A recent companion invention may also be of interest as a gift. The companion pet is a robotic pet that behaves very much like a cat or dog, but your grandparents won’t need to clean up any messes or make visits to the vet.

Hobby-Friendly Gifts

Depending on your grandparents’ activity level, they may have certain hobbies they enjoy, so you can get them gifts that support that. For older adults who love fishing, you can choose from gifts that match their level of expertise. Whether your loved ones are just starting out or have been doing it for a while, you can definitely find gifts that can help them enjoy their hobby even more.

If your grandparents are more sedentary and have a knack for knitting, then how about getting them some tools for their craft? They may appreciate items like knitting needles, storage tote bags, and a yarn ball winder. Finally, for the gardener in your midst, they may be interested in trying out bonsai trees. If they have the patience for growing the trees from scratch, consider getting a good starter kit. Otherwise, you can get them a bonsai tree seedling that they can start tending to immediately.

The gift options for older adults have broadened over the years, and you can pick out quite a few gifts that would mean a lot to your grandparents. You can get them sentimental gifts that will keep their memories close at hand or get them technology-based gifts that they’ll find easy to use. Whatever you choose, your grandparents will certainly be appreciative that you put so much thought into it.

How many presents ?

How many presents do you buy for your kids at Christmas?

In my family, amongst my friends, between the parents I speak to online, there are very different approaches to Christmas presents. Some people buy a lot, some buy little. Some place a lot of emphasis on Santa’s gifts, some less, some not at all. Everyone wants their kids to have an amazing Christmas experience, and all the kids get exactly that! But which approach to gift giving is best? Which suits you and your family?

How much to spend?
How many gifts to give?
More presents or bigger presents?
Who gets the credit, parents or Santa?
How to make sure the kids appreciate their gifts?

How much to spend?

How long is a piece of string? This really is a circular question. Family finances are so different that measuring your spend against another can never be helpful. Different incomes, different budgets, different priorities make this an impossible comparison and one that can only make you feel bad. Bad you aren’t spending enough or bad you’ve spent too much. Or you feel smug you’ve done just the right thing and then you should feel bad for feeling smug.

The main thing is to spend what you can afford only. Going into debt or having to cut back too much to afford a lot of presents isn’t going to pay dividends. Your kids may love those toys but soon they’ll want to go on fun outings you can’t afford or need new shoes you can’t buy and the toys won’t make up for it.

How many gifts to give?

This is where you can save money when you have little ones. They won’t know how much things cost so if you want to give a lot, go for lots of cheap gifts rather than one or two expensive ones. If you have more than one child make sure they have the same number as they’ll probably compare. Even if you spent more on one child they are more likely to see the fairness in how many gifts they can count. But giving too many gifts can make the opening become a factory line and the shine of getting a gift can be rubbed away. Too many presents and you run the risk of an ungrateful child who keeps expecting more and more. Plus there’s only so much they can focus on and some of the toys are likely to gather dust, at least for a while. Where’s the sweet spot? That’s up to you, of course, but just remember not to compare to the other parents! There’s always someone giving a number wildly different to you and making you second guess your decision.

Bigger is better?

There are some big items that are often given as Christmas gifts. I mean large! Like cubby houses, trampolines, swing sets, play kitchens, bikes….. This big presents often come with a price tag to match and can be an excellent option for a group gift, to all the kids/all the family (maybe not the bike!)

Large toys can be impressive and give a lot of bang for their buck as they aren’t always matched by their price. Young children, just as they will see a lot of toys as a big haul, are likely to see Big toys as impressive. A large cheap toy might create more excitement than an expensive small one. But the long term value is worth considering, if the cheap toy becomes just more for the toy box and eventually landfill. Small toys can be used to fill a stocking. Little hands reaching in again and again to reveal yet more tiny wonders might create more joy. How big is your home? I know I think hard about just where I will keep each item once it’s a part of our lives and homes before I buy it. If you can’t think of an obvious place to keep it, maybe it’s something best to avoid!

Who gave the best gift, you or Santa?

This one really gets the mums groups to disagree. On the one side is the argument that Santa is magical and special and kids should believe the best comes from that magical place while they still can. On the other hand is the position that parents put in all the hard work so they should get the credit and appreciation they deserve. Also to take into consideration is that the biggest and best present means very different things to different families. Some have hardly anything or nothing to spend on Christmas and some have limitless funds and means. If Santa is attributed with the most extravagant present, yet this varies from one child to the next, will the children see this and feel like Santa has been unfair or doesn’t care as much for some children? This a very personal question and your family dynamics and the personality of your child will sway the decision. How likely are your kids to discuss their gifts with other children? Some countries have school close to Christmas and some do not, does this affect the likelihood of comparison discussions? Do your children appreciate you usually or do you feel they need to see how you work hard to get them the things they have? Is the magic of Santa especially important to you and to them?

How much will they appreciate their presents?

We all want to give our kids what they want, but we try to give them what they need as well. And maybe sometimes they need to appreciate what they’ve been given a bit more? I know my toddler can begin to expect gifts around present giving time. For a month after his birthday he would come home from daycare asking, “Have you got a present for me?” There were even tears sometimes when the answer was no. I think the toddler may be old enough to begin learning about giving his toys to those who haven’t as many. This year I’d like to have him pick something new to give to a children’s Christmas gift program and also to agree to pass on some of his own toys. Getting him involved in choosing and wrapping gifts for other family members also makes sure he understands that presents are a two way street and to help him grow his own joy in giving.

How do you and your family approach presents for your kids?

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Tagged as children, Christmas, gifts, presents, Santa, Xmas

December 26, 2012 · 10:18 am

Wake up! It’s Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Are there young children sharing your Christmas day?

The children in my family were always very spread out, both geographically and in age. When I was a little girl my younger brother and I were the only children at every Christmas. My nearest cousins were 12+ years older, and in a different state, and we had no other children in our near family. Later more cousins arrived into our family, this time 18+ years younger.

We didn’t mind being the only children, I’m pretty sure it only meant there was more focus on us! But now that the younger cousins are growing up into teenagers, the stark lack of children at Christmas looms. It’s probably meant to be my job to make some more at some point, but for now there’s a noticeable lack of little kid Christmas merriment.

The boyfriend has a niece who has just turned one, and in another year she’ll be a joy at Christmas. This year she’s still too young to know what’s going on and so as far as kids at Christmas goes, she barely counts (sorry bub!) – though that hasn’t stopped us fussing over her presents and predicting how cute she’ll look in a mini Santa hat.

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Tagged as children, Christmas, Christmas day, family, Holiday, Merry Christmas, Santa, Santa Claus

December 18, 2012 · 9:08 am

Don’t Panic – It’s Christmas!

Christmas day can be exhausting and stressful when you’re single and thought you had little more to worry about than how many bottles of champagne you’d need to supply your boozy relatives, and how to fake a smile when you’re given the same book you’ve already read by the fourth well-meaning aunt. But, when you have small children in tow it can all suddenly seem very overwhelming, threatening to take the shine off the whole day.

Relax! Christmas is meant to be fun remember? 🙂 So here are some of top tips for keeping the fun a priority and the tension at bay.

Safeguard the Christmas tree

I’ve heard and seen suggestions about avoiding trees altogether or putting a small one up out of reach on a table, but if you want the big traditional tree surrounded by presents you don’t have forgo it, even with small children who pull and climb and destroy. It’s a small investment but one I think is worth it; a wooden playpen. Most these days are a series of sections designed to create the shape that suits you, so you can arrange it around you tree or cordon off a section of a room. It’s great after Christmas as well as a safe place for young children to play when you have a shower, or cook, or climb onto the roof, or whatever you need to do where you can’t watch the kids.

Give your children plenty of notice – Xmas is coming!

This serves the double purpose of building excitement (which is worth the crazy that comes with it, surely? We want them to be excited about Christmas, right?!) and making sure they aren’t taken unawares when there are big changes to their routine. Children thrive on routines and predictability in their lives so when there will be a lot of people and changes to their day, talk about it often in the lead up to Christmas. Talk about what will happen, who they’ll spend the day with, and what your expectations of them are (don’t have too many expectations!).

Rest up!

Give yourself and your children a chance to rest before the big day. Easier said than done I know, but if you usually go to baby and toddler classes, the park, the shops, cafes, to see friends, etc etc etc, cross them off your to-do list wherever possible in the few days before Christmas. For one thing you’ll probably realise you have more to do at home than you thought (I always have that last minute moment where it occurs to me I allowed 20 minutes for something that clearly takes four and half hours), but mainly it’s just a chance to be quiet before the hubbub of Christmas. Be your calmest self and encourage your children to have a good back log of rest and sleep to draw on when they inevitably become over-stimulated and-overtired on the big day.

Delegate. Delegate. Delegate.

I hate to let others do things I’m pretty sure I can do better. I really struggle to let anyone help me. Ever. But it really is the mark of good manager, at the office or at home, to be able to apportion jobs out to others, willing or not (!), to ensure the whole day runs smoothly. Even if you’re Supermanning and Domestic Goddessing all over the place, you can get adults and older children to do a dozen small jobs that will free you up, and children of about 3 years to 8 years often enjoy being given responsibility (younger than this they’re not really up to it and any older and they’ve cottoned on to the fact you’re making them work and calling it fun, Tom Sawyer style). If you’re less busy you can deal with small mishaps and will be less stressed if called upon to deal with big mishaps.

Let them eat cake

… and biscuits and chocolate and lollies and pies and turkey and stuffing and bread and the piece of fluff they found under the couch and ice cream and sausages and whatever they want. There is absolutely no way on earth that a single day of over-the-top unhealthy eating could do lasting damage, not realistically. Even if you usually prefer your children to be pagans of virtue in their eating habits, and even if you succeed (a much trickier prospect), just turn a blind eye today.

Giving ground here means you don’t need to watch what they’re eating, since they can eat anything they want, giving you more time to deal with other things. Christmas is meant to be extravagant; we all eat and drink and buy too much, why should children be left out? It’s a day to look forward to all year and being a day of eating free-for-all can help you set limits the rest of the time (of course you can’t eat that, what do you think this is, Christmas?!!! 😉 ) You might be surprised to find that when given free licence they don’t eat as much or as poorly as you’d expect and even if they try, they couldn’t possibly outweigh the good eating you share the rest of the year.

Be Flexible!

This is the most important of all. Prepare yourself and the children, rest up beforehand, be clear about expectations and avoid unnecessary conflict, loosen the reins a little (get it, reins, like for the reindeer??? ahhhh….lol ), but if (when?) it all goes to hell in a handbasket, try try try to go with the flow. I believe routine is the key to happy children, but the routine is already out the window so don’t stress if you can’t get a baby’s nap in when you think you should, or didn’t feed the kids when they’d usually eat, or forgot to plan for the extra children that arrive with those aunts who keep giving you books you read last year. Naps can be moved, skipped, or happen in someone’s lap, children can share a bed, meals can be anytime (the kids are stuffing themselves on chocolate and couch fluff remember?), and TV can be a blessed babysitter.

This is a day for fun, family, friends, loved ones sharing a special day and creating memories. It’s a big day that throws the usual schedule in chaos and you should be realistic about the impact on small children. They will probably swing wildly between excited and happy, and grumpy and sleepy. Make it as easy on them and yourself and everyone as possible and take the easy route where possible feeling utterly GUILT free! This is a free day, it has nothing to do with normal routines and plans and goals and expectations. Your only goal today is to enjoy yourself and your family, and for them to feel the same way.

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How do you manage Christmas Day with small children and babies?

Twas the Mess Before Christmas (countryliving4beginners.wordpress.com)
Christmas can be simpler and better (nuclear-news.net)

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Tagged as babies, children, Christmas, Christmas day, Christmas tips, Christmas tree, family, parenting, stress free christmas, toddler, Xmas