With the holidays coming up (along with a big pile of birthdays for our family), I thought I’d share how we stay organized so we can quickly answer “What does –––– want for Christmas?”. With three households of grandparents, I have a very difficult time figuring out how to respond. What gifts to I designate to each grandparent? I didn’t want to decide myself – I wanted to let the grandparents pick themselves.
We’ve gone high-tech and this system has been working great. Throughout the year (although especially this time of year), when I see something that the girls would like for Christmas or their birthdays, I add it to an Amazon Wish List which works like a gift registry. Amazon has a huge selection, but the best part of their Wish List registries is that you can add items from other sites as well – perfect for adding handcrafted items from Etsy or other sellers or that odd-item that Amazon doesn’t have or is sold locally. You can also set up multiple lists so I have one of my own that I use as a shopping list for gifts from us and Santa as well as items for their birthday parties.
Items are checked off automatically when bought through Amazon.com and can be checked off manually when purchased elsewhere. That way our 3 households of grandparents & other family don’t end up buying duplicate gifts and can pick from our entire list, not just what I assign to that household. Once the list is “ready”, I send out emails to let everyone know that it’s ready. It has worked great for us so give it a try!
Oh, yeah, and I have one list special for gift ideas for Jason who somehow still never knows what to get me after knowing each other a decade and being married 5 years.
Here are a few items on our list so far that might help kick-start your list:
Melissa & Doug Felt Food – Sandwich Set
Perfect for the endless hours of time spend in our play kitchen!
Duncraft 74505 Super Songbird One Way Mirror Window Bird Feeder
How cute is this? I can picture the girls watching (and learning) with this for hours.
Sargent Art 22-1610 No-Spill Paint Cups with Color-Coded Lids, Set of 10
These super-cool paint cups have built-in sealing lids & rims that keep spills to a minimum. Yes, please!
As a bit of an on-line shop-a-holic, I always come up with plenty of ideas for gifts and activities. This is a great time to save those ideas for Santa & gift lists. I’ll be posting more great finds as we approach the most Merry time of the year!
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[…] the girls want for Christmas (and birthdays since they are in Dec & January) so I keep a handy Amazon Wish List as a Christmas-style registry – it sure beats splitting up a list for each request. Here are […]