Gifts We Gave

What We’re Giving Our Kids for Christmas 2022

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I’ve written a post about what we’re actually giving our kids for Christmas for the past few years, and it’s always the most popular of all my gift guides. And I understand why – I always prefer seeing what people are for real gifting over generic suggestions.

Here’s what we’re giving our kids for Christmas 2022. This year, we opted to do a few family gifts, one of which is a big upcoming trip coming up that we haven’t yet shared with our kids. Since that’s the main gift for the whole family, we’re continuing to limit the physical presents. yet and is the main gift for the family, so we’re continuing to limit the physical presents.

In addition to the family gifts, we decided each child would receive an individual experience, a toy, and a book. I hope it’s fun to read and gives you a few new ideas, too!

Family Gifts

We always do a few family gifts for the whole crew to enjoy together. This year, we opted for a trip, plus a board game, an outdoor activity, a toy, and a fun food for us to enjoy together during winter break and beyond. Here’s what we’re doing this year:

  • Family Trip – this will be the main, final gift for which we’ll create some sort of fun activity to figure it out. We’re going to include these misting fans (which will be helpful on this trip with hot weather, as well as walking home from school and sports) as a hint!
  • Ticket to Ride London – we always like having a new family game to play on Christmas. Though we have quite a few games, we surprisingly don’t have Ticket to Ride; I’ve always hesitated due to how long it can take. But the shorter city versions are perfect, especially with a younger crew.
  • Pickleball Set – we just got a new pickleball court at the park in our neighborhood a block away, so we knew we needed to get a pickleball set so we can all learn to play together!
  • LEGO Classic Bricks & Animals – we have a couple major LEGO fans in our home, but I (and generally they) far prefer the classic open-ended bricks instead of the sets. I find they tend to get used for much longer instead of sitting on display shelves (which drives me bananas). We had a shoebox of bricks passed down to us about a decade ago and haven’t ever purchased others, so when these went on sale, we figured it was a good chance to refresh the collection a bit.
  • Homemade monthly cheese club – we looked into a number of options for a cheese of the month club, but weren’t overly impressed with any of the options; they were all either super expensive, not that unique, or both. We figured instead, we’d do a DIY version where we’d pick up 2-3 new cheeses and a box of crackers on the 1st of each month and try them out. Fun and super easy, and my cheese-loving kids are going to be thrilled.
  • Matching Family Pajamas – This year, we did a classic, beautiful red flannel. Love these. Here are the ones we got for the boys, the older 2 girls, baby S, Dan, and me.
  • Matching Christmas Outfits – N will be 13 next Christmas, and since most matching things tap out at a size 12, I think our days of full matching outfits for the kids might be waning. So I decided we were going to get full, adorable matching ones this year.
    • Boys
      • Vests
      • Pants (they all needed new dress pants, anyway, and I’d heard great things about the fit of these – they’re great on my skinny boys! I got N & T a full suit since N wears them every Sunday and T was getting a new one for his baptism a few weeks before.)
      • Custom bow ties in a green & gold Nutcracker fabric made by this Etsy shop (I had these made a few years ago and we still use them!)
    • Girls

For N (12 years old)

  • Experience Gift – individual trip to visit cousins. N has a couple of cousins who are super close to him in age and they always have a blast together. Unfortunately, they live halfway across the country so he doesn’t get to see them very often. For his big experience gift, we’re sending him on a solo trip to spend the weekend with them!
  • Baseball Practice Net – N is very into baseball, but with two non-baseball-playing parents, there’s only so much we can do to help him practice. After a dent in some drywall, I figured it was time to get him some space where he can actually practice effectively. This net has amazing reviews (even better than some more expensive ones). Similar available here.
  • Book: Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid – what would Christmas be without a new book? As much as my kids read on their Kids Kindles, I find that they’re more willing to try books outside of their preferred genres or that they wouldn’t pick up otherwise if it’s a physical copy. This business memoir looks so interesting and I hope is inspiring to N. Purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, Target, Walmart.
  • Stocking Stuffers: I always like to use stockings as a chance to fill in some gaps of some small things they need, and also to include a couple small, fun items unique to each child.
    • ZipChip – this little pocket-sized mini frisbee is going to be perfect for my kiddo who loves to throw and catch.
    • Pack of hot glue gun sticks – N is my kiddo who is always doing some sort of hot glue project and has been asking for extra glue sticks.
    • Movie night with Mom & Dad – we decided it owuld be fun to let each kiddo stay up late one night to watch a movie with Dan and Me. We’ll do Apollo 13 with N.
    • Quip kids toothbrush – our kids’ dentist highly recommends his patients switch to electric toothbrushes as they tend to clean much better. The Quip has gotten rave reviews so we decided to give it a shot.
    • Stamps & notecards – I thought it would be fun to include a set of stamps and notecards in each kiddo’s stocking in an effort to make it easier for them to write thank you notes for gifts, as well as keep in touch with far away relatives. Since N loves baseball, we got him the Yogi Berra stamps, and just picked up a pack of notecards from Target.
    • Travel toothbrush cover
    • Camping/hiking spork – great for our adventures. I bought a few packs and will split them up.
    • Glue stick – my kids are constantly needing more craft supplies. I’ll be splitting up this pack to include in their stockings.

For K (10 years old)

For T (8 years old)

For A (5 years old)

  • Experience Gift – He’s going to love the Penguins + Pajamas sleepover at the California Academy of Sciences along with T!
  • Kids Kindle – A has really progressed with his reading the last few months, and I think he’s going to be thrilled to have a Kids Kindle of his very own, just like his older siblings (and I’ll be thrilled for him to have plenty of reading material when we travel). I purchased this several months ago when it went on super sale and only paid $40 for it. Sadly, it seems they’re only offering the new model now, which is a whopping $120. I still think it’s worth it, but it’s annoying!
  • Book: 2 Ling & Ting books – I adore Grace Lin, and these will be perfect for A to read on his own. I got him this one and this one.
  • Stocking Stuffers:

For M (almost 3 years old)

  • Experience Gift – M is our little darling spitfire who is always running, jumping, and climbing. We signed her up for a tumbling class as well as swim lessons and I think she’s going to be over the moon. We’re giving her this cute unicorn robe to tell her about the experiences (our other kids got robes a couple years ago and LOVE them).
  • Yoto Mini + Headphones – A super loves the Yoto, so I figured it was time to get M one that she can use on road trips and at home. I snagged the mini when it was on big sale and I’m so excited for her to start listening. I also grabbed her a pair of soft and cozy headphones for easy listening on the go.
  • Book: Namaste is a Greeting – I’m excited to read this beautiful new book with her. Purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, Target, Walmart
  • Stocking Stuffers:

For S (3 months)

Obviously S doesn’t need much, nor does she care one bit about gifts right now. But it’s fun to give her a little something and fun for the other kids to see her get a couple things.

  • Play Wooden Barn – this is the same idea I shared above about the younger sibling having something fun to share with older siblings. We’ve never had a play farm and I’m hopefully S&M (and probably my older kids, too!) will have many fun hours playing with it. (Both the strategy and farm were Busy Toddler suggestions!)
  • Cuddl Duds Blanket – we gave the rest of our kids one of these super cozy blankets a couple years ago for Christmas and they still get used every single day. We figured it would be snuggly to get S her own, too. We got her the cute winter dogs pattern.
  • Book: Sweetest Kulu (board book) – I love this sweet little lullaby, especially after visiting Alaska while baby S was in my belly. Purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, Target, Walmart.
  • Stocking Stuffers: again, these are a bit different for S but we’re putting a few cute and also needed little things in there!

There you go! Are you done with shopping this year? I’d love to hear any gifts that are making you especially excited!

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