I'm Swimming in a Sea of Dora and Disney Princesses

I have a little problem with excess.

I don't like it.

If I get something that I don't need or will never use, I have to figure out a way to give it away or it drives me nuts.

If I have more than one calendar, it drives me bananas because I really only need one. And do not give me picture frames, food trays, or God forbid anything that could be classified as a "knick knack" or I might just fall over the edge.

So as you might have guessed, I'm a platinum Goodwill donor. And my house, is empty.

Bare minimum.

And I'm the friend who makes you take at least something from my house when you leave. I've even been known to send people home with some of my kids' toys.

So with my daughter's birthday party I realized that I was going to be in for it. At least I knew it was going to happen so I could prepare myself for the unhuman amounts of princess dress-up clothes, nightgowns, Dora light up shoes, and everything else you could possibly think of. It's uncanny how generous our friends and family are.

But I'm starting to think they do it on purpose because they know how crazed I get with all the stuff. I am torn between wanting my daughter to enjoy the "typical" side of life, but it drives me just a little nuts when clearly we do not need any more toys. 

How do you balance providing your children with wonderful things, but also making sure that they are thankful and appreciative?

Comments

[B]

We just paired down our stuffed animals. (I think they breed.) I explained to K that when God blesses you with a lot of things it is important to bless other people by sharing.

Also, for Christmas, Santa brings one family gift because we KNOW the excessive amounts they will receive from relatives.

[Daren]

Currently, I go through the toy box while she's napping. Some stuff goes to the attic for future use, but most of it goes to the Goodwill. Then, I load the girls up and we drop it off.

In a few years, when she's 'aware' we'll do the tree at Kmart (or something similar) at Christmas, as well as have her and the baby pick through their toys and choose some to donate.

That's the plan. Oh, and I currently write all the thank you notes, but when they're more literate, they'll write their own. At least there will be some sense of appreciation.

[Kara]

I am so trying to be a minimilist. It's working with knicknacks and such but the toys . . . oh, the toys. In the beginning I bought my daughter lots of toys not because she wanted it, but because I wanted her to have it. And she got tons of stuff from everyone at holidays and birthdays. We wound up with way too much. Now, I give lists to my inlaws and family on what to buy. It stops the tons of little presents that get lost anyway and I try to think of things that will last or that they need. One of my friends said no gifts at her daughters second birthday. Seh recommended donating to charity. I thought that this was a nice idea but my soon to be four year old daughter already knows the magic of birthdays and is making her list. I think I'll do that at my so's birthday, though. He'll be two and doesnt' get the whole present thing.

But I definitely like the idea of going through the whole getting rid of toys before Christmas or birthdays. I think we'll be doing that next month.

[Lady M]

We have three sets of grandparents that love to be generous, so we're a little swamped. I've been boxing up the toys that don't make it out of the box too often. Some for Goodwill, some to recycle back as "fresh" toys after they've been forgotten.

[Heather]

Oh goodness, see this topic is another parental duty that I prefer to not think about. LOL!

For the first few years we were so broke that toys were only purchased at b-days and Xmas. Also, my kids were the 4th and 5th grandkids, so the newness of grandbabies had worn off and my parents didn't go beserk buying stuff either. They had 4 other G-kids to buy for!

I have no magic formula. I just follow my gut to know when they need to be told no, you can't have that toy/wait for you b-day/christmas and when it would be appropriate to let them have a treat.

[Kelly]

We have a rule with family that presents are only for birthdays or Yule and you only get to give/get 1 from each person. We do our best to be pretty stringent about it because my in laws are insane present givers and would much rather give 5-10 gifts per kid. We want our boys to grow up valuing the time spent with family, and not the loot they get from said family.

[Wanda]

We clean out the toybox every year before birthdays and Christmas and bag up toys to donate. This way there is room for the new loot and someone will get use out of the "old" toys that never leave the toy box. We also have a rule, that once the toybox is full, no more toys. They can only keep what fits in the toybox...that helps with the sorting.

[JillR]

Okay...this won't help for awhile, but at age 8 my daughter and her friends started having birthday parties where the invitees brought presents for needy kids instead of the birthday girl. Here's the warm-your-heart-part, the girls thought of it themselves. Now can you see the big bright light at the end of the toy tunnel?

[Sarah]

Here's what we do......once or twice a year (especially at Christmas, because Santa won't give you new toys unless you give some of your old ones away) you go through the stuff and what she hasn't played with in a while (some she's willing to give up and the other stuff you put in a bag when she's sleeping), find a local charity to donate to and take her with you to drop it off. (All the while stressing the fact that in order to get new stuff in the future she has to give away old stuff to more unfortunate children) Give it a shot.....

[Catherine]

We have a one year old and have asked everyone to "donate" to her college fund. We think it is important for her to have toys but she does not need 2000 toys (or even 200 for that matter!) and we want to have a little say in what she interacts with. At least until she chooses what she wants. But let's be honest, at one year, you don't really care if it is a dolly or a spatula.