When I walk into my parents’ house, it is like stepping back through time. Not only do they have landline phones and a chunky computer monitor, but they still have a bunch of my stuff from when I was a kid. Despite getting rid of my old clothes, they hung onto a bunch of toys that they are slowly doling out to my children whenever they come to visit. My Beanie Baby collection is making its way back to me in stages along with Barbie clothes.
My kids love getting these and think they are getting new toys every time Grandma and Grandpa visit. It is cool to see my old toys getting a new life, and my kids having fun with something they think is new. I don’t know why I bother buying them anything else where there are so many possibilities at my parents’ house. I wonder what would happen if I just raided my childhood home for Christmas gifts since they’ll probably have exactly the same effect as new ones.
I could supply birthdays and Christmases for years to come.
There is plenty there to choose from, including, Barbies, their clothes, more Beanie Babies, books, old board games, and a train set. I would save so much money, and the kids wouldn’t even notice that they are handed down toys. Tags annoy them, so they would just think that I prepared the toys ahead of time by taking them off.
They wouldn’t know that they aren’t getting the latest and greatest stuff. They are still young, so they would only care about getting something that is new to them. Gifts at this point don’t really matter where they come from because they really have no idea.
While I love shopping for my kids, I don’t love how quickly Christmas gifts can add up.
It can get really expensive. I also find that I place a lot of importance on my kids’ reactions to what they get. I want them to love what I took the time to pick out specifically for them and I want them to be grateful for their gifts. Bringing them happiness is important to me, so it’s really tough on me when they reject a gift. It hurts my feelings, so maybe if I didn’t put as much effort into them, it wouldn’t hurt so much.
I still plan on buying them a couple of things, but it wouldn’t hurt to go shopping over at Grandma's house, too.
The trick would be getting there and sneaking the stuff back into the house. I can see myself as a gift ninja or a Santa in reverse as I dig through all my old toys.
Not only would this adventure get me some fun toys for my kids to enjoy, but I would get to go on a trip down memory lane.
Getting to play with your old stuff is an unexpected perk of having kids. Your old toys get new life and you get to remember your childhood. So this holiday season, I may just go raid Grandma’s house for some old toys to add to the new ones under the tree as a treat for us all.
