# Family buys me too much junk! [Part 3 of 3] Hanukkah, Christmas, Materialism **Creator:** Hi, Fam! **Platform:** youtube **Duration:** 6m **Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs ## Summary The Parenting Junkie discusses a new approach to gift-giving that emphasizes meaningful connections over materialism during the holiday season. The speaker provides a letter template for families to communicate their gifting preferences, promoting intentionality and reducing clutter while fostering gratitude and connection. - Advocates for a less materialistic approach to gift-giving, focusing on experiences and meaningful connections. - Suggests families communicate their preferences through a warm letter to relatives. - Emphasizes the importance of minimalism and managing clutter in the home. - Offers alternative gift ideas, including donations to charity, contributions to children's savings, and sentimental gifts. - Encourages gifting time and experiences over physical items, highlighting the value of shared moments. - Recommends limiting store-bought gifts to one per child to enhance appreciation. - Aims to inspire families to celebrate the holidays with intention and gratitude, moving away from consumerism. ## Transcript [[0:00]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=0s) the parenting junkie hey guys welcome back to the parenting junkie the place to go to love parenting and for parenting from love today I want to continue talking about this topic of gift-giving and so many of you have asked me how we can get our friends and family on board with a new approach to gifting that is less materialistic and less based on how much money we spend for each other and less likely to spoil our children [[0:28]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=28s) and really just be a little bit kinder and gentler to the earth to our pockets and to the clutter in our homes so I've taken the liberty of writing your family a letter and I mean it's one example and I hope it will help you you can download this letter and copy it on the parenting junkie calm on the blog post for this video and you can adjust it to your own choices and needs and what works for [[0:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=53s) your family let me read you what I wrote my hope is that this letter is warm and inspiring and brings people closer together and never ashamed anyone or makes anyone feel bad but it does inspire us collectively as a group and as a family to approach the holidays with a little bit more intention and make them more meaningful and connective and less about stuff dear family we are so excited for the upcoming holiday season and in sharing the magic [[1:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=81s) with you we had some new ideas about gift-giving this year and what to see if you'd be open to experimenting with us if not that's okay ignore this letter but we hope you'll consider trying our new path together recently we've been thinking about how much we and our children have we're privileged to have lots of toys clothes and books we also feel that getting too much especially at one time can lead our family into a bit [[1:53]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=113s) of a materialistic frenzy we don't believe you can spoil children with too much love but we do believe you can spoil them with too many things also we're finding it hard to manage all our stuff and we're trying to embrace a more minimalistic lifestyle which means being really careful about not bringing in new things we don't really want or really need we've found too often that gifts the kids received from us or from others weren't properly [[2:21]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=141s) cared for or enjoyed after such a short amount of time and we want to try and make sure that no one in our family is wasting their precious time and money or the earth's resources on goods that we don't cherish properly so if you've stayed with me thus far thank you first off I want to say we don't expect any gifts anything you might choose to give us we are so appreciative of and we absolutely never take you or your gifts [[2:47]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=167s) for granted secondly if you do want to gift our family something we have a few ideas and we would love to reciprocate so perhaps you'd be open to choosing something of this list for us to give you the first idea donation our family has been dreaming of becoming more philanthropic and if you were to gift any donation into charity we would find that so gratifying if you're open to this idea we'll send you a charity that [[3:15]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=195s) we love to support or perhaps you could share yours to investment we're trying to teach our children about financial health especially about the importance of saving and even investing we've opened an account for each child and you'd be amazed at the math they're learning as they count the money accumulating them that way they can save for something special learn to delay gratification or save for the future if you'd like to help them by contributing something small to their [[3:46]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=226s) savings that would really encourage their learning in this area three help us save for a big-ticket item there are a couple of big ticket items our family are dreaming of things like a trampoline or a special show or ticket it would be so many fall to us if you could direct your gift at helping some of these dreams come true for us for something sentimental from you I know you have some special items with sentimental value at home not [[4:13]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=253s) necessarily expensive things but things that are meaningful perhaps things like old pictures or books or jewelry if you are open to gifting something secondhand from your own home I think that could really hold special meaning for our family 5 your time you have so much to teach maybe you're amazing at crocheting or at photography or growing tomatoes or long division we would absolutely tarish the gift of your time wisdom and expertise if you were open to creating [[4:44]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=284s) some special time with our children and having an experience with them it would be so enriching 6 something personal from you and finally if you were interested we'd love it if you could write a letter or perhaps give that family something made by hand we cherish your unique personal signature and would love something with a personal touch from you if you are really still set on buying a gift from the stores this year please buy just one we're sure it will [[5:11]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=311s) be wonderful and we want our children to be able to truly appreciate it rather than being distracted by too much of a good thing with excitement of celebrating in the true spirit of the holiday and enjoying this magical time together we love and appreciate you our family I know it's not easy to bring up new ways of celebrating but I hear from hundreds of parents of the pain of feeling that their family is spending money on things that really don't serve [[5:36]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=336s) them and that end up is clutter in their home plus the fear that our first world children are really becoming too materialistic and too focused on things that they're getting and more and more stuff so I hope these have been some good ideas for you and now I would love to hear your ideas and how you make this special gift-giving time really meaningful and less about getting more and more stuff head on over to the parenting junkie com sign up for [[6:01]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2mFcLdnGs&t=361s) newsletter updates so you're sure never to miss out on what's going on keep on loving parenting and parenting from love because your kids need you almost as much as you need them parenting