What gift are you most excited to give this year?

[mommyoffive 6,753]

I think I am most excited to give my 2 middles the Harry Potter Lego sets that they have been wanting for so long.    They are so into Harry Potter and Legos that I think they are going to go crazy.  

[purpleowl 3,926]

Both of my girls are getting mp3 players and headphones. I think they will both be pleased, but especially oldest. Our house can get kind of crazy, and she is an introvert and will love being able to retreat with music.

[Ali in OR 15,862]

Without even reading OP's response I was already thinking of the legos! If the girls have outgrown them, I most definitely have not and will get some quality build time. We will have Privet Drive to add to our Harry Potter collection and Kylo Ren's ship which is less exciting to me, but I have a Kylo Ren fan. And I'll still enjoy building it if she doesn't want to.

[Quill 59,918]

So far, most excited to give dd a piece of art for her new apartment; it is a watercolor rendition of the London skyline. I think she is going to LOVE this, and it will fit perfectly where I intend it to go. 

[Momto6inIN 7,467]

In lieu of gifts this year we are planning a surprise trip to Florida (driving, rental house, cooking for ourselves, beach, kayak, hiking, and other outdoor activities) for ourselves and the kids. Made my shopping very easy as all I had to do was stocking gifts for everybody! I designed and am getting printed a puzzle piece collage of pictures of the rental house and pictures of activities we will do there and each kid will open a puzzle piece. I'm so excited to tell them about it! (and also to actually go, of course!)

[plansrme 8,707]

I've given it already: a new baseball glove to my exchange student, a.k.a., my accidentally adopted son. He will not even be here for Christmas (barring a shutdown of his home country), and a glove is something you have to pick out yourself, so he picked it out, and I bought it, as soon as fall season was over. He was quietly thrilled, as were his actual parents. (I cleared it with them first.) 

[mommyoffive 6,753]

4 minutes ago, plansrme said:

I've given it already: a new baseball glove to my exchange student, a.k.a., my accidentally adopted son. He will not even be here for Christmas (barring a shutdown of his home country), and a glove is something you have to pick out yourself, so he picked it out, and I bought it, as soon as fall season was over. He was quietly thrilled, as were his actual parents. (I cleared it with them first.) 

Were you able to have an exchange student this year?  Where is he from? 

[MercyA 19,514]

The thing my daughter wants most of all is a plush version of a somewhat obscure and frankly odd-looking video game character. 🙂 We had looked and looked, and everything we found (which wasn't much) was either not-for-sale, vinyl or plastic, crochet (which she doesn't care for, cute as it is), or prohibitively expensive.

I unexpectedly stumbled upon an Etsy artist (thank you, Jesus!) who makes custom dolls of sci-fi and fantasy characters for a very reasonable price. She has great ratings and her dolls are adorable. She even has Sam and Dean Winchester dolls! ❤️ She said making this doll for my daughter would be no problem. I am so, so excited.

Check her out! SetPhaserstoCute

[mommyoffive 6,753]

8 minutes ago, MercyA said:

The thing my daughter wants most of all is a plush version of a somewhat obscure and frankly odd-looking video game character. 🙂 We had looked and looked, and everything we found (which wasn't much) was either not-for-sale, vinyl or plastic, crochet (which she doesn't care for, cute as it is), or prohibitively expensive.

I unexpectedly stumbled upon an Etsy artist (thank you, Jesus!) who makes custom dolls of sci-fi and fantasy characters for a very reasonable price. She has great ratings and her dolls are adorable. She even has Sam and Dean Winchester dolls! ❤️ She said making this doll for my daughter would be no problem. I am so, so excited.

Check her out! SetPhaserstoCute

Awww, that is an awesome story.

[mommyoffive 6,753]

56 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

In lieu of gifts this year we are planning a surprise trip to Florida (driving, rental house, cooking for ourselves, beach, kayak, hiking, and other outdoor activities) for ourselves and the kids. Made my shopping very easy as all I had to do was stocking gifts for everybody! I designed and am getting printed a puzzle piece collage of pictures of the rental house and pictures of activities we will do there and each kid will open a puzzle piece. I'm so excited to tell them about it! (and also to actually go, of course!)

Awww.  I love surprising the kids with a trip.  Although my kids aren't surprised by it any more.  We normally give them an international trip for Christmas and their birthdays.  I can't wait to be able to do that again.  Sure makes it easier than shopping and wrapping.  

When is your trip?  Going somewhere warm in bright in January is so nice.  

[Momto6inIN 7,467]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Awww.  I love surprising the kids with a trip.  Although my kids aren't surprised by it any more.  We normally give them an international trip for Christmas and their birthdays.  I can't wait to be able to do that again.  Sure makes it easier than shopping and wrapping.  

When is your trip?  Going somewhere warm in bright in January is so nice.  

Yep, January - after the New Year's weekend. My college age boys don't start spring semester til after MLK Jr Day, so we we're taking advantage of their extra time off 🙂

[plansrme 8,707]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Were you able to have an exchange student this year?  Where is he from? 

Yes! He is from Central America. The program is through my son's school, and they were all surprised when the American embassy opened up unexpectedly and issued their student visas in September. The school had no host homes lined up, so it was all very sudden. Agreeing to host is one of the best decisions we've ever made; he can stay forever as far as I'm concerned! 

[alisoncooks 11,284]

Almost everything because this year my kids didn't really give me a wishlist. I just got a lot of shrugs and "idk..."  So every gift feels like a test of how-well-do-I-know-my-kids.  **I** think I did pretty well, lol, but we'll see!

[mommyoffive 6,753]

1 hour ago, plansrme said:

Yes! He is from Central America. The program is through my son's school, and they were all surprised when the American embassy opened up unexpectedly and issued their student visas in September. The school had no host homes lined up, so it was all very sudden. Agreeing to host is one of the best decisions we've ever made; he can stay forever as far as I'm concerned! 

Wow.  I had no idea that we were opened up.   How brave to come here right now.  Glad you were able to do offer him a place to stay.  I am so happy you are having a great time.  That is something I think I want to do one day.  

[mommyoffive 6,753]

1 hour ago, Momto6inIN said:

Yep, January - after the New Year's weekend. My college age boys don't start spring semester til after MLK Jr Day, so we we're taking advantage of their extra time off 🙂

Oh that will be the best.  Enjoy.

[Spryte 17,227]

4 hours ago, MercyA said:

The thing my daughter wants most of all is a plush version of a somewhat obscure and frankly odd-looking video game character. 🙂 We had looked and looked, and everything we found (which wasn't much) was either not-for-sale, vinyl or plastic, crochet (which she doesn't care for, cute as it is), or prohibitively expensive.

I unexpectedly stumbled upon an Etsy artist (thank you, Jesus!) who makes custom dolls of sci-fi and fantasy characters for a very reasonable price. She has great ratings and her dolls are adorable. She even has Sam and Dean Winchester dolls! ❤️ She said making this doll for my daughter would be no problem. I am so, so excited.

Check her out! SetPhaserstoCute

I think I need Sam and Dean dolls! ❤️