No doubt you’ve heard of the “Four Gift Rule” by now. The idea is you give a gift for each of four categories: Something they want, something they need, something they wear, and something they read.
Our family has been implementing it for 5 years or so, and we’ve found that it is both rewarding and difficult. It’s so easy during the Christmas season to walk into a store and see something our kids would like, but if it doesn’t fit one of the four categories or if it isn’t THE thing we want to get for them, we can’t buy it. I say “can’t” loosely, because, of course, we could. But that would defeat the purpose and give way to the seemingly endless gifts that we would love to shower our little loved ones with.
Over the years we’ve gotten creative with the categories, and perhaps stretched them if needed. We’ve also added in a family gift here and there, as well as stockings. (Usually, our kids buy for each other’s stockings with a budget.) The point isn’t to create stress or add rules. It’s really to help us simplify and help keep our spending in check. All in all, it’s a great way to cut back on the excess of the holidays and is something we enjoy.
I usually print out some sort of tags for our gifts and figured I would share them with you this year!
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before, but I had the idea to laminate these and use them year after year instead of printing new ones each year, although, I’m not sure they wouldn’t end up in the trash during the Christmas morning chaos. We’ll see if I get around to it this time.
Printing:
These tags come with two sets side by side on Letter size paper. It’s just a simple design, black ink only (who likes using all that printer ink anyway?), and would look great printed on any color paper you want! I personally love the look Kraft paper card stock.It’s a PDF so you’ll need a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it. (It’s a free program and you probably already have it or something similar.)
Use scissors to cut them out, write in the recipient’s name, attach with some ribbon or twine, and voila!
(I did not add a “From” blank because the gifts are probably all from you or Santa, right?)
This is a free download! It’s in my Resource Library and available for immediate download.
If you download this printable and use it, make sure to tag me on Instagram or Twitter (@tashawiginton). I’d love to see your pretty packages!
Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas full of laughter, time together, peace, and joy!
