Christmas Shopping Time...Na!!!

Christmas is 58 days away. Since the bonus is not yet on our hands, I told tatay that every pay day starting this November IF we could set aside a few pesos from our usual budget, we could start buying gifts for our respective inaanaks (godchildren). So that come Christmas time we will not be in any rush anymore.

I have a few tips to share with everyone and I hope that it could help you one way or another.

1. List all the names of your inaanaks according to gender and age. Why is this so? So that you would know what to give and so that you could set aside the budget immediately. For example, if you have a godchild between the ages of 1 to 4 years old, for me the gift I could give is either a toy or any type of shirt, blouse or any kind of clothing. BUT I still have this issue that if I will give a shirt or whatever clothing as a gift, if I've seen the baby or child I make sure to buy 1 size bigger, better be safe than sorry. at least magagamit pa yun kesa sa maliit ang mabibili sayang. But IF hindi ko kilala or nakikita pa yung kid, I will settle for a toy, tutal naman sa boxes ng toy may nakalagay dun for what age yun toy.

2. If the age of your godchildren is above 7 years old, I make it appoint to ask the parents (especially if I am close to them) what is the kid into? It would be difficult to give something na in the end eh HINDI TYPE ng bata. Tutal it's Christmas make an extra effort to ask para maging happy si inaanak. But if you're still not sure what to give, in my case, We (francis and i) usually give money place in ampao (it's a red envelope na may mga chinese symbols) tapos bahala na si inaanak to buy what he/she wants. Malay mo makadagdag pa yung ibinigay mo sa gusto niyang bilhin talaga. *wink*

3. Usually to be on the safe side for me (and my hubby) if the kids are pre-schoolers naman, we tend to buy coloring books, colors, pencils and papers. It's educational na at the same time makaka-practice pa ang mga inaanak mo before he goes to school.

4. I know this last tip may sound ridiculous to most of you BUT for me and my husband it usually works, we usually bring our kids along, especially our two older ones. Why? Because my 2 pre-teen daughters could tell me and their tatay what is the "IN" thin; kung magugustuhan ba ng mga inaanak namin yung mga gifts that we are about to give (since most of our godchildren are close to my daughters). Plus shopping together as a family, involving the kids, they feel part of the gift giving process.

So there, I hope it could help you, one way or another, especially with the upcoming Christmas Shopping fever.