Clutter Free Children's Gifts

I am a huge fan of clutter free gifts because of the abundance of gifts my children receive during the holidays and the limited amount of storage space we have. When purchasing your gifts for the children on your list this year take the parents into consideration too. Be the cool relative and give something that won't require much if any storage space. Here are a few things we have given or received that are clutter free. Kid and parent approved.

Children:

-Craft book:
Find a craft idea for a holiday for every month of the year using library and Internet resources. Print instructions and put in binder in order by month. Include materials for child to create each craft. Don't forget crayons, glue, and scissors. ($20-$30)

-Memberships:
Give them a gift that lasts all year. Memberships to zoo, science museum, or other museum of their interest. A lot of the memberships can be used in different cities and states so can even be used to save money on family vacations throughout the year. ($25-$100)

-Season Passes:
To a local amusement park such as Six Flags, or swim park for the summer. ($50-$100)

-Edibles:
Create a basket with their favorite food items. They will enjoy being able to have their OWN junk food without having to share with brothers or sisters. Once it is eaten no storage space needed. ($5-$30)

-Stationary:
Provide child with personal stationary printed from your computer and a cute new pen or pencil, complete with a few postage stamps and addressed envelopes to grandparents or out of town relatives. Four year olds and up especially love sending notes to people and this makes them fell "all grown up". ($5-$10)

-Money:
Purchase a CD from the bank. It will continue to grow over the years. Or open a savings account and add money every holiday. (you determine the price)

-Gift cards:
To favorite restaurants, movies, bowling alley, movie rental, or other favorite place to have fun. ($5-$50)

-Classes:
Pay for a class for the child to take such as music lessons, sewing lessons, cake decorating, pottery classes etc. Local recreation centers and craft stores are all the time hosting classes. ($15-$50)

-Bath stuff:
Purchase a reusable plastic container and add bath crayons, bubbles, bath paints, bath foam. Many hours of playtime and once it's used up no storage required. ($1-$20)

-Special time:
Give them tickets to be used to spend special time with you doing something they enjoy such as baking, fishing, hiking, trip to the ice cream parlor, etc. (Free)

-Cooking:
Provide cookie sheet, cookie mix (minus perishables), cookie recipe. Along with an adult's supervision the child can make the cookies and share with family or friends. Once eaten…no clutter. ($2-$15)

-Magazine subscription:
Give them a yearlong reading enjoyment by subscribing to their favorite magazine. Purchase one magazine at the store and then write a note inside stating that they will be receiving this magazine all year long. There are tons of websites that give you deep discounts on subscriptions to kids magazines such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Teen etc. ($5-$20)

-Planting:
Provide shovel, seeds. They can plant flowers or edible fruits/vegetables to grow in the backyard. Fun, learning experience that will keep giving all season long. ($2-$10)

-Movie Night:
Give them a gift card from Blockbuster or rental store. Include a bag of microwave popcorn, soda, and candy. Sometimes you can find really cute popcorn bowls or tins at the dollar store. Children love to be able to spend time with their family and this gives them a great opportunity to along with yet again…clutter free.

Hope this helps all of you get your creative juices flowing and remember…a clutter free house is a clutter free life.