Homeschool Family Christmas Gift Guide (for Children and Moms!)

This post shares a homeschool Christmas gift guide, including gift ideas for homeschool moms, gift ideas for homeschool kids, and thoughts about different ways to approach gift-giving during the holiday season.

I don’t know about you, but I have mixed feelings regarding the flood of giving and receiving that is the Christmas season. On the one hand, gifts is one of my love languages and I absolutely adore the idea of giving my family and friends thoughtful, personalized gifts that show them how much I care about them. I want my children to feel loved and known, and I believe that giving generously to others should be one of our hallmarks as Christians!

On the other hand, the rampant consumerism and materialism in America tends to raise its ugly head and roar even louder during the holiday season, and I find myself heartily sick of the entire thing. Can we just fly away to a deserted island for a few weeks and enjoy each other’s company without the constant, inevitable, inescapable BUY MORE BUY MORE BUY MORE message?

There have been a few Christmas seasons where the consumerism has felt overwhelming and we have decided NOT to give gifts within our immediate family (or to greatly minimize them), and we loved it. There have been other years where we have showered the children with thoughtful gifts, and we loved it.

I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer here, but it’s worth remembering that you have options and you don’t have to do things exactly the same way every year.

Here is a variety of options to think about, specifically focused on our immediate family (children and spouse) since that is the area most under our control. Once we get to grandparents and extended family there are many more people and factors to consider!

9 Creative Options for Gifting (or Not)

• Give generously to each family member, and thank God for the resources and ability to do so!
• Rather than buying gifts, make a rule that you can only give handmade items – and see how creative everyone can get.
• Give personalized, special experiences rather than physical items – perhaps something the kids really want to do but that you wouldn’t normally pay for.
• Don’t give any gifts, but plan special activities to do together as a family. Consider both free and paid activities! Simply the extra, focused time together as a family can feel like a special gift.
• Take the money you would have spent on family gifts and decide as a family which needy person or organization you could donate it to. Let the kids have a say in it!
• Rather than many individual gifts, purchase one or two large items that you know everyone will love and use. (We’re considering doing that this year with a trampoline – don’t tell my kids!)
• Don’t give any wrapped gifts under the tree, but pick out a few small special items for the kids’ stockings.
• Do a toy trade-in: pack up some older (still useable!) toys that are not getting much play time, donate them to Goodwill, and then bring the kids inside Goodwill to pick out a few new-to-them items!
• Think of fun or creative ways to wrap or present the gifts you choose. Perhaps a scavenger hunt, treasure map to follow, or unique wrapping ideas. Check Pinterest for that – but think about ideas like nested boxes that get smaller and smaller, or wrapping up a Cheerios box and putting Legos or beads inside.

Obviously, you won’t do everything on this list. Consider this a brain-storming list to spark ideas!

However, I would highly recommend that in most cases, if a significant change is happening, you tell your kids ahead of time what is going to happen. Setting expectations is immensely helpful in managing behavior (both for kids and adults!), and if your kids know WHAT is going to happen and WHY you have chosen this, they are much more likely to accept any changes and go along with them.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. As an example, assuming that we go through with our idea of a couple large gifts for the kids this year, we’ll probably tell them something along these lines:

“Hey kids, because we bought a house this year and spent a lot of money on it, we won’t be buying a lot of Christmas presents. We’re going to pick out two large items that you all will love and be able to use together – and you’ll also get a couple small things in your stockings. Let’s think of some other fun Christmas things that we can do together as a family!”

When we’ve done fewer gifts in the past, the kids have been (surprisingly) fine with it. I think sometimes we as parents have many more expectations surrounding the Christmas season and what it “should” be than our kids do! Don’t be afraid that your kids will be traumatized if you need to (or want to) change things up this year.

Gifts for Kids: Homeschool Edition

Assuming that you DO decide to give some sort of gift to your child(ren), here are some ideas that might be helpful. As always, this list is simply meant to spark ideas – you’ll probably think of many more!

However, when we do give gifts we tend to shy away from brightly colored plastic monstrosities that don’t have much “staying” value. At this point in our parenting career, our kids really do NOT need any more toys – and ideally we like to give them something that will either spark creativity, get them moving or thinking, or encourage curiosity and exploration.

And yes, we do want to give them things they will actually want and enjoy also! It can be tricky to find gifts like these, but I believe it’s worth the effort.

Also, please remember that the younger your child is, the more likely it is that you can purchase these items gently used and they will never notice. Don’t feel like everything has to be brand new! I buy most of the books I give our kids from ThriftBooks and not once has anyone ever complained. Facebook Marketplace can also be a fabulous resources for slightly used (or even brand new) items.

I’ve organized these lists by categories – inspired by a Charlotte Mason-style homeschool life – and I hope they are helpful in helping you brainstorm this year.

1. Nature & Outdoor Exploration

• Binoculars
• Magnifying glass
• Pocket field guides for your specific area of the country (birds, wildflowers, trees, insects, etc) – these waterproof ones are great!
• A nature journal and watercolor paint set (my kids like the ones with lots of color options, like this one)
• This fantastic guide to nature journaling
• Sturdy backpack for nature walks (we have this one and use it often!)
• A good water bottle or water bottle holder
• Bird feeder or birdhouse kit
• Microscope (plus slides to go with it)
• Rain boots or hiking shoes
• A sturdy set of sand toys or digging tools to use in the dirt and mud!

2. Handicrafts & Creative Arts

• A sewing kit (my 8 year old did this one)
• Beeswax candle-making supplies
• Oven bake clay for sculpting and creating
• Woodcarving set or whittling tools (for older kids)
• High quality pens, colored pencils (Prismacolor is our favorite!), markers, or paints
• Blank canvases or sketchbooks
• Coloring books related to a current interest (check out the Dover coloring books – they have hundreds about nature, historical time periods, vehicles, and so many other topics!)
• Sticker by number books (you can find these in a variety of difficult levels)

3. Living Books & Storytelling

• Box sets of classic book series – like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Little House series
• A Yoto player or new cards to go with it (we have two players and use them daily!)
• Poetry collections – here are eight of our favorites
• Chapter books
• Books for babies and toddlers
• A new Christmas picture book or two
• Fairy tale picture books
• A blank comic book to let them write their own stories!

4. For Game-loving & Active Children

• Board games or card games (here’s a blog post with our favorite family board games)
• Puzzles with beautiful art (landscapes, paintings)
• Dot to dot books or maze books
• Trampoline (if you have a recommendation for a good brand we should get, please share it in the comments!)
• A good swing – maybe a fun saucer swing or Swurfer swing
• Razor scooter (we have FOUR of these now and they are used ALL the time! I also love how easy they are to fold and bring along places – much more convenient than a bike)
• Ninja warrior obstacle course (this is on our wish list, perhaps for someone’s birthday in the next year!)

Gifts for Mom

This section feels a tiny bit superfluous, assuming that most of you who are reading this ARE the mom in question, and are probably not buying a large number of gifts for yourself. However, I decided this is still useful because there are times when my husband will ask me what I would like for a gift, and I just don’t know! It’s hard to take the time to sit down and think about what I would actually use or need.

So, whether you need to find a gift for a fellow homeschooling mom friend, you want to treat yourself to a little something, or you’re passing on a list to your husband as a not-so-subtle hint – here are some ideas to get you started!

1. Ideas for the Homeschool Moms in Your Life

• A beautiful mug (and add some favorite teas or coffee beans!) – I’m partial to these mugs from The Daily Grace
• A gift card for a pedicure or massage
• A fun homeschool-themed t-shirt (Etsy has some great options)
• The original Charlotte Mason volumes
• A pretty journal or commonplace book (with a nice pen!)
• A subscription to a magazine (Wild + Free is a lovely option for homeschoolers!)
• Audiobook credits or gift card
• Any of the books on my Favorite Parenting & Homeschooling Booklist!
• High-quality tote bag (I have a bag from Walker Goods and it’s one of my favorites!)
• Gift card to a local coffee shop or bookstore (plus an offer to watch the kids so she can have some alone time!)
• A cooler bag (we love this one!) for all those picnics and nature hikes
• Good chocolate (Hershey’s doesn’t count)
• A date night – take her somewhere nice (without the kids!)

Conclusion

However you choose to celebrate the season, whether with gifts or without, I pray that your holiday season will be marked by connection with your family and remembrance of our God who became man. We can do this with or without gifts!

Finally, if you’re looking for more Christmas homeschool inspiration, check out these two posts below. Happy holidays!