December 8th, 2010
A December Stocking Challenge
Every Christmas since Jesse and I found each other I’ve had a bit of a dilemma. I love giving gifts. Everything about it is fun for me, from finding the perfect item for each person to wrapping them just so, and especially the reaction when someone really loves what I’ve chosen for them. So I tend to go a little over top sometimes, and it can mean that come January my finances are more than a little tight. And since my finances aren’t just my own anymore, this time of the year can be tricky for me!
I want to give more than I should, especially to Jesse, so I have to use a lot of self restraint- and that’s just not as fun as scooping up the perfect gift. Over the past couple of years Jesse and I came up with a challenge we “compete” in every December to make sure we have fun giving gifts to each other, and to make sure we don’t go over board with our budgets. It’s a fun gift exchange idea for couples, roommates, families and friends!
How To Play:
- Each player makes or chooses their own stocking and gives it to their gift exchange partner. Everyone starts with the same amount of money- this year Jesse and I did $60.
- The stockings are hung somewhere common, and the game is on! Everyone tries to stretch their money the farthest and stuff their stocking full of the best things.
- No shaking/squishing of packages.
- As you find items for your swap partner, you wrap them and pop them in the stocking so it grows all month long. Style points are unofficially tallied for elaborate wrapping and trash talking, such as “I bet mine stocking is TWICE as heart warming as yours!” or “Oh you’ll cry tears of joy when you open this stocking, mark my words!!”
- Yes, peeking under the corners of wrapping paper definitely counts as shaking/squishing the packages! Hasn’t anyone heard of the element of surprise?
- Make some hot chocolate at the end of the month and open them up!
We started ours this weekend right after we hung the stockings, it’s an exceptionally silly little thing that we do, but it’s a lot of fun to make it a big deal, drop hints and tease each other about all month. Best of all it simplifies our gift giving and makes the holidays last all month long instead of just for one week, and that’s just how I like to celebrate.
I’m a late commenter, but I just came across your blog and I’m happily combing through all the back issues :)
I LOVE gift giving too and I loved this challenge idea. My husband and I currently participate in one yearly Christmas challenge – we do an ornament exchange. The rule: the ornament must represent the past year in some way. We drove across Canada last summer (to move from Vancouver to Montreal) towing a 1978 vintage trailer so I gave my husband a handmade trailer ornament (thank you Etsy) and he gave me a fleur de lis ornament welcoming me to Quebec (his home province). Fun!
Best idea ever. I’m so bringing this up to my boyfriend at dinner tonight. :)
This is an absolutely fantastic idea! My husband and I don’t usually purchase Christmas gifts on each other because we tend to spend too much money on each other and it’s more fun to save up for big things, like the cruise we’re taking in January, or the trip to Alaska we took last May. But stockings? We could definitely do stockings without breaking the bank!
LOL Sean and I do this every year along side a set budget for a main gift… and he always wins, because I’m a girl who is easily swayed by cheap things like notebooks and art supplies and books and tea… and his xmas wants are always almost the full price of our budget, that bastard! <3
i think stockings just might be the most exciting part of christmas shopping for me because everything has to be small, and i try to stik to a $20 limit. my husband on the other hand usually forgets the stocking stuffers!
What an awesome idea! It’s so cute
What a fun idea! I’ll definitely try to play something like this next year. I actually haven’t been tempted to go over budget this year because, you know, car seats and baby clothes aren’t exactly cheap!
That’s such a great idea! I think Jordan and I are going to have to do that next year, to take a little stress out of the gift-giving process. I’m like you and super into gifting, so this would be perfect.
This is the coolest thing ever and I want to do it! If not this year, then next year for sure. That is so darn cute of the two of you! :)
I love this idea! I’ve already told my husband about it. :D
What a great idea Kyla! This year our gifts to each other is nothing because we are going to Mexico in January for a wedding and really, that is an awesome gift to each other!
Now THAT is a good idea. Bravo!
Totally stealing this idea!
This is such a cute idea! It reminds me of a blog post I read a while back where this couple gave each other $20 to buy things for each other one night at Wal-Mart. They split up and bought things they thought they would like and came to their house to open their “gifts”! It sounds like such a fun tradition!
Q1: How big are your stockings? ;)
Q2: Do you like to find one perfect BIG gift or many, many little ones?
I hope you’re doing a follow up post on this. I need to know what was in your stocking :)
I love this idea. Tres brilliant!
Fantastic idea – especially for the financially stretched, or large, extended families – or both! Also, when most of us can pretty much buy the things we want all year round, this is a great idea in getting creative/imaginative for those hard to buy folks :D Thanks for sharing this great idea!
Haha, what a real fun idea!! I don’t think Tyler and I could do this since we can’t stand holding gifts from each other for too long. This explains why we do most of our Christmas shopping at the last minute.
This is an awesome idea! I also have a tendency to go overboard; I love gift-giving for the same reasons as you do, so I like this very structured, but still creative and fun competition.
Great Idea Kyla! I will have to try this..
xo
This is fun Mrs! I made a challenge for myself. I am making thoughtful gifts for my friends and I cannot spend more than $10 on them combined…. including the supplies to make it. You’ll see when you get yours!
Eric and I exchanged stockings last year and it was SO FUN! We did a combination of funny/silly and real/serious gifts. For example, he stuffed some deodorant and tampons in mine which he thought was HILARIOUS but I actually found quite useful :)
This year our “present” to each other is going to be buying some new furniture (hopefully on boxing day sale!) in the New Year for the new townhouse (if we get it, still no word!)
But I definitely think we’ll do the stocking thing again in the future, it was really fun!
I looooove this idea! How totally awesome. You two are adorable!
What a great idea :) I’m going to suggest it to Nathan … though the whole month long thing could be a bit of a stretch for him. He’s all about picking up things on Christmas Eve …
I think this idea is fantastic!! Thanks for the idea and I’ll propose it to my husband tonight. Such a cute photo by the way and question, that nail color you have on, love! Brand and color name, please? :)
Erik and I have been trying to figure out how to budget our Christmas budget this year, but I think this is a really creative idea! I’m not sure we’d do stockings… I’m partial to having presents under the Christmas tree! Do you not put presents under the tree?
Okay. This is all sorts of adorable.
It isn’t only a great idea for married folks and long term couples, but also for those of us who have found new partners. :) I think this is a great way to take off the pressure of first time gift giving and hello, its fun!
Thanks for the idea, Kyla! <3
thats a great way to do it! justin and i make each other stockings as well but next year i want to try your way of hanging them and being able to see them fill up throughout the month!
…this year we chose instead of stockings and gifts to just do stockings with a $25 limit and then to drop a little money(whatever we each can) into our vacation fund so we can look forward to a future trip:)
happy gifting!
This is a fantastic idea! What an awesome tradition. Are these the only gifts you give each other?
Andrew and I have a $50 limit but this year we both said we had more fun shopping for the $5 gift for my step-siblings so next year we are going to try and cut back even more. Now that we have Maren, Christmas is really about her anyway and we don’t need anymore crap. :)
One more question – do you buy a new stocking every year or just use the same ones? What do you do with the old ones?
What a great idea! I love all of the little gifts I get around Christmas. To me, those are better than one huge gift. :-) With that said, I just may be making a couple of stockings this weekend for me and J. :-)
I love that you guys have made this little tradition for yourselves. Sounds fun!
…though it reinforces my desperate longing for a stocking.
That’s so fun! We set a fifty dollar limit and I’ve spent *cough* over a hundred *cough* already. Oops.
What a fabulous tradition! How fun! I love the teasing/trash talking element. I could see myself doing that. Since this is our first Christmas together, the barrister and I didn’t really talk about a budget… But in the future, I could see us doing something similar!
Happy shopping!
kyla…this is an amazing idea! i think ivan and i should do it! now i just need to remember. i have a very faulty memory…i think i should write this one down.
What a fun idea! I always start shopping way too early and subsequently end up spending $200 I don’t have on David because I just can’t help myself. I want to give EVERYTHING :)
I love this idea! Such a great tradition; I tend to go all out and spend a little too much on the people in my life, but it’s part of what makes Christmas fun for me. This year I’m trying something different; I have a set budget for each person and I’m challenging myself to stay within it =) So far it’s worked for all but one person in my life!
We also do stockings for each other! It’s great! Although..I gotta say…mine is still empty right now. Jacks is nearly full, and Matts is starting to fill up too…even the dogs stocking has a few items in it…clearly SOMEONE is dropping the ball on the stockings this year…ahem!
Haha, but no, we really do have a great time stuffing the stockings, and since we have a rule that if you cant fit it in the stocking, you cant buy it, it simplifies Christmas a lot! (This rule does not apply to the baby! He gets presents under the tree too!)
I love this idea! I’m not sure if I could ever pull it off with the mister though – he’s the WORST at surprises. (As in, he’s already told me what his parents got me for Christmas this year because he’s excited).
Love love love this idea :)