The 5 gift rule

Christmas is getting closer and with the likelihood of it feeling quite different after an unforeseen and chaotic year, you’re not alone if the idea of shopping for Christmas gifts is not ringing your bells.   

Most of us could do without the worry and expense of extravagant gift giving – especially after the challenges of 2020. But you could make gift giving different this Christmas and adopt the simple, yet meaningful 5 gift rule.

Have you heard of this tradition? 

The idea is you buy: 

• something they want (or don’t know they want)  
• something they need 
• something to share, 
• something to read  
• and something to show you care  

• Reminds us that Christmas is more than just presents 
• You’ll save money 
• ‘Rule’ gifts are about making memories and experiences 
• You can focus on the pure joy of giving 
• Helps us appreciate the thought behind what we receive 

Ideas for baby’s first Christmas and toddler gift ideas  

When they are too young to know or to ask for presents, what they “want” can be anyone’s guess! So, you can tweak the “something they want” rule to “something they don’t know they want” to give you some creative license on rule gift number 1. Thereafter, the something they need, something to share, read and show you care shouldn’t be too tricky. Plus, if your baby and little ones aren’t yet used to a fully loaded Christmas tree, now is a brilliant time to start a new family tradition with the sentiment of fewer, meaningful gifts being better giving. 

Young children, older ones and teens 

Now, you might not want to throw yourself into the ‘rule’ concept for everyone you buy for. Some young children who’ve got used to a pile of presents may well be disappointed. But, if explained beforehand (that it meant they get gifts that are carefully thought about) older children and teens might be ready to adopt it – it could even become a family tradition that you take forward into adulthood with much lower monetary limits on each of the ‘rule’ gifts.  

When you have more than one child 

You might be used to putting a total monetary limit on the presents your buy for each of your children. Of course, on the face of it this seems fair, but in practice the reality is that you can find yourself keep totting up what you’ve spent and then picking up extra presents to ‘make up the difference’ for the other child (or children!) in the family. ‘Rule’ gifts can give you scope to dial your spend up or down accordingly, yet everyone has the same amount of gifts to open.   

For example, a teenager may “want” a games console and a young child might want a toy that costs £20. So, you could keep the teenagers four other ‘rule’ presents to a minimum spend under £5 (something they need – socks, something to share – sweets, something to read – a magazine and something personal like a special framed photo to show you care). Whereas for the toddler who wants a £20 toy you could choose a larger value share present like a theme park trip to Peppa Pig World or CBeebies Land – or a season ticket to a local adventure farm park.

Rule gift ideas for little ones 

Something they want – well, no one knows your child like you, so that’s one that you’ll know best.

Something they need – you might decide they need a new coat or a cosy pushchair fleece, or you could try thinking about what your baby might need in the year ahead e.g. a highchair, a free-standing baby jumper gym, a walk along stroller or a ride on vehicle - or baby rocker or swing. 

Something to share – Hide & seek, sound & light and shape sorter baby learning games are perfect for teaching little ones to share and take turns and it’s never too early to start sharing the fun (and develop their motor skills) with simple wooden peg style jigsaw puzzles.

Something to read - Books are a brilliant gift and for babies you can choose from soft books, bath books, one to attach to pushchairs, highchairs and lights and sound musical story books.   

Show you care – Thoughtful gifts that are personalised and that your child can grow with, keep and cherish offer so much choice. They can range in price too.  Choose from personalised blankets, clothing, cuddly toys, towelling robes, height charts, cutlery sets and ruck sacks.

ONE simple gift that plays by all 5 rules! 

Now you can give JOY to your whole family. Yup, what if we told you we know the perfect present that delivers on ALL of the five gift rules?  

This year, treat yourselves to Joy – the digital family photo album of the future that brings back the sense of nostalgia and attachment you get from a physical photo album - and here’s why: 

The way we take and consume photos has changed. These days instead of printing photos and sharing them in albums and photobooks, most of our photo memories get hidden in hard drives, stuck on our mobile phones and scattered in our social media feeds. Joy changes that. 

With Joy you can showcase your favourite family albums, complied of both photos and videos in delightful spreads.

The Joy Album looks stylish on a stand or serves as a great coffee table pick-up and share device that gives a permanent home for organising and reliving your family’s memories. 

Enjoy coming home to new pictures shared by your family and friends. 

Album making is easy. Simply use the Joy app to update grandma and keep the whole family connected. 

The device is sleek, well-built and features a 10” inch full HD touch-screen display. It’s durable and safe to share with the kids. 

Every picture tells a story. Share your story and bring your memories to life with VoiceNotes™   

Wireless charging and cloud storage as you would expect with a modern device. 

Put simply, Joy is the smart photo album – a story telling device that lives in your home and connects you with your family near or far. Its technology solves all your photo sharing and organising woes and re-imagines the way families communicate around the photos, videos and stories of their lives. 

So, you see it’s easy to have something you want, need, share, read and show you care all in one!   

This Christmas, if you buy one Joy album (RRP £199) you get £50 off each additional album so you can gift them to grandparents too (2 for £348 and 3 for £497). 

Find out more about this fabulous gift that can bring Joy to your family by clicking the link below