Yes, yes, the holidays are also famous for frustrating and exhausting family rituals. Instead, create some unique family rituals. Soon enough the perfect family around the corner will be taking their kids on a trip to London for the holidays. You will never keep up with the nuclear parental units. How many of the presents from the last few years have lasted? How many do your kids remember? That was sooo last year! Remember, you are a Solo Mom. Before you tear out your hair and scream, “I know that, but my kid needs a gift!” let me propose something. There is a spirit to the holidays that doesn’t involve gifts. Here’s another thought, and it’s not new or original. There is also Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and considered the start of the holiday shoppin where you can get some amazing sales, especially on electronics, and Cyber Monday, which could allow Santa a little more wiggle room. It’s not fabulous, since kids are not great about delayed gratification, but, for some gifts, it’s the only way to go. If there is one very much desired item that you know will be available and on sale, you can have Santa send a note with an IOU so that your child can go pick it for themselves-so Santa is sure it’s the right one. Make sure they are wrapped, and see if you can get shiny bows and ribbons (which will inevitably be shredded). And when I say small, I mean a deck of cards, new shoelaces, hair ties, whistles, or nail polish. The way to make it not seem so lonely is to surround it with small ones.
There’s also Sparkbox Toys, with pricing plans starting at $20 per month, which focuses more on educational toys for babies and toddlers. You keep each kit as long as you want and then return it and another (clean) one shows up within three days. Pley is a toy-rental company that rents Lego kits at pricing plans starting at $24.99 per month. If you don’t feel you qualify for these donations, and the thought of trying to stuff the area under the tree chock-full is giving you debt-collector nightmares, you can subtly alter the conversation as the world around you is flooded with tinsel and decked halls.
They want to make sure that the spirit of Christmas holds true for everyone. Organizations such as D.A.R.E., Toys for Tots, and The Salvation Army (which also gives families in need funds to purchase toys) hold pledge drives to collect toys for kids.
#Sparkbox toys how to#
And you budget and rebudget, but you just can’t figure out how to put food on the table and put presents under the tree. Which leads us to second part of the problem: money. How can you support the holiday spirit and keep a sense of reality? How do you temper that media onslaught that makes your child assume that Brad Pitt is going to arrive with a golden retriever puppy (a white trained one that doubles as a rescue dog) and sweep you all up into a glowing happy ending? Still, there are several components during the holiday season that make it particularly tough on Solo Moms.įirst, starting the day after Halloween, you are bombarded with visions of gingerbread houses and perfectly happy nuclear families. Think about the flood of requests this time of year for donations for teachers, firemen, coaches, babysitters, and people you don’t know who “need your help.”
Remember the Cratchit family, in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, struggling to stay cheery and not knowing if they could afford Christmas dinner? The holiday season is as stuffed with financially stressed people as it is with sugarplums. Spoiler alert for Solo Moms: the holiday season does not always turn out to be the most wonderful time of the year for us.
Help with the holidays when money is tight
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