Christmas is just 4 days away, so this post may be late for almost everyone.  But here’s a tip for parents out there regarding Christmas presents.

If you are anything like our family, your kid probably has A LOT of toys.  We certainly don’t have room in our house for said toys.  And even if we did, you know that most toys collect dust because there are other toys they are obsessed with.  Plus you don’t want to deal with the clean up, especially toys with lots of parts (but that’s another post).  The problem with Christmas presents (and presents in general) is that people will buy your kid so many toys you/they don’t know what to do with.  You may get a book or two (which we love), but you still get toys!!!  And then you have to deal with the hoopla around the hottest Christmas toy.  No thank you.

This is Oliver’s third Christmas, and his second where we (think) he knows what’s going on.  Instead of letting our families go crazy on the toys, we suggest that they buy us memberships to museums and the zoo.  Why?  These are places we frequent, especially on rainy days.  For example, the zoo costs us $14 a person each visit.  A family membership is $115 for the year.  If I go with my kids, I only have to go 8 times before we recoup of the cost of the membership (4 times if my husband goes too).  If you know you are going to go that many times in a year, you should definitely get a membership.  Why not have family gift it to your family?  My son loves the zoo and we go once a month.  He gets to run around, learn about animals, and we don’t have toys cluttering up our house.  Same thing goes for museums and aquariums.  These provide great rainy day back ups so you aren’t cooped up inside your house.  For example, the California Academy of Science cost $30 each visit or you can get a membership for $99.  No brainer really.  Have someone gift the membership to your family.  It’s more valuable and educational than a piece of plastic.