We all love Christmas, right? But sometimes the crazy busyness, the rampant consumerism, and the “I want I want I want” from our kids can threaten to overcome the spirit of caring and sharing that Christmas is all about.
One thing that has worked great in our family has been to host a “Children for Children” evening each year. We research a cause that supports needy children, learn about these less fortunate children, and raise money to send their way.
Some years we’ve had the time and bandwidth to do sizeable Children for Children concerts where our kids along with their friends present their best piano pieces and karate moves and art work and poetry recitations for the neighborhood and ask parents and other attendees to donate “admission” in the amount of their choice (read about one such concert here: “Children for Children” Holiday Concert).
One year we did a simple movie and pizza party and the kids invited their friends to earn $10 each to bring and donate to a great cause while enjoying a simple and fun evening together (sort of like the fundraising dinners adults go to). And this year we’re just having 3 families over that have had experience working with various charities and we’ll talk about the needs of the children these charities support and each child will donate some money that they’ve been earning from doing chores around the house.
I love the concept of having our children take one evening out of all the regular fun and exciting and often “getting”-oriented holiday activities to focus on GIVING.
What works for your family? How do you make sharing and caring an important part of your holiday activities?
