Christmas shouldn't need to be expensive

Christmas gift ideas for kids, when parents are on a budget.

We all know what the kids want for Christmas this year, everything!  It's every parents dilemma, what to get your kid(s) which will make them happy,  and won't break the bank for mom and dad.  Of course this goes for aunts, uncles and grandparents too.  Do you need to spend hundreds of dollars to make your kids happy this christmas season, I think not.

What are the things kids think they want for Christmas?

Is it a Playstation 3, an XBox 360 or Nintendo Wii?  These will run you $600, $400 and $250 respectively.  They'd make great Christmas gifts, except for one thing.   They cost a small fortune, not to mention the cost of games and accessories.  

So, what's the alternative to video game consoles?  

My nephew has been playing games (computer and console) since he was 2.  He has a ton of games, but suddently he is not playing the gamecube so much any more, why?  He's discovered the online mini-game phenomenon.  A lot of sites have these games available to play for free and he just loves them.   Do a google search for these, or if you'd like to just go to my christmas games section, see the author tag at the bottom of the article.

Toys toys toys, all I want for Christmas is every toy I see.

True enough, there will be hundreds of things kids will see ads for (on tv) between now and Christmas, and they're going to want them all.   They will mention it every single day.  "Mommy, mommy, you've gotta see this"...  My words of wisdom on this one is don't get caught up in it.  If you buy something early November that you're child wanted because of a commercial, guaranteed they will move on to something else long before Christmas hits us.   Think longer term.

Some toys just never go out of style...for Christmas.

When I was a seven year old kid (some 35 years ago) one of my favourite toys were my matchbox cars.  I probably had 20 of them.  I had a case to carry around them and I would spend countless hours driving the little die cast cars around in the dirt, making ramps and having a blast with my buddies.   Some things never change.  In fact, I know two kids who just can't get enough of these.  Their current favourites are the ones from the movie "Cars".  Now, these go for about $4 a piece if you can find them.  Other matchbox style cars can be had in packs for a lot less.  These are great stocking stuffers that kids will absolutely adore for Christmas.  It's an inexpensive christmas gift idea that you can also give to relatives.

These are just a couple of  ideas to get you thinking along the right lines.   Don't think flash, think fun,   and if you absolutely need to get your kids a new video game system this year...then you're probably just like me, I can't say no either :-)

Johnny is a software engineer with 30 years experience. He has seen the landscape of computing change from the days of no personal computers and mainframes which took up entire rooms to the ipod shuffle (the clip on one)...amazing stuff. He's spent the last 10 years working on the Java platform and is a strong advocate of Java technologies.