Why I'm Making a MyRegistry Santa Gift List With My Kids

Why I am Making a MyRegistry Santa Gift List With My Kids

WARNING; Santa truth bombs ahead
*cue music It’s the most wonderful time of the year*

I admit I am one of those people. I am one of those November 1st hits and BOOM holiday and Christmas prep have taken over my life. But over the last 10 years (aka since becoming a mom) the reasons why have shifted.

Back in the day it used to be all about the excitement. I was legitimately so excited for the holidays to start that I couldn’t wait any longer. The lights, the music, the food, the drinks, the colors…the whole shebang.  It truly is the most wonderful and magical time of the year, and I loved living in that state for as long as I could. I didn’t think it could get better…then, in came motherhood.

I think everyone with children in their lives knows that every holiday, every tradition and every experience just gets that much better with kids around, and the holidays may be the best one of all. Watching the magic of Christmas through my children's eyes will forever be some of my most favorite memories and moments in motherhood…and I have never been so stressed out in my entire life.

Seriously, it’s pretty much a trade off.

You get to experience the purest form of magic making said magic will be some of your most stressful moments.

So now November 1st hits and I have to start the prep immediately…in an attempt to pull it all off without having a nervous breakdown…well…at least without having a big nervous breakdown.

Truly, I was super naive in the early years. I remembered my own childhood holidays and how incredible they were, filled with traditions like baking, tree decorating, gingerbread house making, watching all of our favorite Holiday movies with our favorite treats, driving around to look at Christmas lights and above all, waking up on Christmas morning to my stocking filled with Santa’s presents.

Fast forward 20 years and it is now my job to make traditions come alive for my own kids, and that is a lot of pressure to be the mom that gets it all together…but it’s even more pressure to be the Santa that gets it all together.

And with that I bring you to Christmas 2021.  Since finding My Registry a few years back my Christmas's were way less stressful when it came to finally being able to have an easy to shop list for myself to send out to other people *cough* my husband *cough*. It was all easy to access and even easier to simply shop directly from the list. So honestly? I was feeling good and confident…

Until Christmas morning when my eldest son was opening his stocking from Santa and he kept saying “I hope he remembered my bow and arrow set!”.

*gut punch*

I one hundred and fifty thousand percent forgot that the only thing he asked for from Santa was a wooden pretend bow and arrow set.

Now look, I by no means am saying that you need to get your kid every single thing that they ask for from santa. I am not even saying you have to get your kids anything they ask for from santa! But in this particular situation, I really had wanted to get that for him. He wrote it on his santa list, he told the mall santa, and he told us…numerous times that that was the one item he really wanted from santa. And it completely slipped my mind.

Truth be told, keeping track of your kids' Santa lists is really hard to do! Think about it, they write a list and mail it to santa…you don’t keep a copy of it (at least we don't!), or they mention it to the mall santa (while you're panicking about holding up the line), or they mention it to you quickly in passing. And let’s be honest mom, you have more than enough on your mind already!

I promised that I would never allow myself to get that stressed out over Santa lists again. So this year we made a change and it has changed the Santa game all together for us.

We turned our kids Santa lists into virtual MyRegistry lists.

And honestly? I was shocked by the results. Let’s go over the 4 main reasons why I will be turning each of my kids Santa lists into My Registry lists from now on.

  1. Easy to keep track of! As my Santa circa ‘21 proved, I cannot possibly keep track of all 6 kids Santa lists alone. My Registry provides a great and easy way to make a legible and coherent list that I can go back to as many times as I need to (and bonus I don't have to attempt to keep track of where the list was left!). I can then easily shop directly off of the list and not have to worry about what color they wanted or what size because it is all directly on the easy to shop list.
  2. We get to spend quality time together! Because the kids are doing their Santa lists on an electronic device I need to supervise, which honestly I love! I get to sit with them 1 on 1 and have them tell me about all of the things they are adding onto their list. I can ask questions like “Where did you see this for the first time?” “ What makes you interested in this?”. It’s an incredible way for me to bond with my kids and get to know their Christmas expectations a little bit better.
  3. I get to have a say of what goes on the list. Look, I'll be honest with you. There are certain things that my kids will ask Santa for that I am just not cool with. Maybe it's something we already have or something that we don’t want them playing with (okay fine you caught me, it’s the noisy toys I can’t do) either way, when I am sitting down and helping them make an electronic list I can talk to them about what’s going on the list and why.
  4. Allows us to watch our ecological footprint! If you frequent my blogs you know that being eco conscious is a huge deal to me, in particular in the toy world. We try to avoid as many plastics as possible in our household and Christmas can make this challenging. Family members will buy random toys for our kids thinking it's something that they need or want. Having all of it on their My Registry list eliminates the stress for me and additional family members. When I have already purchased an item off of my kids list it will show as purchased. Family members can then easily go through the list and choose from the items that Santa isn’t bringing them. This helps eliminate overconsumption, duplicates, and random toys that won't get used in our house.

 

At the end of the day being a parent is hard work. Incredible, magical, fun, fulfilling,  all consuming yes but also extremely hard and draining. The holidays can bring out the best moments and the hardest…you don’t need any more on your plate. So believe me on this one, make the list with My Registry and save yourself the Christmas eve panic shop, the gut punch mom guilt of the forgotten things and give yourself  the gift of an easy Santa experience this year.

Because I know momma, you deserve it.

Happy Holidays!
xoxo

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