Have you heard of Gift Box Snowmen? As a lover of the holiday season and holiday traditions, the pressure was on for my son’s first Christmas to pick all our lifelong family traditions. Now it may sound silly, but that’s really what I was thinking about when my son was two months old. Maybe it was the postpartum fog or my love of scheduling, but either way I was on a hunt for all the best traditions. My husband’s family already had the food covered. Personal pizzas on Christmas Eve and German apple pancake on Christmas morning.
Presents, Pinterest, and Postpartum
For our new family, I was just missing something cute, efficient, and sustainable for Christmas presents. My Pinterest perusing proved profitable when I stumbled upon the cutest gift box snowmen. I decided that this would be our family tradition. I want to share it with you in case you’re needing to simplify how your family does presents, but want to keep it cute and meaningful.
Building My Gift Box Snowmen
I love these snowmen because the options are endless in how you utilize them. I’ve heard “something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read” and I LOVE that, but I think these snowmen bring even more possibilities to the table. I think of it this way; there are three boxes per kid. Christmas presents are simplified for parents because you’re only thinking of three gifts. Everyone gets to open three boxes, but what you do with those boxes can be as unique as the child is.
In my Pinteresting, the grandparents that made the snowmen said the bottom had a toy surprise, the body had an article of clothing, the head was filled with treats, and the card had money in it. Now, I had a 17 year old to shop for and I’m positive that he would not be interested in a toy surprise. I made this outline instead
Building the Gift Box Snowmen
- Bottom- Big ticket item (size or expense)
- Body- outfit
- Head- Box filled with smaller items
- Card- Heartfelt card with a ticket to an experience
Last year, my 2 month old’s gift box snowman had:
- Box of wipes
- Next size up onesies
- Board book
- Heartfelt card (he’s still free for every experience)
I kept it very practical and simple.
Last year, my 17 year old’s gift box snowman had:
- Retro Nike shoes
- Shirt + sweats from H&M
- Crystal necklaces
- Heartfelt card + tickets for our family (and his girlfriend) for the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience
Those items were all things that he had asked for throughout the year that I just kept track of so when it came time to make the list I was able to pull from the notes I had already been making.
Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?
While my outline of the three boxes works well for my family, there are endless possibilities of how you could use the three presents plus a card model to fit your family. Here are a few ideas I’ve had for each box for a personalized simplified approach to Christmas presents.
- Bottom– big ticket item, the item they wanted most for Christmas, the “something they want,” big sports or outdoor equipment
- Body– an outfit, “something to wear,” “something to read,” matching family Christmas pajamas, medium sized toy
- Head– box filled with smaller items, consumables, travel-sized necessities, fresh school supplies, self-care items
- Card– heartfelt card, experience (See this article for experience gift ideas), gift card, special date with mom or dad, coupons for around the house (getting out of chores, later bedtime, etc.), money
I believe these adorable Gift Box Snowmen could be just the solution someone is looking for to lighten their load, create an outline, and simplify Christmas and their holiday gift giving! This leaves room to be as extravagant or as frugal as you need to be. Fit it to your family and your kiddos. Let me know if you try it out and send pictures of your cute snowmen to us on Instagram at @dcmoms.
