The Convo Gift Guide
It’s that time of year when we are all deeply focused on the tangled ideas of gift giving, receiving, light, kindness, wealth, poverty, gluttony, inequity…on repeat, parents ask us: will my kids understand how lucky they are? Should I get them to a soup kitchen, stat?
No. Just no. We will write again at another time about performativity, service-based harm, and an ecology of helping…but for now…
We get it, we are parents too, navigating this time of holiday light and love and also unending messages about consumerism. Below are our ideas for gifts to give your kids that spread a message of love through giving. Many parents feel like any act of giving things could send the wrong message to kids. However, it’s not about the what it’s about the how ! Examine your values and get clear: on any other day of the year, what do you think, feel, and role model about stuff?
There’s lots of ways to show your kids how to be responsible, loving, and community-minded within the act of gift giving.
Think about strengthening connections to your family, community, and the spirit. We have ideas for babies, kids, tweens, teens, and young adults! And if you need more ideas or some expert advice on raising kind and engaged kids—let’s convo!
Babies
It’s never too early to set the right meaning behind the gifts you give. Show your baby they are loved with gifts that gift them shared playtime and connection with their heroes…you!
Start a family band with musical egg shakers.
Welcome baby to the family with a first photo album, love, pride, and faith.
Get the convo rolling with these sensory squares and bring on the hugs.
Toddlers
Toddlers are growing their sense of family identity…introduce them to your favorite, most meaningful family rituals!
Give your child a role in established holiday rituals with first menorah, kinara, or ornament.
Start a new, simple ritual together this holiday season that you can build on together over time with a special time to bake, create, or sing.
Preschoolers
Just beyond toddlerhood, keep growing those rituals and celebrate your child’s shining light!
Wonder together and build a foundation for health and healing.
Start a convo for life about favorite family moments and traditions.
Kids
With a few holidays under their belt, and repeated convos about values, your kids are ready to thought lead along with you for your intentional family!
Invite them to build on the season in their own special way, or design their perfect family home.
Connect them to their community with love.
Keep the loving convo going with journal dates and other shared moments to self-reflect with joy.
Tweens
Make family love and community an ever-growing part of your big kid’s identity!
Show them you see them, and share a bit of yourself, too, with a personalized mix tape and player.
Choose gifts that maximize time spent together building and creating.
Teach them to honor friendships with a flourish.
Adults
Don’t forget your husband, wife, lover, partner, co-parent, mama, grandma, sis, bro…your co-pilots are the backbone of your family!
Discover new shared interests together outside of the kiddos.
Gift each other beauty, joy and rest.
Invest in rituals and keep your community flourishing for the next generation.
Family
We love a gift that everyone opens together! Talk about bonding!
Make it fun with matching, personalized pajamas.
Music is a great family connector, and this toy is multi-generational.
Start a family book club!
Games, games, and more games…bring back family game night and add a fun treat to the mix.
Celebration is about joy, love, and feeling your identity, drawn from the greater whole, down in your very soul!
Please enjoy Daveed Diggs, “Puppy for Hanukkah!”