Giving the Gift of Experience.

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Last Christmas we really overdid it, while "under doing" it. We have 4 children, and each had a wonderful Christmas for under $75 each. Mostly thanks to eBay, and frugal shopping. They got everything that they had asked for, but by the end of the evening all I heard about was how they didn't get this or that. That was the last straw for me. I refuse to allow this "Sense of Entitlement" to grow and fester in my children, so I immediately took action. We did away with all birthday parties for the coming year and many gifts for Christmas this year. Instead we gave the gift of family. Our first birthday came in February. My son received tickets to Monster Trucks and a disposable camera. He went to the Monster Trucks on a date with his dad. He took whatever pictures he wanted and when we got them developed, he sat down for his date with mom. We put his pictures in his scrapbook, and let him dictate the memories of the evening while I journaled them on the page. Birthday number two came just a few weeks ago. Our oldest received tickets to the Chicago Bulls and a disposable camera. He had a date with dad, and a date with mom. This gift idea has done so much for our family. We got the two boys Globetrotter tickets for Christmas. My husband was driving home the other night and found that a stage show for Diego was coming to town. He realized that he hasn't gotten to take his little girl out on a date yet, so he called and asked if we could get her these tickets so he could take her out. This is even better than the lessons I originally hoped to teach my kids, because it rebounded onto us parents as well! What are some ways you've discovered to take the "me, Me, ME" out of the holidays??