Planning Christmas Celebrations outside the Home - Behaviors

When you are celebrating the holidays with family and friends including exchanging gifts with each other, how your foster children with fit in will arise. I have talked about why it is so important to include your foster children and what responsibility may fall upon your shoulders. I also have talked about helping foster children feeling connected to their biological families.

When we plan or talk about visiting others, or them visiting us during the holidays, I always bring up my foster children. Sharing what to expect with any behaviors, foods they like, and other basic information. I also bring up whether they will be exchanging gifts with my foster children. Which I explain they do not have to feel like they have to purchase them gifts but if they would like to, that is great and I could suggest a few inexpensive gift ideas. I tend to be a little out-spoken so, I do not mind asking or talking openly about this to others.

I do understand that some people do not feel comfortable being so direct and to the point. In some cases I do not feel comfortable doing this either so I always have a backup plan. The backup plan is to have inexpensive gifts wrapped and waiting if your foster children do not have a gift to unwrap. It may also be a good idea to keep a couple in your car and remember to take them along when you visit others during the holidays just in case the need arises.

Below I will share a few gifts ideas that can be picked up rather easily and quickly at your local Dollar Store, drug store, or a fast food restaurant. Remember it is not necessarily about the gift or the cost of the gift, but that the foster children are feeling like part of the family, or a least included.


Gift Ideas:

Art supplies, books, handheld electronic games, colored pens, cute note pads, card games, cars, balls, board games, action figures, paper dolls, teen magazines, lip glosses, bath products, jewelry, nail polish, five dollar gift cards in fast food places, etc. Some of these gifts are gender and/or age specific, so you need to have a few for different ages or genders.

Please share your ideas for inexpensive gifts below.

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