The Guilbeau Gifts Rule of 4

Chris and I considered putting this out there for Adelaide's first Christmas, but then we realized... well we don't want to have to go with the rules too, so we can't hold her to them.

This year Santa found all three of us on the super nice list; we all found tons of great presents under the tree.  This only makes it more difficult to start the discipline of keeping a simple set of gift giving and receiving rules.  But with my birthday being the first in 2013, I have decided I will be the first to abide by the rules.

It's simply a guideline for us to follow for giving & receiving gifts.  For Chris and my birthdays, we really don't have to worry much about our parents or anyone giving outside the rules, but we do have to work hard with each other.  Birthdays are when the two of us kinda go out of control with showering each other with gifts.  I think having this set of rules will actually make it more fun though.  Instead of just giving him everything I can possibly think of that he might want and I can afford, I can be more mindful about it and try to get everything on the list maybe... though I might just have to skip "1 thing to wear" for him... my man likes to shop for his own clothes!

It will be a fun practice for the three of us to do for each other, but we are also going to ask everyone else to be a part of it.  We're not asking everyone to give each of us 4 gifts, but just asking that anyone who wants to give us gifts gives no more than 4 and no more than 1 of each category: WANT, READ, WEAR, HEALTHY; and nothing outside of those categories.  And if we end up with more, the task is to give it away.

So I have a feeling a game will be made of these rules like trying to make an excuse of how something fits a category that really doesn't..."yeah, this movie is a "read" just turn on the subtitles!"  I have a family member I can totally hear say that already.  And if someone tries that, its not the end of the world; in the end there are still only 4 gifts so it works itself out.  It might even be part of the holiday fun making something "fit" into a category.

If you've seen this list on Pinterest you might be thinking, something sounds different about this one.  Well, the list that is getting pinned everywhere is a little different instead of "Healthy" they have "need" which actually has better rhyming to it, but "need" just sounds too dramatic to me.  As middle-class Americans with just one kid, we don't really have any needs that aren't being met.  Healthy sounded like a fun alternative to me!  There is a lot of wiggle room there too.  I'm thinking of how my mom used to put oranges, apples, and nuts in our stocking- that's an obvious healthy!  Or this might sound like a stretch, but my this year my sister-in-law gave Adelaide some reusable snack bags (super cute) and I think we could put that under "healthy."  And while toy vegetables can't be eaten, maybe we can even sneak that in as a "healthy."  And my Christmas gift to Chris this year, a Nike + iPod could have easily gone under healthy OR wear!  (Its something you wear on your shoe that tracks your running stats.)

Well, there is about 6 months till the big 2 year birthday for Adelaide which is the BIG DEAL in the family (yeah, I'm turning the big three-oh but I'm pretty sure the 2 year old will still get the bigger party).  So this is the official announcement with 6 months notice for The Guilbeau Gifts Rule of 4.

Has anyone else tried this, or something like this?  How did it go for you?