Parents: The best Christmas gift you can give your toddler is a literal pile of trash. No really.
It's a lot more wholesome than it sounds.
The next best holiday toy could be in your recycling bin.
Finances are an issue with many families around the holiday season, especially in these current times. Parents of very young children want to give the best gifts and often squeeze the budget to get them. However, some parents have figured out that, for some kids, the best toy you can give them doesn’t come from a box—it is the box.
Over on Reddit, parents are sharing that the best Christmas gift for your toddler could just be trash. That might sound a bit weird, extreme, and Scroogey, but it’s actually pretty wholesome.
@alexandriabeard3 Give my kids some boxes and markers and they’re entertained for AWHILE! #christmas #toddlers
Many young children have their imaginations to entertain them and transform things like cardboard toilet paper tubes, boxes, bubble wrap, and other packaging into fantastic toys. They blow into cardboard tubes as a horn, turn empty boxes into forts, or just allow themselves (with parental supervision) to tear it all up. For babies especially, playing with “trash” or household items help them explore shapes and textures while older toddlers go for the imagination route.
Here are some examples of “trash” becoming a child’s holiday “treasure” along with other “non-toy toy” ideas:
“My son loves a good box! And maybe some of that poppy wrap stuff. My mom, myself, and my son all love to pop those things lol.”
“My baby loved a box filled with “confetti” saved from our three-hole punch. She loved the colourful little paper bits!”
“So two decades ago when I had toddlers they looooved pulling tissues out of the box and throwing them in the air to float down. Literal hours of fun.”
“We used to do a thing where ‘Santa’ hid lots of one item all over the living room and she would search for it, and the funniest one was Diet Coke cans.”
“My father-in-law gave our son an empty yogurt container with a block in it. He LOVED it.”
“My dad somehow got the idea to get us ALL refrigerator boxes, and we made a whole TOWN. We each got to cut up and decorate our house. It was amazing.”
@alissabaileypace Why do we buy toys again?? 😭📦 My toddler would rather play with a BOX than the million toys she owns. Santa’s elves are making cardboard this year 😂📦 #toddlerlife #relatablemomcontent #momtok #ParentingHumor #toddlersoftiktok
“One year I gave my baby a water bottle filled halfway with deer corn, the cap glued on. His favorite gift from Santa that year.”
“A set of plastic nesting bowls and a wooden spoon. Easier on the ears than pots and pans.”
“My daughters got silicone spatulas in their stockings when they were 18 months old. They loved to play with them, could chew on them, and they're still in use ten years later!”
@moochstyle Love some sensory play for busy babies. #sensoryplay#babiesoftiktok #babyplay
“When one of mine was a toddler (like three?) she got a little bag of pepperoni in her stocking because she was OBSESSED with pepperoni. So she got her own little packet that she didn’t have to share with anyone, and she was thrilled. Cost me like $3, I think?”
“My grandson's favorite gift when he was one was a plastic coke bottle filled with colorful buttons and a couple of bells and the lid crazy glued shut. He'd roll it and chase it for hours and when he got big enough, kick it around.”
“My son loved to build with ‘recycled’ materials. His favorite gift one year was from my mom— a year’s worth of paper towel/toilet paper rolls and two 6-roll packets of Scotch tape.”
“One year, when he was about four, my now-grown son asked everyone for broken telephone and small appliances so he could dismantle them. He also asked for and got a tool box with duct tape, clothespins, rope and other things like that. He is extremely successful and still can dismantle (and reassemble) pretty much anything.”
“We’re on our second child and at this point I’m fine with her sharing the dog's chew toys.”
@craygardens When Christmas shopping for your younger kids think about things that are REAL vs a toy version, good quality, and open ended (meaning they can be used in multiple ways vs 1 specific way)!!! Gifts that fit those criteria will get you way more mileage than cheap plastic crap from Mr. Beast or Ryan’s World… shade intended. #inexpesivegiftideas #toddlermom #christmasgiftideas #giftsforkids #greenscreen
Another budget-friendly way to get a gift for your toddler is to take some recyclable materials and make one yourself. If you’re crafty, you can surprise your child with musical instruments made from empty cans, a “car” made out of a cardboard box and paint for them to sit in and pretend to drive, or dolls made out of clay or paper. With your creativity (and maybe with some help from them to make it a family activity), you can get them their new favorite toy without spending a dime.
Or, you could just get them an industrial-sized roll of bubble wrap and call it a holiday, whatever makes them happiest.