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Dad Field Manual · Field card 48 · MoneyIdea · not yet tested

Set a holiday gift budget with your kids

Holiday gift lists grow fast when nobody's counting. Give your kid a set amount and a sheet of paper, and in forty-five minutes they'll have a list of names, a price next to each one, and a running total they keep themselves.

Time
45 min
Cost
$0 to plan
Ages
6 to 14
Where
Kitchen table

What you need

  • The gift money: their savings, money you give them, or both, in an envelope
  • A sheet of paper for the gift plan, with columns for name, idea, price and spent
  • A pencil and eraser
  • A phone, laptop or store flyers for price checks
  • Supplies for one handmade gift: paper, markers, a jar, things from the pantry

Before you start

  • You do any online checkout. Kids pick, you pay. The FTC says to pay by credit card when you can, and a seller who wants gift cards, wire transfers or crypto is probably a scam.
  • Slow down on "free" and too-good deals. Free offers and one-click buys can cost money without anyone noticing. Look the seller up together first.
  • Keep receipts and order numbers. They help you get money back if something never arrives. Tuck them in the gift-money envelope.

Steps

  1. Set the amount. Decide a fixed total before you start, say it plainly, and put the money in an envelope.
  2. List the people. Your kid writes down everyone they want to give to and stars the ones that matter most.
  3. Check real prices. Write a gift idea for each name, compare prices in two places, and round up for tax.
  4. Make it fit. Add up the prices; if it's over, your kid trades ideas around until the total fits.
  5. Plan one handmade gift. Pick one person for a handmade gift, list the supplies, and set a day to make it.
  6. Track every dollar on paper. After each purchase, write the cost, subtract it from what's left, and cross off the name.

If it stalls

  • If they want to spend it all on one friend, ask who'd be left off and let them decide. It's their list.
  • If they come home from a store with an idea that isn't on the list, write it down and look at the total together before buying it.
Dollars left · names crossed off
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date