Ideas for buying group Christmas presents for your kids and other family members that won’t take up precious space and will save you money!
Back in 2014, we moved to a small rental with no basement and very little storage space. We used our 2 car garage for storage rather than our vehicles, and managed to cram 10 people into 3 bedrooms with some serious creativity.
It was during the 4 years we lived there that I began to buy group presents for the younger children. I had a slew of little boys and then came along the baby girls. I had to be careful what I allowed to come into my home, so buying group presents made sense…and cents!
Buying group presents does take a little thinking outside the box, but once you start thinking this way, you find group presents are actually simpler and super fun!
For instance, you can buy a membership to a zoo or a theme park. You can put together a fun trip or a fun treat like something special every month for the next year. And yes, you can also purchase toys! (Hey, don’t your kids already play with each other’s toys anyway?!)
One year, we purchased this motorized dune buggy for the boys on a HUGE sale:
It was a HUGE hit! They drove that thing everywhere – including to load firewood!
One year, we found a small trampoline on sale:
Our boys seriously needed some indoor recreation that didn’t involve deconstructing my couch. This fit the bill!
How to Plan a Group Gift for your Kids
- Consider each child’s likes and dislikes and where they intersect with the other children. This is a starting point for you, but don’t get caught up in trying to perfectly match them. You are looking for “themes.” Animals? Video games? Outdoor toys? Books? Board games?
- Consider your budget. What would you usually spend on each child? Could you save space and money by buying one bigger gift they can all share?
- Brainstorm (and be creative!). Got animal lovers? How about a zoo membership? Lego lovers? How about a big set that will keep them busy for days? Google ideas, write them down, and keep brainstorming until you come up with something that makes you smile!
- Start shopping early. If you plan a few months before Christmas, you can shop sales, check out Facebook marketplace, and ask around amongst friends and family who might have the very gift you are looking for sitting in their garage collecting dust! SCORE!
Here are some other things to get your brain thinking in the group gift direction:
A variety of balls and sporting equipment
Hairstyling tools
LEGOs (the Classic Creator Kits are great!)
Honestly, I could go on and on because thinking up group gifts isn’t that hard once you start doing it. You can literally turn anything that several children will use, play with, or enjoy into a group gift. Think about something that would be fun for your family or for a group of your children. Peruse the internet a bit, looking for something that fits the bill.
And don’t feel guilty for doing group gifts! We don’t have to raise children who feel entitled to a whole bunch of individual presents. Group gifts are still special treats – special treats your children get to share with their siblings! If you start them out young, they won’t know any different, and if you are getting started a little later, pray for your children to have grace and understanding and be excited for their group gift rather than disappointed.
If you’ve given a group gift to some of your children or as a family gift, would you mind sharing what it was in the comments section? I want readers to have plenty of ideas to choose from! Thank you!
Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2022
dawn says
We have 3 young boys.
Group gifts (both given and received):
Train set
Art and craft kits and supplies
Games
Floor puzzle
Worship CDs with a small CD player for their room.
Bunk bed
Rock climbing rocks that we put on the deck
Slide
Dress up box with costumes (technically they each received their own item to open but shared the gift to use)
Kendra says
Keyboard! I think any musical instrument would make a great family gift!
LaRa says
We do group gifts every year. They have been
*A series of books for read aloud time as a family
*board game
* zoo membership
*a sled
A BB gun
*a favorite movie
*gift card to go out to eat
These are ones we have done over the years.
Merry Christmas !!!
Rebecca says
We’ve done this before but not for a few years now. It does work well if you think it through to make sure what you’re getting will be enjoyed by all. We’ve done memberships to different places, sleds, movie DVDs, tents and other camping equipment, art supplies. I know there are more but that’s all I’m thinking of this morning.
Another way to keep from adding clutter and, frequently, to keep costs down, is to do consumable gifts. Gift cards to restaurants, art supplies, food items, trips, duct tape (my kids favorite stocking stuffer!), parachute cord.
My kids also “pass on” old favorites. We clean out their treasure drawers and personal shelf spaces the week before Christmas. After they decide what to get rid of, we look through it together to see if any would be appropriate to give to a sibling as a gift. Since we have our kids draw names for gifts (we have 9 so this keeps the craziness down), this can give them something to give to the none “secret Santa” siblings (not required unless they really want to). Good condition books and toys are favorites but interesting art supplies work too (one of my kids is getting parchment paper from a brother this year – I think he wants it to make an old fashioned map).
STEPHANIE says
We do family gifts. Each cold still gets individual gifts but we also give a few gifts that are for the whole family. Usually a couple of the family gifts are doe older kids and a couple are for little ones. We always do at least one gsme . This year we are doing some DVDs of old tv shows to watch as a family. Another idea I’ve had is snap circuits.
Amanda says
One I thought of this year for my daughter and son who are three years apart which makes it a little hard with them being different genders also. Anyway one thing we thought of was a cash register and a fruitstand which we saw at Toys “R” Us. Two separate gifts but we thought of giving them both as a group gift to the kids so that they can play fruitstand together. I love the idea of giving them something to play with unassisted from me that also gets them playing together. I really like trips and outdoor gifts and gifts that are going to get them imagining a plane for hours instead I guess that’s going to get an hour of play and on the corner I just don’t have room for that LOL
Jessica says
Every year we get our kids a fresh supply of play-doh as a group gift (that’s no the ONLY group gift, but is the constant one year after year! lol); but we’ve also done things like art/craft supplies, board games, video/computer games, we did soccer nets one year, this year we got them a small air hockey table. Movies are a good group gift—when someone wants to get our children Christmas gifts, I usually say to just get a family movie because it a) is less expensive than buying 9 separate gifts, b) is enjoyed by all ages; from the toddler to the adult child, and c) is usually easy to find.
Jessica says
I forgot to mention Legos also. Always s good one and we get some just about every year.
Becky says
We’ve done cd sets like Jonathan Park, Narnia, Adventures in Odyssey or Your Story Hour ~ one year we asked the grandparents to get us the Moody Science DVD series. Also book sets like The Sugar Creek Gang, American Girl, Little House, etc.
One particular set of grandparents always gives a family gift of something all of us (including them) will go do together at some point in the months following Christmas ~ we’ve done snow tubing, bowling, concerts, train rides, aquariums, lunch & a play, the zoo etc. These have been some of our children’s fondest family / grandparent memories. Never discount the gift of time!! Plus most of these things are things that we could never afford to do as a family of 8.
Loving all the ideas!
Jillian says
We call them joint gifts and they’re always a part of how we shop for Christmas, not only for our kids but family too. This year we got a trampoline (my husband finally gave in! Lol) as well as this adorable Melissa and Doug playhouse with working keys and doorbell. It’s the cutest thing and something they’ll all want to play with-boys and girls. We did the wii a few years ago and that’s been a lot of fun to play together as a family. Like the indoor trampoline, it’s great for getting that energy out. A doll house, play kitchen, train set, marble run, Lincoln logs, magformers, board games, wii games are also some things we’ve made joint gifts. 🙂
DorothY says
I love this post! We only have 3 kids, ages 5,2&9 months. We are trying to get out of debt, and I don’t want my kids to think Christmas is about getting stuff. We decided to do all the under the tree gifts as group gifts. This was easy, we got them an 8 cd set of Sunday school songs, a snoopy Snowcone maker, and a play dough machine that makes ice cream cones and such. These are all gifts we can use together and there is one for each child to open. They play with each others stuff anyway, and at this age we always ask them to share toys. It saved so much time and money shopping. Plus my kids don’t know anything else because we’ve always done things this way. Their stocking gifts are all their own.
Alison says
We’ve been doing this more recently! One grandparent is getting us a family gift of a digital piano this year. And the big thing we’re getting our kids is some art supplies. We’ve also suggested to extended family the possibility of gift cards for experiences instead of toys – trips to the museum or zoo, restaurant gift cards, even things like Chuck E Cheese that we rarely do but that our kids really enjoy!
Hannah Hess says
We did a play kitchen one year, I may do one this year for them, ours hasn’t held up well. that might be the way to go with a couple small ones each with one big one. Hmmm. THanks for getting my mind thinking 😀
Mary says
We have four children, 12 and under, and this is the first year we decided to do a group gift. Let me just say: WHEW! So much easier than a bunch of gifts for each individual. We are still doing stockings, so they will still get some small, “personal” gifts. But this was so much easier than in years past!
Janee says
When our girls were little I would buy dress up clothes and play food for them to share. now we buy a few family presents each year. usually board games, Wii games, movies, puzzles, old tv series like little house on the praire. I watch for sales and look at thrift shops all year round. I think these are some of their favorite gifts. we usually open them early (one every few days) so we have time during the break to use them before my husband has to go back to work.
Mandy says
We did the trampoline thing a couple years ago…totally worth the money! Last year was a hockey net. This year we are thinking of air hockey table for basement. Games are also a good one. When younger we did the play kitchen. My sister bought a larger playmobil set last year and a GT snow racer this year.
Amy says
We have done some group gifts, DVD set- wrapped one per child, and a train set- wrapped part for each boy to open. Both are well loved. I imagine we will head more in this direction.
Desi says
Last year we did a trampoline which is used just about everyday. Honestly I think it was more of a gift to myself. We’ve also done camping gear and a tent as a family gift before. I didn’t plan it but every other year we end up doing a family gift instead of individual gifts. Next year we might take a trip to a snowy part of the country for Christmas instead of doing gifts. Even individual gifts are shared. This year my littles are getting a table top play kitchen and my three big boys are getting a BB8.
Julie says
We do group gifts. I have tried to convince my sister in law to get the kids group gifts, because then they would get one better gift as opposed to one five dollar gift each!
We have given magnatiles, a dollhouse, Playmobil, a Melissa and Doug castle, and Lego as group gifts.
ALLISON says
We bought a gender neutral kitchen and it gets lots of use. Restaurant, cafe, ice cream shop etc. Last year we got a group set of nerf guns and darts so they could all play outside together.
Amy says
We have 8 kiddos from 2-16. We love group gifts. Water park trip, local ski trips, etc. I also love consumables. Either edible treats that they don’t normally get, or art projects to work on. Things that don’t take much space in the house because once they’ve finished their project, it’s done and can get snuck into the garbage, goodwill, or be useful as a decoration.
This year, we are creating an ice skating rink outside. It’ll give them something to do during the loooong winter months when we have cabin fever 🙂 I’ve been stocking up on ice skates at garage sales and thrift stores.
Gabby says
We’re giving a box of Classic Legos this year (I found it black Friday shopping for $30 instead of $70!). With it, we’re giving the kids a Lego Ideas book and a cute Lego head organizer.
Denaye Wenger says
My parents always chose one gift for the whole family. One year it was a Lincoln Logs set. Another year, a globe. Oh, and one year it was a toy electric organ. One year my sister and I received a dollhouse together. Now that I have children, I’m doing it, too. This year my children are getting a lovely nativity scene puzzle to put together during Christmas vacation.
Nola says
This year we are giving our children a big box of lego as a group gift. I don’t mean those sets that show you what to make…I mean the pieces that come in a big box that leave it up to your imagination as its just pieces. They don’t own any lego yet but they enjoy playing with it at other people’s houses. They are also each getting a lego mat that the pieces stick onto. Because this group gift was more expensive for us, this is their main gift. Then they are each getting a few books each that I bought second hand at a thrift shop when there was a 40% off day…so that means most of them cost me less than a dollar (at the most a few dollars). This way they also have something individual yet not costly and also useful.
Before my children have received co-operative games as a group gift.
Corinna @ one Smith Day says
We bought a full-size electronic keyboard eight or nine years ago and it’s still going strong. Five of the kids have taken lessons on it as well – it gets used nearly every day and brings a lot of joy to the family. We have also given trips and games as group gifts. I love giving group gifts!