My daughter is 16 months and I really want to do christmas for her. She really dosn't need much I just want her to have the experience and the memories. I need ideas of inexpensive gifts and ways to make her christmas a good one eventhough we are going through a really tough time financially?

For our kids, it isn't really about the gifts. They LOVE the tree, the lights, decorating it. They love the extra sweet treats at Christmas. At that young of an age, they all loved the bows, tissue paper, and boxes. I would say be elaborate with how you wrap the package and wrap it loosely. She will have a ball!! We are spending about $5 on each child this Christmas. They will be 4, 2, 1, and a newborn. The two oldest are super excited about the tree. For our daughter, who will be 15 months, we are getting her a doll. She loves baby dolls and stuffed animals. Other than that, we will just have fun with them that day, play games, etc.

I too was in your situation. When my daughter was that age, she would become ill with the slightest breez.. All of our family members lived out of town and we could not afford much. My husband and i opted not to purchase a christmas tree. Instead, I went to the local thrift store, purchased a bag of mixed christmas lights and decorated the inside of our home. My daughter loved staring at the many blinking lights, we created puppets out of my husbands socks and shased my daughter around the living room. She loved it! It doesn't take much to make a 16 month old child, extremely happy. Gift ideas: go to Dollar Tree or the 99c store and purchase a few toys, or coloring books and wrap them. Hope this helps.

Can you check with your local Salvation Army or Marine Corps office for a toys for tots program? My husband recently lost his job (our only income), and his employer is disputing the unemployment benefits. We're going to get at least one gift per child from the Salvation Army. Also, family members have given us toys that their kids have outgrown. We are going to wrap them and put them under the tree. Our kids are little enough that they won't know the difference. If you are able to spend some money, get lots of small things so they have a lot to open. Don't waste money on the gift bags. Kids have more fun tearing open the wrapping paper anyway.

Swap toys with friends,re-gift they dont remember .Wrap with brown paper bags and let her color or finger paint the bags.Just take afew pictures or ask a friend to.Ther is also a website called freecycle.org everything is free you just have to be able to pick it up .Good luck God bless and remember the real blessing is that sweet baby!

Check out this Cafe Mom group, they can help out

http://www.cafemom.com/group/ChristmasAngels

I would agree that for kids, Christmas is more about traiditions-- lights, music, decorating a tree, and family dinners. My parents were, and still are, very generous gift givers at Christmas, but it's not what I looked forward to as a kid. I mostly looked forward to decorating our tree, watching cheesy Christmas movies and the Christmas parade, going to my grandma's for Christmas Eve dinner, and going to 'Christmas tree lane' which is a street in my hometown of houses that put on big displays of Christmas lights. I started playing Christmas music for my 8 mos. old daughter to get us in the holiday mood.