More Meaningful Birthday and Holiday Gifts

Hi Everyone
Does anyone here ever think about the amount of useless stuff that kids gather over the years for the birthdays, holidays etc?? Have any of you ever wondered about more meaningful gifts to give? I’m talking about like “giving $$ for college” or “giving $$ for a vacation” or “giving money for an instrument” vs that toy that they won’t play in a couple weeks or the video games that get outdated in a month.
I have been looking for ways to give my kids and nieces and nephews more meaningful gifts. What do you guys think about this?? Does this ever cross your mind?

I think about this about once a year for each of my 3 kids. I am a widowed single Dad, and have done a series of 8 birthdays now for each of these buggers!
College fund money is great (from a parent's perspective). Probably a little boring for elementary or middle school kids.
For nieces, nephews - I tend to give 1 fun gift, and then something their parents would value (usually clothes, depending). As the kids get older - GIFTCARDS! so they can do their own shopping. Yeah, they're probably buy junk!
Anyways, I don't buy anything particular for their birthdays. I throw them parties and invite family and friends. Sometimes I can suggest gifts for them to bring.
So I put my money into their birthday parties and they get an assortment of gifts and I take plenty of pictures.
Musical instruments are awesome, as well as creative gifts. My kids and I are in a little rock band together. For some kids, musical instruments end up on Craigslist or garage sales. You just never know, but darn good post you have!

We can say them useless, but ask the kids about their importance.

I'm having the same thoughts. We used to celebrate birthdays by throwing parties. this year, I am thinking of taking the entire family for a short vacation for my daughter's birthday. She'll be turning 3 this year and I notice she gets excited every time she visits new places. So I guess spending for a vacation rather than throwing a big party will be a better choice.

I don't think young children will really understand the importance of sentimental gifts until they are older. I think this is because so many of them form attachments to toys and such. However, it is a good idea for when they grow old enough to appreciate them. I think it's a good time to focus on meaningful gifts from the child to the other parent. A good example is valentines day, mothers day and so on. Kids will see and recognize this as they grow older. But they need to be old enough to understand first.

This post has been edited by daddy2be on Feb 14 2013, 01:26 AM