In a time and season where giving gifts is all to often the theme, finding a way to get past the materialism and realize what really matters can be just the thing your family needs.
What is better than finding a way to reconnect with family and give a gift that does not have to cost anything? For the ultimate in frugality a pajama party is a gift that your family will ask for again and again.
We came up with this idea this past fall when we found we were spending too much time working on building our business and not enough time spending time with our nine year old daughter. Since we came up with this idea she has asked for us to repeat it several times.
You can spend as little or as much on your pajama party as you want, while this gift can be completely frugal you can spend a bit of money on it, to give you something to wrap up under the tree.
A pajama party is very flexible, for us it lasted the night and part of the morning, you can also choose to get up in the morning and spend the entire day playing with your kids in your pajamas. While you may think this sounds like a lot of time if you are very busy, this time is well invested and your kids will not soon forget it.
Here is what we did: We purchased new sets of pajamas, something we needed anyway, and when our daughter came home from school Friday night we met her in our pajamas and announced that we were having a pajama party. We filled the coffee cups with hot cocoa and sat down to play board games. We ate a snack dinner of cheese, meat, crackers and dip veggies.
We rented several movies and sat on the bed with popcorn, and watched movies late into the night. Then we got up when we felt like it, had a special breakfast and played more games. There were no distractions, we turned off our cell phones, turned off our computers, and focused on nothing but our family for the entire time.
You can do a pajama party without spending any money at all, you simply adapt your party to your budget, use the pajamas you already have (we needed pajamas anyway and it was the perfect time to get them) make up a special feast of what you already have in the house, and get movies from the library.
Add a few board games, some coloring pages and a deck of cards and your child will have an evening they will not soon forget.
This makes a perfect gift to give your child for Christmas and I
am more than certain they will appreciate it just as much as the new video game or Barbie doll. What’s is even more important is they will remember it long after the Barbie and video game have been forgotten.
I know we plan to do this again during Christmas break with our daughter, she has asked for it, and we are going to make sure we fit it in. We are often very busy, and this gives us a special way to reconnect and let our child know how much we love her. The message is not lost, she very much understands and appreciates the time we take to do this for her and for that matter for ourselves.
Yes you see something unintended came out of our Pajama party, we went back to our work feeling refreshed and happier ourselves. The pajama weekend was it seemed not just for our daughter but for ourselves as well. Re-energized we felt like we had spent a weekend getting away, we laughed, we played, we acted like kids, and it left us relaxed and clear headed by the end of our party and ready to face the world again.