Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Christ-Centered Christmas Gift Ideas

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Original Christ-centered Christmas gift ideas are not easy to find.

I feel overwhelmed. That’s how I felt about purchasing Christmas gifts for my six children. I didn’t know if I was supposed to buy them all the same number of gifts or spend the same amount or if it didn’t matter. Even if I could make a decision about how many gifts to buy, what should they be? The number of options was mind-boggling.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh gift ideas for a Christ-centered Christmas

How to Make Gift Decisions

The key to making gift decisions, like any type of decision I’ve learned, is to limit your options. I went shopping for a shampoo with a friend from Spain and she said she loved having so many more choices than she had at home. But she took so. long. to. make. a. decision. There is research that suggests that not only is it easier to make a choice with limited options, but we are more satisfied with our choice in that situation. We can review each option and feel reasonably sure we have made the best decision.

What does this mean for purchasing gifts at Christmas? It means we do well to limit our options. I read about giving children gold, frankincense, and myrrh gifts in a Christian parenting magazine years ago. I loved the idea! Not only did it connect gift-giving to Jesus’ birth (the reason we celebrate Christmas), but it limited my options. I could purchase three gifts for each child and I would be done. But not only that. I would also have three categories of gifts to choose from that made sense: something of great value (gold), something to strengthen my child’s faith (frankincense), and something for the body (myrrh).

In telling families about our practice over the years, I’ve found that there are two types of responses: first, that this is more than what families currently buy, and second, that it’s much less than what families currently buy. If your family is content with purchasing one or two gifts per child, please don’t feel you need to change your practice! If you’re overwhelmed by the thought of limiting, let me share this. We give our children a family gift each year. This allows us to give something additional for everyone that wouldn’t necessarily make a good individual gift. We also put small gifts in our kids’ stockings on Christmas Eve. But even these two additional types of gifts have built-in limits that make the gifting decisions easier.

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Christ-Centered Christmas Gift Ideas

The first few years we changed our practice were fine. Gold gifts were relatively easy to choose because they were the most expensive or most desired gift for each child. Frankincense gifts were easy for little ones — a kids’ Bible, Bible toys, or games. Myrrh gifts were comprised of bath kits that typically included toys of some sort. But after a while, the frankincense and myrrh gifts didn’t seem like great gifts. I had to expand my definition of what these gifts were about. Because I have, I still love our tradition, even though I have adult kids.

Check out my list of gold, frankincense, and myrrh Christ-centered Christmas gift ideas for kids here. If you’ve already purchased gifts this year, pin the list so you have it for next year.

If you need ideas of gifts that children will love and keep enjoying for years, check out this list of 60 gifts I’ve created from having six kids for over 20 years.