Christmas Shopping Tip

Having four girls and a boy is lots of fun! Having triplets as part of the 5 is even more fun. We love it. However, it can be tricky on birthdays and at Christmas. We have to carefully plan in order to manage the number of toys that come into our home and the amount of money we spend on Christmas too. It is way too easy to be out of control, especially when you LOVE giving gifts like I do. Our 3 oldest girls LOVE their American Girl dolls. Our family rule is that you have to be six to have your first doll. Our 2 oldest girls are now 8, and our K received Kit when she turned 6 this summer. With a 2 1/2 year old sister to boot, we are a DOLL HAPPY family. We love dolls. We have dolls of all shapes and sizes. So, our 3 big girls are just salivating over the American girl doll beds. I agree; they are fabulous. They are also fabulously expensive. The girls are going to ask Santa for a doll bed, which means THREE expensive doll beds. In comes Ikea to the rescue. We visited as a family this summer and I pointed out their nice wooden doll beds for $19.99, not $109.99. I told the girls we could paint them. And it worked. All 3 are now asking for the Ikea wooden doll bed which can be painted in their favorite colors WITH their doll's monogram, per their request. I mean, no doll bed is complete without the doll's monogram. For Pete's sake, Emily Bennett needs her monogram on her headboard! By golly, Santa is not going to hesitate on this request. In fact, I heard his elves are already contemplating how to paint the beds! If you have a little girl, check out the Ikea doll beds!