If an au pair could make just one thing for a family who celebrates Christmas, I’d suggest something I call Ornaments of Rememberment.
Ornaments of Rememberment are ornaments that are pretty on their own, but that also have some special memory attached. Maybe it’s the ticket stub from the performance of The Nutcracker that you all attended, decoupaged on the back. Or, it’s little messages from the kids or the au pair, written on the back.
One thing I’ve seen and loved is a 12 Days of Christmas set, each ornament with a word describing the delightful traits of the host kids. Or, a whole memory!!
For example, “Celebrate Ciara’s Creativity — everything she makes is special.” or “Liam is so funny, just thinking about him making jokes makes us laugh.”
The idea here is that both the physical item and the written observation are treasures to a host parent, and eventually to the host kid being described.
I am in love with this little creature, a Holiday Owl Ornament, from Etsy, NatesMommyMadeIt
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What a wonderful idea! I would have loved such a gift….unfortunately our last (& final) AP just left us. We did receive some wonderful, creative gifts featuring photos of our family in past years – one framed photos she had taken of us & our pets, put them in little decorative frames and then hung them from ribbons inside a shadowbox – it’s part of our annual Christmas decorations, and it’s fun to look back at the kids as they’ve grown up. Another special gift (and probably pricier than we would have wanted her to spring for) was monogrammed bath towels for the kids – they were excellent quality, I must say, and have lasted four plus years. I think the girls will want to save a square and add to one of their t-shirt quilts when the towels finally wear out!
We have done something like this every year. And it is wonderful. We actually take a photo of the AP with they boys and put in a photo ornament. We have a matching pair such that the AP gets one and we get one. Now I have photos of the boys over the past 5 years with each of their AP’s. Its fun to hang them up every year and see how the boys have grown. Each of our AP’s (usually through their parents) send a special ornament from their country/region/area for us to remember them by. I LOVE my Christmas tree ornaments and can tell you where almost everyone of them was obtained, so it is really a special thing for me.
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