Hi there,

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a safe and fun holiday.

Presents for your kids can be under the tree in no time with a little coordination!

Even though Christmas décor has been up for weeks, I’m just beginning to coordinate Christmas shopping for my grandkids with their parents and their other grandparents. It’s an organizational hassle in an intact family, and far more complicated in a separated or divorced family. In past years I’ve posted about how to divide the holidays, and also about how to coordinate parenting time using apps like Google Calendar and My Family Wizard.

It just occurred to me that there must be apps out there to help coordinate gift giving, and yes, yes there are! Gift Plan and Gift Planner (this one is even free!) are two highly rated apps for Apple products, and there are countless more for Android and Windows phones.  A realistic listing of kids’ sizes, needs and wishes would be helpful for all concerned. You could even include tech savvy grandparents! As I was writing this and searching for the apps it occured to me that this type of communication tool would be useful for other occasions as well. Back to School and Birthdays come to mind. This may only occur in an ideal divorced world, but it is something to strive for. Most divorced families do have at least some sort of communication regarding gifts. Less fuss and more coordination helps all of us.

Best,
Nancy