Featured Image Credit: Drew Barrymore Show
Topics: Drew Barrymore, Celebrity, Christmas, Shopping, Parenting
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Drew Barrymore, Celebrity, Christmas, Shopping, Parenting
For many parents, Christmas is a time of panic gift-buying, stock filler faff and trying their best to navigate a bizarre present list written by their little ones.
But some parents have made the choice to celebrate the holiday a little differently than usual by not getting their kids any presents for the big day.
One of which is none other than Drew Barrymore who once revealed the reason behind her decision and why it's not 'weird' or 'strict'.
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Barrymore, 49, shares her two children, Olive and Frankie, with her ex-husband, art investor Will Kopelman, 46, who she parted ways with in 2016 after four years of marriage.
Olive was born in 2012 while Frankie was born two years later in 2014.
Speaking in a 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Charlie's Angels star explained why her kids wouldn't be opening any Xmas presents that year.
Barrymore shared: "I always take them on a trip every Christmas. I don’t get them presents, which I think at their ages they don’t love, but I say, 'I think we’ll remember the place and the photos and the experience and that’s what I want to give you'.
"They get plenty of things throughout the year, so I’m not like some weird, strict, cold mum who’s like, 'You don’t get any gifts!' I just feel like a better gift would be a life memory."
The talk show host added: "I’d rather invest [in that than in] a dollhouse or something. It all evens out and it’s fine."
The mum-of-two also admitted she does her best to not get too overwhelmed by the inevitable chaos of the festive period.
"[I try] to remember that one holiday won’t be probably the same as one 10 years from now, that your life can dramatically change, and new people and new traditions can come into it," she said.
"I like looking at the holidays through a comedic, realistic lens of, we’re gonna have a lot of different holiday stories," Barrymore shared. "What one do you want to keep going and build as a tradition? Rather than, 'This is my tradition and I’m stuck in it'."
In April, Barrymore opened up to People about her thoughts on letting her children enter the public eye.
"My kids ask me all the time," she said. "They would love to be in film or on social media or sing, and I always just say, 'School plays, theatre camp, everything [yes]. But [no to] being out there in the public eye until...'"
Barrymore added: "And then they say, 'Well, what's the number?' And I always say, 'I know you want an answer, and I know the fact that I can't give you one that's so specific isn't satisfying, but it's going to be a feeling and it's going to be when I think you're ready'. [Then] I would so support them."