Drew Barrymore likes to give her daughters a different kind of experience for Christmas.
During a recent interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Barrymore explained why her little girls, Olive, 10, and Frankie, 8, won't be unwrapping presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.
“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,’” the host of "The Drew Barrymore Show" explained.
“They get plenty of things throughout the year, so I’m not like some weird, strict, cold mom who’s like, ‘You don’t get any gifts!’ I just feel like a better gift would be a life memory," Barrymore, 47, continued. "I’d rather invest (in that than in) a dollhouse or something. It all evens out and it’s fine.”
Although Barrymore loves making new memories with her girls, she said there was one year when she did buy them presents, and that's only because they couldn't travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, she soon came to realize, “I’m fine to skip this. This sucks," especially since she knew that when she takes her kids on trips, they “don’t complain about not liking what they get.”
“I’m glad I do what I do,” she said.
As for the holidays, Barrymore said that she tries her best to not get stressed out around Christmastime.
“(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," she continued. "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.’”