Is this enough for Christmas??

It sounds a bit miserable, if you can afford to give more then do. How often do they get toys during the year ?

How about adding a Board Game, books, art stuff, bits to go with existing toys, another toy, whatever. Maybe a gift from yourselves.

It does sound joyless one gift and a stocking.

In our house, Father Christmas fills the sacks (not huge, roughly pillowcase size). The elves can't make tech gifts, they're unable to transport live animals, and there isn't space for anything big. Main gifts come from mum and dad. That helps us keep their expectations realistic and allows us to vary the budget each year.

So from Father Christmas they will get maybe 12 or 15 things, ranging from maybe a medium lego set and a board game down to books, chocolate, gloves, socks, bath bomb, art or baking bits etc.

And from us they get 3 or 4 presents under the tree, including the main one (some years it's been a console, tablet or laptop, others a far cheaper option like a large lego set, bike, scooter, roller skates...).

This feels like the right balance to us. Plenty to open, but not piles and piles of stuff to find homes for and half of which will barely get used.

Max 4 presents is not 'loads'. I don't think it's even about quantity in this instance, it comes across to me as if the OP resents the frivolity. We didn't get lots of toys during the year so Christmas was so huge to us. I don't know anyone who gives their child of any age a solitary gift

Loads if you are Scrooge yes..

I think I would probably add a few more to be honest as otherwise unwrapping is over before it is even started!

Don't be ridiculous. It's not 'loads'.

You might consider it enough, but in no world is it loads.

Wow 🤣

Sounds perfect, OP. I find the piles of presents really depressing and not in the spirit of Christmas.

Children get overwhelmed by lots of stuff and they should be taught to appreciate and look after the things they have. They should be taught that consumerism may one day destroy their future and that an excess of over-indulgence is morally wrong.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!

It's a bit.... joyless, isn't it? 'One present so they'll take good care of it' is all very admirable, but but they are little children who will lose and break things sometimes.

It doesn't need to be vulgar but yes, they should have a few things under the tree to squish, guess, open, squeal about. To use your example of a 'Lego set' - would it really be so awful to get them a Lego set, a colouring book and pens, a mini baking set, a couple of books and a soft toy? For example....

It all sounds very sparse.

It's loads, can't believe the answers on here are serious but it seems that you're seeking advice from people you wouldn't hang out with in real life.

I’m not sure about this. I grew up relatively poor and didn’t get toys throughout the year, but we always had lots to open at Christmas. It meant it had a real wow factor and the excitement around it was amazing. I’m much better off now, and I do get my children a fair amount of stuff, probably because I want to give them a similar amazing christmas experience to what I had growing up, but in reality they get what the need all year round so it isn’t the same. I do get a lot of joy out of getting them nice things that I know will be appreciated, so it’s as much for me as it is for them. But I think if they’ve never known any different and they are happy and you are happy then that’s fair enough.

When I read your one small comment I literally pictured that meme where there are presents piled under the tree and it was all shit.

Some people value quality over quantity. I just didn’t get that from you. Sorry.

Same here. One main present from me, then smaller presents from family members plus stocking stuff. They have got so much stuff and I have a finite amount of funds.

They've always been happy and not found it 'shit' or 'miserable'.

I think one gift from Father Christmas is stingy, they're only young and believing for such a short time and it's lovely to spoil them a little.
I don't mean getting a huge stash but it's nice to get them a few toys, crafts, a bit of chocolate, books and pyjamas.

When I was a kid our presents were always in a long pillowcase and I can still remember the excitement of crawling into it to get the last presents out.

I'm on this thread to be straight.

You're saying in one breath you think your kids have more than enough but that your friends disagree.

In another breath you're saying you don't want to get it wrong and you're worried about your eldest comparing with their friends.

So you've only got two choices.

Stay as you are or buy more shit 😳

You think I buy cheap ugly tat for my children? Based on that one small comment? Big brain time.

Sounds really ... miserly tbh. A bit bleak. Fair enough if you can't afford more but you're the living embodiment of that pious little poem about buying something that went / something they need etc etc

Fine I suppose when they're little but you'll struggle when they're teens.

So my opinion is it sounds boring

Everyone does things differently, we don't give a large present from father Christmas, partly because I want to avoid the why did father Christmas bring Johnny a pony and Janey only got a puzzle, but also I think it's important from a young age that children know their parents work hard, earn money and some of that is spent on presents, but that money isn't limitless and they won't get absolutely everything they want.

We're financially able to give DS what he wants because we're aren't struggling and his wants are modest, but no one goes through life getting everything they want, so there will be some things I'm she he would like that he won't get. Having said that when I asked if he wanted to write a list for father Christmas (who does the stocking) he said no it's ok, I'm sure I'll like whatever he chooses.

Can you afford more? If it's all you can afford is one thing, if you can afford more then you should.

I agree it sounds miserable.

Perhaps because I remember Christmas being so magical as a child - despite my parents struggling massively with 4 children, they made an effort and bought throughout the year so we had plenty of things to unwrap which is half of the excitement.

I recreate that magic with my young children now.

I had friends who weren't allowed to open presents until after dinner - that sounds utterly miserable to me too! We were all downstairs about 4am - happiest memories

I agree with you OP, but sadly we appear to have gone past the point of no return with this, or at least for the time being. Children are given way too much when they're small, then as they get bigger parents feel obliged to get bigger and more expensive gifts, to the point where nothing is REALLY appreciated. Then as young adults they continue to be spoiled, and given everything their hearts desire, and some that they don't even know they want, until it's given to them. I do appreciate that not all parents are in a position financially to do this, but believe that if they were, they would likely follow suit, as we all want to give our children the top brick off the chimney if we can and they express a desire for it. However, we fail to see, for the most part, that this is NOT what they NEED! This behaviour has lead to a nation of over indulgence, in just about everything, and now the planet is suffering because of it.

However, finally, a relatively small percentage are starting to realise that instead of keep buying, buying, and buying some more, we can actually mend things, or replace them with things that others have had before us. I'm therefore hoping that given time, this will push us back to the old ways of making the most of the things we have, and not constantly buying new. Whether this will be mainly due to the damage we have done, and continue to do to the world around us, or because people are struggling more and more to make ends meet, I don't know, but I do think it will be a good thing for humanity, if it happens.

You speak about how your presumably young children play with their existing toys as if they are museum pieces - newsflash children will break and lose things, indeed as adults do but obvs much more likely to happen with young children. I'm not a fan of piles of stuff but to me your approach seems very prescriptive and joyless. Gift giving for children at Christmas is about fun. They aren't going to be spoilt by having a few more gifts. People who struggle to afford Christmas would be beating themselves up about not being able to afford more. We had very little growing up and a large family, my mother saved all year to give us a great, happy Christmas with as many gifts as she could afford. Maybe it's your post but your tone comes across to me as mean and resentful

So you do anything other than open gifts Cheap,ugly, tat at Christmas?

Agreed, most kids don't even count them.

If they're going to compare anything it's what they got, not how much.

"What did you get for Christmas?" - "I got a PS5 and VR headset. Why, what did you get?"

"Me? I got a jigsaw and a colouring book".

It’s up to you if you’re all happy.

I probably do get a bit too much, but I always remember getting quite a fair bit as a child, we didn’t have loads of money, but Christmas was special. We weren’t spoilt or materialistic, christmas was a joy