How much do you do for your kids Christmas presents?

[Niki85]

My partner and I are not aligned with this so I am curious how many presents do you give each child at Christmas? 🎁 🎅🎄This is regardless of cost, just the amount of things wrapped up, however extra details and context also very welcome 😁

We did very little. We're declutterring our home and have found that the fewer toys dd has, the better she plays. Christmas stocking (6-8 items) were mostly foods and drinks she likes and stickers (she's 3). She got one main and useful item (backpack for school she loved in the shop) and a toddler digital camera. That was it.

Her birthday is soon and we've asked for vouchers for her favourite places to eat and 2-3 specially selected toys from family.

We're also working on a 1 in 1 out system so for every new toy she gets, one gets donated. We noticed that the more toys she has, the less she plays, possibly due to over-stimulation. We reduced toys to the bare minimum and she is now quite happy to play with them all in turn all day which has been a real game changer for us.

I'm not saying all this to be boastful, just saying it doesn't have to be about how much stuff, but can be about making sure what you select and give is meaningful and will positively affect your kid.

6-10 ish but lots of smaller stuff and 1 big present

ds13 got for example
an electric guitar starter pack (guitar amp ect in a big box)
a green day vinyl
2 x tshirts from fave band and tv show
funny socks
A book
a led light thing
a new camping chair

stocking was smaller things like the socks and then some chocolate coins and other Christmas lollies.

I did 5 presents from me, 1 present from Santa and a stocking.
I think it's nice to have a few things to open. I wrap all the picture books into one present otherwise DD (age 1) would get overwhelmed.

None of her main presents were more than £20 this year. (Stacking cups, wooden puzzle, pull along caterpillar, books, toy box, drum).

This year Stocking had: orange, banana, socks, bath toy (a little silicone frog), rainmaker, hand puppet, sensory scarf and letter from santa

She also had 2 presents from her grandad.

We spaced it out over the whole day, it was more than enough. She didn't have any toys before Christmas apart from books, one puzzle and her teddy so it was needed. I aim to keep it like this until she is about 10 then may rethink depending on value of the things she wants or needs.

@freidafreida thanks for the context, my son is also only 3. We are struggling a bit with the amount of stuff we are getting from family so we will need to think about this a bit more I think.

I'm not sure how many dd ended up with. From Father Christmas (anything we buy), she had:

Stocking
Cuddly toy
Sticker book
Fact book
Story book
Lol doll
Diary
Pens
Mini craft kit
Onesie
Hair clips
Socks

Main
Keyboard
Barbie
Hatchimal
Dr Squish set

I think that's everything, but I may've forgotten something, so roughly 15.

I think age of child makes a huge difference.
Mine is older than yours so had one big main present, which require 2 other items to go with it, and then 6-7 others, 2 of which were related to DC's hobby.
Stocking just contains sweets, chocolates, toiletries.

When they are older, things they want cost a lot more! 😳

About 10 items plus stocking.

Thats everything thought, he doesn’t get anything else from any family or friends like other people.

It’s usually a main gift he wants, or main toy, plus some accessories that go with it, plus some other things he need and wants like craft items, books, addition to something he already has

He 4:
This year main gift was main playmobil, plus a few mini sets that went with theme.
Then some garden/ outdoor activity stuff, kinetic sand, some small
play shop accessories ( he’s had the shop a few years), book, bath toy, Some chocolate. Schleich figure. Think that’s about everything. The smaller items went in stocking.

If we only bought 1 item he would simply get bought throughout the year as even with birthdays and Xmas over 4 years it would mean he only owned 8 items ever. That’s seems a bit harsh. They outgrown stuff, need more than 1 book, and use up things like crafts. His first running bike has been outgrown and next bike bought, so that would be 2 or max 8 if only 1 gift

About 10 things from us, then 3 more from different family members.

I would say about 10-12 presents each. Our eldest two got the Nintendo Switch between them as the big present. We have 4 dc, the youngest two are only 3 and 1 so they got big things which look like more. All- in- all I think we spent about 500 each on the older two and probably 250 each on youngest two. So £1500 ish.

Yeah we found making a list of items we'd like for her for Christmas handy and family seemed to appreciate that as well because it removed the hassle for them. It included things we needed in the next size up (like pjs and dressing gown). Luckily she's young enough that unwrapping anything is still fun for her and she wasn't disappointed. We also any time she saw something she liked in a shop tried to "take a photo for Santa" and then WhatsApp it to each other (me and DH) on a special "Santa" WhatsApp chat so that we had a list of things to choose from.

Decluttering the whole house is a mission but her toys has been relatively easy because there are a lot she doesn't play with anymore. Seemed nonsensical to hang on to them for no reason. And as you say there is an influx with Christmas and birthdays (hers are very close together) and it can be overwhelming - for the child and parents, who need to store the toys. Our opinion is if they have to be "stored" away, then it's too many. If she can't have access to play with them, it's too many.

Good luck!

I would say around 20 wrapped things each. This always includes books, clothes and other things they 'need' rather than 'want'.

We limited it to 4 each + stocking and a gift from each other this year, but they got presents from grandparents, aunts & uncles etc so they still got loads to open.

That felt so much more manageable from an organisation point of view.

It's also younger dcs birthday this weekend, so needed to plan for his birthday as well as Christmas.

They get about 50 including stocking fillers (about 15 things in their stockings which includes bobbles, clips, bath bombs etc).

7-8 presents each plus stocking.

We use the hated poem! 😂

Something you want,
Something you need,
Something to wear,
Something to read.

Plus one gift from Father Christmas and a stocking. My DC also receive gifts from grandparents and godparents.

My kids (5 and 3) are allowed to ask for 3 things from santa. Eldest asked for scooter, blu tack and a sticker making machine. Youngest asked for a scooter, a princess dress and a mermaid book. Santa brought these plus stocking, jigsaw each and game each.
Then from us they got 1 larger gift (playmobil and duplo), a couple of books each and a couple of yoto cards each.
This is manageable for our budget and the space we have for storage. Of course, I always underestimate the amount of things they get from the rest of the family.

Our son had about 10 presents of varying sizes from us (some just a book) and another 4 from my mum. He did get others from other relatives but not on Christmas Day itself. He's 3, so at the moment we're trying not to overdo the number of presents as he loses interest in unwrapping the rest as soon as he opens something he likes. When he's older, it will be more about budget than number of presents. Probably 1 big present and a handful of smaller ones.

My mum is someone who values quantity over quality so we had to have a conversation about that due to space issues. She'd rather spend the same budget on twenty cheap things than the 3 or 4 nicer things DS would actually like (and wouldn't break). To be fair to her, she did take it on board and we appreciate it.

Age 4 DD:

£150 for stocking presents.
£250 for presents from myself and DH.

We don't do 'all presents are from Santa.' Unsure as to why, we've just never done it. Stocking gets opened first thing and then free presents through out the day.

I also always buy her a new dress for Christmas Day, PJs, chocolates etc so I'd say in total £400.

Left to me my dad would have had 10 + stocking. Still too much but I gave her 3 Lego kits (so blocks can go into her Lego box when done) and 3 science kits (use then done with). I dread to think how many presents DP got her, and much of it was stuff she won’t use / already has. It was ridiculous.

Something like this. Lots would be small things wrapped for fun, e.g. pencil case, book, drawing pad etc.

Also like a bell curve, less when younger and older, most in the middle years.

Mine are a bit older (10 and 12) but generally between 3-4 under the tree and a stocking with 6-8 small items. They then get loads of presents from family. I think this is plenty and at their age is quite costly!

It makes a huge difference how old a child is and also how many other gifts it will receive.

DD only has us and the grandparents give one small gift each plus some money. When she was young the money was either used for a membership, day out, theatre tickets etc, she now saves it or goes shopping a couple of weeks later.

So it means that from us there may be more presents as if she would have a huge family who will come with lots as well.

When she was small, I think she had less, got easily overwhelmed with opening and wanting to play straight away.

At primary school age it got a bit more, lots of smaller bits. Now a teen things are small and expensive so it automatically gets down in numbers.

I didn’t buy so many bits and pieces of junk things this year - so about ten decent presents (smallest rubix to PlayStation)

iI depends on the age.. mine are grown up, so they got something from me and DH, they got some choccies and they also got a box of Lynx (its a family joke and they have to have some every year no matter what).

GC got 1 large gift each (approx 30 to 40 pounds) and a little gift and some cash into their bank accounts! (both GC are under 1)

My DD and her husband did not even buy her Baby a present, she didn't see the point and she knew he would be spoilt by the rest of the family which tbh i thought very senseable, where as SS spent hungdreds on theirs.. the mountain of gifts under the tree was ridiculous. At that age they have absolutely no clue what christmas is even about!

When mine were growing up we had a budget of between £100 and £150 so probably anything up to 10 parcels under the tree each, and we tended to buy the big things for their birthdays rather than christmas,