To wrap up things we already have for Christmas?

[McNuggetsAndMcFlurries]

My baby will be almost 4 months old at Christmas and I'm wondering what to do about gifts 🤔 I know that he's not going to understand what is going on but I know that he's going to be spoiled by his grandparents/great grandparents (I have tried to stop this but it's looking like it's going to happen every year despite my protests 🙄) and I don't want him looking back at pictures in the future and thinking that they cared about him more as they got him more ect. I don't know what I'm planning to do once he's old enough to understand presents but at least I've got a couple of years to figure that out.

Anyways, before he was born I got him some toys and stuff (from baby banks mainly but also a few things I found on sale) that are currently stored away/in his toy drawers but he hasn't even seen them yet as he isn't old enough to play with toys yet. Would it be wrong to choose a few of these things and wrap them up as Christmas presents? Especially with a lot of it being from baby banks as they're not technically from us 🤷‍♀️

I have bought a few little things (books, clothes and teething/feeding stuff) but I'm not really wanting to spend loads of money on stuff he doesn't need/isn't old enough to know what's happening

Go for it! My first was that age for his first Christmas and he had no clue what was going on. Think we just wrapped up a couple of rattles for him as a token gesture.

Absolutely fine op!

Of course it’s ok to do that. Very sensible and you won’t be buying stuff a four month old doesn’t need.

Definitely - lots of people shop early for Christmas anyway. My aunt always buys Christmas presents for the next year in the January sales so has them sitting in her cupboard for 11 months!

Unclench!
Do you really think you’re so likely to fail at parenting and produce a materialistic little shit who will trawl through old photos and judge love for them on the size of a present pile?
That’s some pressure you’re putting on yourself!

Last year, I gave my teen a £20 eyeshadow set for her birthday, and her dad (my XH) gave her an iPad. Not even income related - I don’t do big birthday presents, he does. She feels equally loved by both of us.

Loads of my kids’ presents have been second hand from eBay, friends, charity shops, car boot sales… again, not income related, just common sense / financial sense related.

I think you need to reassess your feelings on this. Your child will not feel loved differently due to the size of the gift piles. My kids gifts are often second hand (due to environmental reasons more than income) but at the age of 5 they have no awareness of what new and what second hand is.

So wrap up your items. It doesn't matter one bit where they're from.

It will only be an issue if you let it be.

Honestly - my kids end up getting so much from relatives I'm considering not bothering myself, they won't realise and it all feels very wasteful when they have an overflowing playroom.

My third DC will be 2 months this xmas, I did some clothes shopping for him in the sales last week and I’ve wrapped up those items for Christmas for him as the older two will wonder why Santa has bought him anything otherwise. Other than that he’s getting a first Christmas bundle and the night before xmas book like my older two did. No point in spending a fortune when they don’t even know!

Bauble not bundle.

Makes perfect sense.

For ds first Christmas I got him a keepsake Christmas ornament and the rest was things he needed. I asked grandparents to get a playmat thing for him so he had one for when ready (he was only 6 weeks old)

A 4 month old can't unwrap presents? Why bother?

When he is 4 years old he won't give two hoots about what you gave him /didn't give him as a baby and when he is 8 years old he'll be old enough to realise he was too small for presents. I wouldn't put any more thought into it.

Plus whatever he gets now from grandparents will most likely be long gone by the time he is old enough to look at a photo and recognise the toys

My daughter will be 3 months old at Christmas and she won't be getting anything from us. My son was 2 months old for his first Christmas and he didn't get anything either.

I don't think we took many pictures though.

He won't care what he gets, either now or later. In fact, it might be worth limiting what you get this year so that grandparents don't escalate things. If they see that they've given him more than you have, they might think it tactful to rein things in next year.

I wouldn't even both wrapping them up! He's not going to care! No-one is going to remember in 20 years time who got him what for his first Christmas either (unless it's something insane!).

The pictures he will want to see of his first Christmas are of all the love he's getting, all the cuddles, all the special time. Just make sure you take lots of pics of that.