Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Did you get one main present for Christmas as a child

99 replies

muldersspeedos · 06/11/2021 22:37

I just typed out a long op about this and it disappeared 😩

I was thinking back to when I was a child and I got one main present and some thing small/one inexpensive from Father Christmas. Birthdays were one gift too. We didn't have much money when I was little though so that might have been it but I don't recall lots of gifts from one person being the norm,

When did Christmas and birthdays become multiple gift occasions? Is it the sheer volume of things available now? Mass consumerism? Greed? Are things cheaper now so we can buy more for our money? Do we expect more? I'm sure we all knew someone who was deemed 'spoilt' and got loads.

My dc don't have a main present and I'm sat here wondering why I've fallen into the same habit of multiple smaller gifts. Luckily they never ask for expensive presents like games consoles or phones or the latest trainers as I couldn't afford them even if that big item was the only thing they got. I do the same for my mum too. I only buy for my 3dc and my mum. My siblings all buy her multiple presents too. She's always amazed by how spoilt she is these days but she deserves to have nice things and never treats herself as she can't afford to.

I've done my main Christmas shopping now for this year but maybe next year I'll have a rethink on how I do things?It could be that I love giving presents but feel very anxious receiving and unwrapping them (ASD).

How do you do presents at Christmas? One main one or several smaller ones? Does it depend?

OP posts:

DappledThings · 06/11/2021 22:44

One main present and that wasn't a massive one. Stockings from FC with lots of little bits. And it was a big sock, not a pillow case. No other presents came from FC, everything else was from whoever it was from and appeared under the tree whenever it was wrapped and ready.

Doing the same with our DC who are 3 and 5 now. They get stockings from FC with little bits and one other present from us.

Lots of presents from other family as well and all but the stockings will be under the tree for a couple of weeks or so.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 06/11/2021 22:50

One main present.. something like a Sony Walkman (which probably ages me ) and then a few small ones like a book, diary, chocolates. Only the stocking was from Santa, and he only brought small items. I was an only child. My parents also bought several gifts for each other.
My dc are all older now, but I followed a similar pattern. Ds2 is 15, and I’m getting him a new laptop this year, plus some other bits. He’ll then get gifts at his dad’s as well. I think that’s fairly normal speaking to friends, but it’s up to each family, and some do more, some do less.

TurnUpTurnip · 06/11/2021 22:53

Yes one main present that was something we needed not a luxury item more like trainers or clothes and then the rest from Poundland

Lockdownbear · 06/11/2021 22:55

My kids definitely get more than I did thanks to GPs.
For Christmas we do one thing from list, one surprise, and stocking fillers.
Birthdays we tend to stick to one or two things.

From us this year they'll have probably 5/6 things from us / Santa to open.

Clocktopus · 06/11/2021 22:59

DC get one "big" present such as a bike/scooter, games console, phone, camera, tablet, etc and then smaller (in money, not necessarily size) gifts. We don't do stockings so stockings filler-type gifts are included with the smaller gifts. I've found that as they get older the gifts get more expensive but the piles get smaller.

Two DC know that Santa isn't real, the other two still believe he is but the way we do Santa is that we buy the gifts and we send then to him for safekeeping, he brings them back on Christmas Eve. It stops them asking for anything ridiculous like a flying pony or a ferrari, means they thank the person who actually bought their gift, and explains why some people can afford lots of gifts while others can't.

LibrariesGiveUsPower45321 · 06/11/2021 22:59

Either one big main present or a couple smaller ones. Stockings were always inexpensive items, but lots of fun.

Scarby9 · 06/11/2021 23:00

One main present from parents.
A box of chocolates ( or Newberry Fruits for me) from Santa.
Stocking (one of Dad's wellington socks) of little novelties from Santa.
One present each from other relatives.

Gatehouse77 · 06/11/2021 23:01

We received stockings from Father Christmas and presents from family. It was quite a large family so we had many gifts but not 'big' or expensive gifts. Same for birthdays. We were more likely to get 2-3 cards from my mum (and dad, insomuch as he signed them) because she liked them all 🙄

Often we were given family presents as we children were very close in age so it was easier. Board games and the like.

Overall, I think we've done pretty much similar with our children except FC buys a family present which has been DVDs or board games over the years to watch/play on Christmas Day.

TurnUpTurnip · 06/11/2021 23:09

Never got any presents from any other relatives as my mum moved away from all her family so we didn’t really see them so only presents were from my mum

SirenSays · 06/11/2021 23:42

We've never done one big present in my family, it's always several smaller ones and we try to make sure everybody has the same amount.

MargaretThursday · 06/11/2021 23:45

We got about 6-10 little things in the stocking (a book, chocolate coins, a game and a few little things we needed), one big present and some little "tree" presents.
The tree presents were because we were always away for Christmas and would come back to have to take the tree down fairly shortly and go back to school, so we were a bit miz and bad-tempered. So dm introduced the idea of "tree" presents that we got one a day from when we arrived home until we went back to school.
They were generally little things like a pen, rubber, pair of socks, mini jigsaw, that sort of thing. It just made us not arrive back and feel that Christmas was over.

Whereismumhiding3 · 07/11/2021 01:05

Yes here too
One main present and little gifts from Father Christmas and fun cheap stuff. Usually a few things mum would be buying anyway (such as tunic cube or new cardigan etc)

I do same for my DCs. A budget if £70-100 depending on how much I can afford. Any big £300 presents - ah the PS!- were multiple joint presents made up of two DCs with birthdays and Xmas presents rolled in together and small gift that year. Except bikes. Bikes were an investment for me!

I have a (lovely) friend who spoils her 2 DCs at Xmas with multiple big presents and a huge budget. She struggles Jan and Feb afterwards, I don't understand her not needing to keep a "boiler" fund or pace herself (but keep my thoughts to myself as it's NOMB)

We both grew up poor but reacted differently in our subsequent parenting styles. - To be fair we've both managed to bring up lovely DCs.

Whereismumhiding3 · 07/11/2021 01:06

Tunic cube 😂 I meant rubix cube !

Hortonhearsadoctorwho · 07/11/2021 01:13

I think it depends, if ds wants a games console or bike or whatever then that would be his main present with a stocking and some little bits. If he doesn’t ask for anything that expensive I buy more of the smaller gifts.

ParkheadParadise · 07/11/2021 01:18

Yes, we got one main present and a selection box.
My mum had 6 of us to buy for Christmas was probably a nightmare for her.

user1471478181 · 07/11/2021 01:35

I got
1 main gift
Some medium gifts
Then smaller stocking fillers
Then my mum would put some clothes to bulk it out to make it look like we got loads

80Dodgeballs · 07/11/2021 01:36

We got one main present like a doll's pram/go kart/bike etc

Then a sackful of gifts and a stocking when I was a kid.

fallfallfall · 07/11/2021 01:46

only child for my first 11 years...too much, everything and anything, dozens if not more. no fun, to this day i have anxiety about christmas past and insist on one, or no gifts.
i love to give but hate to receive.
all those eyes on me, all expecting me to perform like a trained monkey...filmed.
sorry horrible horrible memories.

urbanbuddha · 07/11/2021 02:01

One main present from Santa, and a stocking, plus gifts from a fairly large family. Big presents like a bike only came once every three years - I was one of three DC so Santa gave us turn about.

Thursa · 07/11/2021 02:12

We got something we needed. Usually clothing. Bubble bath, maybe a book. No Christmas stockings, I thought that was something you only read about in books, as I’d never seen one.

Saoirse82 · 07/11/2021 02:54

We always got one or 2 main presents probably depending on price and then a pillowcase full of smaller things. I'll probably do the same with my child. On birthdays it was usually one main present.

julieca · 07/11/2021 03:02

One big present and multiple small one. Birthday a small present. But I only got presents from my mum - being a single mum back then meant she was a pariah and she had to fight hard to keep me. And no presents the rest of the year.

Gingerkittykat · 07/11/2021 03:07

One main gift, a stocking which contained things like puzzles and on apple and orange and nuts, and a few smaller gifts.

My grandma always bought us a selection box and we had a few small gifts from aunties.

Pommelhorse · 07/11/2021 03:24

@Gingerkittykat

One main gift, a stocking which contained things like puzzles and on apple and orange and nuts, and a few smaller gifts.

My grandma always bought us a selection box and we had a few small gifts from aunties.

^^ Exactly the same here. My parents didn't wrap our main present but we siblings each had a "chair" and I can still remember the excitement of rushing in to the sitting room on Christmas morning and seeing the presents for each of us wrapped in a purple and black Galt Toy bag.

MereDintofPandiculation · 07/11/2021 11:22

One main present from my parents and perhaps a smaller one. A stocking (one of my mother's nylon stockings - before tights came in) with a mixture of sweets, fruit, nuts mince pies, useful things like toothpaste, and a couple of small toys) And gifts from wider family,one each from grandparents, 2 pairs of aunts and uncles, 2 sets of cousins, best friend of my mother, and two great aunts. And my mother's grocer

So a good pile of presents but not just from parents and grandparents.

My children don't have any aunts, uncles or cousins, so I suspect we've always given extra small presents to compensate.

We've always left presents under the tree as soon as wrapped, and I always loved looking at the growing pile and feeling and guessing what it might be. (Doing anything that tore the paper or the sellotape was strictly forbidden)

Flip

1 2 3 4