To think 2 is not enough?

[RunningonCaffeine]

Our two kids (6 and 8) are having a Nintendo switch (to share) for Christmas. It’s their main present but they are having other things as well. DH and I have different views about how many games we should buy to go with the switch. DH thinks two is plenty but I want to get them more! I would have probably gone for at least 4 or 5 on the basis that it’s Christmas and they’ll probably be playing it quite a bit over the holidays. DH thinks 2 is plenty for now and they can build up more over time. I’m worried it won’t be as exciting if they only have a couple of games and get bored of them quickly.

I should say this is representative of our general views towards Christmas presents. DH is a little more on the sensible (miserly?) side and I am a little more generous (frivolous?!) The money itself isn’t an issue but DH never wants to go wild at Christmas and I don’t know whether he’s being too much of a Scrooge or whether I have the tendency to perhaps go a little over the top, maybe it’s a little of both.

Also look in CEX if you have one near you. Got Pokémon for my eldest’s birthday in there for £20

Get Mario party, it's amazing and so much to do!

I do all the Christmas shopping for our kids and I would definitely buy more than 2 games but my partner wouldn't even know until they opened them up on Christmas morning 😆 I am definitely the more generous one out of the two of us, I feel blessed that he doesn't involve himself in the present decisions as he would definitely be in the 2 games camp 😂

My kids spent the first few weeks of Switch Playing on Animal Crossing. Only that and the occasional Mario Kart. Lego City has been great fun though if you needed a cheaper game to keep kids occupied for ages. My girls are 7 and 10. The Goose Game caused a lot of mad giggling as well. x

I’d of bought them a switch each and shared the games. If you have the money that is, because they will fight over it and lots of games are 2 players

I have no idea how much games cost, but two seems like a good start to me. Like the idea of a ‘voucher’ for them each to choose another so they can decide for themselves, if you have the budget to do that. But if not I think two is fine!

I'm with your DH... And you @RunningonCaffeine .

2 is plenty for a Christmas present and they will have a chance to properly get into them in a way they won't if there are several to choose from all at once. At 6 and 8 too many options can be overwhelming or lead to arguments.

I agree they may get bored with just the 2 in time. But... your children may get money for Christmas and if they want to go and get more so they aren't bored over the holidays then it might be exciting for them to go shopping in the sales and choose their own games to build up their collection.

It depends here is there a game / games they really like ?

Sometimes you can buy 5 but they're interested in only 1.

With regards to the outright question if they have no preference I would try get them 2 each if affordable even second hand.

I’d have said two games each because changes are they won’t both like the same games.

I'd say 2 is too few but 5 is too many. I'd say 3 very different ones would be optimal. Too many, and 1 or 2 may not get played with much at all. If they don't have "much" choice, they'll use the 2 or 3 that they get a lot more and won't have the "comfort" of just ignoring one if it looks boring or hard at first.

We always "built up" over time, not just Christmas or Birthday, but also the odd extra one at Easter and Summer holidays, just to bolster the choice/variety.

Two is enough to start off with. Then when they get bored of them, take them to a local game store and trade them in for something else. My DS only ever has two but trades his in probably every few months to get a new one to try.

It depends what games you have chosen - some have hours and hours of content. Some, which are brilliant like Mario party or switch sports are 100% worth getting for family fun together but after an hour at a time you are done!!

If they’re sharing a switch then make sure the games are 2 player using the one device and 2 controllers. Although you can buy additional controllers fairly cheaply. Someone suggested Minecraft but my kids play that together on 2 separate switches. Sports and Mario kart type games are good. Depends on their interests.

Be prepared for fights over a shared switch is all I'm saying.
Where l live we have exchange shops for all kind of games .. plus able to buy second hand. Even places like cash converter.

save your money and buy two and then get games they ask for and want to play or you are at risk of most of the games not being used.

Buy the online switch pass thingie. There's loads of freebies on there - although do check first.

Have a look at 2 player games - that way they can play together. Mario Kart is good for that.

But also super mario - you can each be different characters and play together. It's a great game. Although I played it along time ago so do check anything out before buying!

I think the trouble with 5, is that there is no option for spending Christmas money or saving up for more games that they want.

Why don't you look into getting some second hand games in shops like cex? You can even trade in any old dvds or games to contribute towards it. The kids won't know the difference and will be happy. Could be a nice compromise?

Bare in mind that you can get games on the Nintendo eshop often much cheaper than cartridge games. I used to avoid them, as you can't sell them on. But it actually saves them being lost and they can load any from the home rather than looking for cartridges which saves a lot of hassle. You could potentially buy some bargain eshop games and have them ready loaded. This is what I am doing for mine, my DH won't even know if I've bought them or they came loaded free but he is a bit of a technophobe.

CEX games often cost more than buying new. They work on the basis of trading games and using CEX balance. Buying off shelf isn't saving money.

4 if it were me and my husband would be told not to be such a Scrooge if we could easily afford it!

It’s 2 games per child and so much cheaper than having to buy a console each!

Blimey, ours only got the switch and Mario cart last year and were thrilled with it! We’ve added a couple of games over the past year and I’m getting them a couple more this Christmas but if you do it slowly they’ll have more time to enjoy each game (and you’ve got more years to pad out with more games!) To be fair though, our budget only just stretched to the console itself so maybe I’d feel differently if money wasn’t such an issue (tbh I don’t think it would but who knows!) Extra controllers is a great idea, that way the whole family can play together, we are doing that this year.

When we got our kids a switch for Christmas they were the same age as yours are now, and we just gave them 2 games with it: animal crossing and mario kart. We've built up a collection over the years since then. It was fine for us, takes a while to master the games.

Not sure if anyone has already mentioned, but you can buy games from the online Nintendo store and they download directly onto the switch, so you don’t get a physical copy of the game. They often have sales and it works out a lot cheaper on most games. We got some of the Lego games for under £5 in the summer :) it just means they can build up their collection later on without it costing a fortune.

A Switch between two of that age is just going to cause huge arguments. I would buy two second hand Switches and less games.