I have a friend with two DS, aged 9 and 6, who I'm very fond of. My friend is much better off financially than me and this year I've separated from my DH and have DCs of my own so money is tight to say the least. I've just ordered a load of what I call stocking filler gifts for my own DCs from the tickseed website, I think they're great and my DCs will love them, little kits to create their own action figures, meccano type toys, a wooden compass etc. Basically a lot of what seems nice quality stuff but hasn't cost me a lot of money.
If you were to receive this sort of present for your DCs in the post, so lots of little toys and activities rather than one big expensive present, would you be happy or just think oh no another load of tut.
Also my friend will be travelling over Christmas so I was going to put a couple of little travel games in there to occupy the DCs while they travelled.
She always buys my DCs such lovely thoughtful gifts and I am very fond of her children, but they've got pretty much everything and it gets harder every year to think of a nice gift without spending a fortune. I also live in a different country so I only get to see them about once a year so don't really know what they're into.