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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

All you people who seem to have done your a Christmas shopping already.....

28 replies

Hakluyt · 27/08/2014 10:19

.......what do you do about Christmas lists? Do your kids write them in July?

And what if their interests change, or they take up a new hobby between now and then?

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 27/08/2014 10:53

I haven't done mine yet (though I buy kitchen things when I see them. Not Christmas stuff at the moment, but I saw some lovely little milk bottles with lids in Lakeland that they'll have filled with milkshake )

My DS wants cash and vouchers Grin
He saves his money so we give him a £50 note in a pretty box. My Mum and Dad give him a cheque.
Then I buy him a Game Voucher.
So no worries with him changing his mind there.

I have started buynig earrings and jewellery for DD - I know the sort of look she likes.
And she'll get vouchers (New Look, H&M type)

They have a Young Driver Lesson in November (they don't have these running in December )

Mine are 12 and 14.6 now but back in the early days, we'd wait till late November. DS has a December birthday, so he'd have a birthday list and Christmas list.

snowmanshoes · 27/08/2014 14:22

I start buying early but only the 'filler' presents, like books, crafty bits, trinkets they collect. I picked up Uno Roboto when it was dead cheap for example and some jewellery bits. I know my eldest daughter really wants the new ever after high sister dolls that are new out and Amazon have them reduced by over a tenner so I've just ordered those but nothing mahoosive!
I have a few children that we buy for but the parents always ask us for clothes so I like to also include a small toy/book etc and get those throughout the year too.

Badvoc123 · 27/08/2014 14:27

I buy things I know they will like/want.
Mine are 11 and 6.
If I don't start early no one would get anything.
I get them about 10/12 gifts.
Then family get them as well so if there is anything they decide they want 2nd week of December my pils normally get it :)

atticusclaw · 27/08/2014 14:28

I'm about to start. Mine are 9 and 7 and I pretty much know what they like and will want. Lego will feature heavily and so I bought a few large sets when they were massively reduced in March.

JuniperTisane · 27/08/2014 14:30

I have a few little bits but I mostly wait til late september as DS1 (nearly 4) birthday is early september and I need to see what he gets from everyone before choosing a christmas present. I tend to do an internet spree about then for all children I buy for. All adults get an Amazon gift certificate which I email on Christmas eve. Job done.

NorwaySpruce · 27/08/2014 14:34

Mine have very fixed ideas about what they want.

They only really receive gifts at Christmas, so if there is a Lego set, or computer game or something they want, it goes on the list, and stays there.

There is room for change though.

I buy stuff I know they'll like (Lego, Minecraft stuff, Play-Doh, a games console if they are on special offer) but if they come up with a last minute request, I can buy that too.

Badvoc123 · 27/08/2014 14:36

I think adults will be getting stuff from the next Xmas book!
Pils and sil refuse to tell me what they want til 2nd week of December and I am not trawling round the shops then!

LokiBear · 27/08/2014 17:52

DD is 3 so it is easy to pick things up in the sale that she will like because she isn't really into anything specific. Same for my niece and nephews.

WipsGlitter · 27/08/2014 17:57

DS1 is getting a bike so I was looking at them today. I'll also get filler bits or any bargains. Am really trying to reign it in this year. They get stacks of stuff and hardly any gets played with. They're just not into "toys".

JustAShopGirl · 28/08/2014 08:55

Mine don't do Christmas "lists" - throughout the year we buy bits and pieces that we know they need or would like and in November we ask them if there is something they would really like for Christmas and if reasonable will buy it.

(NO a real-live monkey is NOT reasonable DD2!!)

aubreye · 28/08/2014 10:27

No because my kids aren't choppy and changey. For example;

DS1 will always love Tennis as he has since he started aged 3. Bought him an expensive racquet. Plus I'm getting him a top that we will choose closer to the date.

DD1 has loved Sylvanians since a very young age. Got her a house and also got her a cooking book

DS2 is getting lots of little stuff (Nerf guns, Walkie talkies and can't remember what else) do you really think boys who have always been adventurers are going to suddenly change aged 4?

DD2 loves dolls so I'm getting her an American Girl Doll.

So that's why I've bought it now. And no, they haven't written there lists but they've asked because they're children and they look forward to Christmas.

Original poster
Hakluyt · 28/08/2014 11:21

My children aren't "choppy and changy" either. But 6 months is a long time in the life of a child. When my dd was 5, she lived and breathed Barbies. Then, suddenly, she decided she didn't want to play with Barbies any more, boxed them all up and gave them to her school Autumn Fair. If I had done my Christmas shopping in August, I would have been buggered.

OP posts:
WildFlowersAttractBees · 28/08/2014 12:55

I pick up stocking fillers, presents for DD2(3) and gifts for other now and then get the things they have asked for in October or November.

3bunnies · 28/08/2014 19:31

Mine have never asked for much on lists so I get them things I think that they will enjoy. They then do a list of two or three items which are bought if practical. We still don't know whether Father Christmas bought dd1 immortality for her 5th Christmas!

pettyprudence · 28/08/2014 21:18

Ds, now 3.5 but was 2.4 at the time, asked for a Disney Cars Mack Truck from July through to Christmas. I kept waiting for him to change his mind. I had also already bought his presents early as I didn't think he would "get" christmas yet. This year I am just buying fillers early but he is already asking for Lego so that will be his main present from father christmas, and he will also have a main present from us too. I have made a good start on small presents & stocking fillers for both dc. Actually, I have nearly finished for dd already, but at 6 months old, I am fairly confident she is not going to change her mind...

3bunnies · 28/08/2014 23:05

The other thing I do is buy something if it seems like a bargain (£10 or less) and then nearer the time I will decide which child to give it to or if to put it in the presents for friends section and bring out for birthday parties. We tend to have lots of smaller pressents rather than one or two large items so that makes it easier to reshuffle. Also FC only brings the stocking fillers so they know that if they want something big then we will be buying it and deciding whether we believe that every other 6yr old has their own tablet and if we want our 6yr old to have one.Having birthdays after Christmas is also handy as disappointment can be managed with 'put it on your birthday list' or items bumped down from Christmas to Birthday to make way for the requested item.

Chipandspuds · 29/08/2014 06:36

I like to make a list of gift ideas for each person I'm buying for, but I don't actually start buying things until end of October.

DM and I were shopping in Tesco this week and say a sand & water table which was reduced down to £7.50 so DM grabbed it as we know DS will love playing with it next year and it was too good a bargain to miss!

I think character things are best left to the last minute in case children grow out of or discover new characters.

candybar · 29/08/2014 16:50

My youngest dd - aged 7 - is getting a bike, my children will also get a Santa sack which is mainly small gifts under a fiver and one present that they have said they would like, currently dd2 after a Mermaid Magic thing, her birthday is just after Christmas so she will get other things soon after.

I also buy mainly small gifts under £10 and stocking fillers before late November, great buy's from Home Bargains and The Works.

I wouldn't be able to buy everything now because I have nowhere to hide it.

TheOnlyPink · 31/08/2014 10:55

Ds1 wanted a tablet last Christmas and I said no, I thought 6 was too young, but told him he could ask next year. He hasn't changed his mind, so I had a little extra money and I saw a good one for a very reasonable price, so I bought it. I will buy his stocking pieces, like poo goo, uno cards, mini Lego sets that I know he would love. I will leave the rest until he writes the official list on the first of November. The tablet will be listed but not much else, so no trouble to buy early.

Ds 2 will be 3 in Dec, so doesn't really have many expectations of Christmas. I will buy bits I know he will like, but because his birthday is so close to Christmas, I will buy a lot of stuff to put away until next summer. He will have one or two bits on his official list, but tbh the lists are just in case there is anything I haven't thought of and for tradition, that the elves make the toys. Hence the early writing! The elves need time!

KEGirlOnFire · 01/09/2014 10:01

Dd has found playmobil recently and plays with it every day. I bought her the princess castle on boxing day last year for her birthday in june. At the same time I bought her two other playmobil sets and she's getting those this xmas. I've also just bought her the school at nearly £100 off. Altogether, in less than 12 months I've saved £285 on 5 playmobil sets. I would never have got them for that price if I had waited. I know what my 5 year old likes, anything where she can play make believe. All my shopping is done except for the big main present and I will sow the seeds on that one...

TheFantasticMrsFox · 01/09/2014 10:51

Perhaps DS is just predictable but I've never really had an issue with buying early and him changing his mind
If he was younger (he's 10 now) I guess I would maybe hold back on the very specific big character stuff but small bits are virtually timeless IME.

0pheliaBalls · 01/09/2014 14:59

DD is 17 now and she has never written a Christmas list, even though we're asked her to in the past. She says she feels rude asking for things (from Santa when she was little and from us later on) and that there's nothing she needs. It's all very commendable and I'm proud that she is so unmaterialistic but it's caused problems in the past because it's occasionally been hard to know what to get her, especially main presents. I just have to keep an eye/ear out for things she says she likes through the year. This year I know that her phone is on itsast legs and that she really loves my Nook so there's two things I've already got her. Also she loves mannish clothes so have had fun buying some beautiful brogues, ties etc. So it's easy for us to buy early for her because she doesn't write a list and her interests are pretty constant. And yes, I'm about 99% done Grin

0pheliaBalls · 01/09/2014 15:00

*its last legs Grin

TheFantasticMrsFox · 01/09/2014 18:17

Your DD sounds great ophelia :)

BeyondRepair · 02/09/2014 09:50

I don't encourage lists, last year she did one and we got a few items off it. At 6 though it was stuff sold to her on TV and not stuff she really wanted.

This year she will be asking for the elsa frozen dresss she knows its sold out and knows the only man who can get it - FC. Its up in the attic of course.

I have a good idea of interests and likes and my DD is very grateful to get anything.