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

[Hakluyt]

.......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?

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.

Also just read this, my DD has never been into one thing like Barbies and so on, and its not in her character to suddenly box up her stuff to get rid either. I guess if my DD was your DD then I would have a problem on my hands buying stuff in advance. I get a good idea what she likes from repeated visits to places like science museum, she will keep returning to one item, for instance a voice changer, we keep saying its too expensive to buy, after nearly a year of looking at it longingly we know she will want it so that sort of thing gets brought.
So the long and the short is, with our DD we more than manage to buy in advance which is very handy due to financial constraints. .

Finding it harder as the dc's are getting older, when they were small I would just buy things during the year when I saw good offers ( one year toys r us had a good offer on fisherprice so we bought all dd1's presents in one go in August ). This year I am waiting until after half term ( early November ) to start buying them things as they change their minds so much, dd1 really wants a laptop as her main present, we can't really afford to get her a new one as this would mean she wouldn't get any other gifts, our family don't really do gifts so it seems a little sad just to let her have one gift on Christmas Day ( even though it's a great gift ) so I think we will look for a 2nd hand one. Dd2 wants a electric guitar, I am tempted to buy it now as I have found a good deal but I worry she will change her mind.

So I'm trying my best not to buy anything until November ( sitting on my hands and it's soooooo hard ) .

I also haven't started. Did when son was small but now wants things more specific..So no point buying yet as he will of changed his mind if I asked him now which I haven't