I've finished!! i'm sharing my lists, come share yours!!

[howardbear]

ok so we've normally got a 'what have you got' kind of a thread going on, and I haven't seen anything yet so I thought I'd start one as I find them really interesting (and in case I've missed anything obvious). DISCLAIMER...I am not bragging, or asking if ive got enough, I'm happy with my lists and wanted to share and see if anyone else would like to share theirs!

ok so here goes:-

DS 1 (4.11)
ker-plunk
operation
frustration
guess who
cluedo junior
monopoly junior
connect 4
blo pens
leapband thing
vetch pocket computer
vetch write letters tablet thing
2 usbourne see inside books
3 roald dahl colour edition books (the bigger ones to introduce chapter reading)
hex bugs set
pull apart olaf
rollerskates
remote control lightning mqueen and dusty
Disney dvds (tangled, Aladdin, lion king, beauty and the beast, aristocats, little mermaid, dumbo, cars, monsters inc, ratatouille, tarzan, fox and the hound, incredibles, robin hood, lilo and stitch)

in his santa sack is:-
elc happyland rocket
accordion
recorder
art case and usbourne doodle book
Stephen and spencer Thomas die-cast trains
small transformer toy

DS 2 (2.1)
keyboard and stool
playdoh table and playdoh
vetch my first tablet
vetch magnet letter spelling thing
peppa pig sound book
ben and holly sound book
Melissa and doug latch board
pirate cruncher books
my friend scout
puzzles
Disney cars die-cast
peppa pig books in carry bag
toot toot parking tower
elc cupcake stroller and dolly

in his santa sack:-
mr tumble teddy
mr tumble tablet
cookie monster counting toy
Crayola twistables case
Crayola marker pens case
colouring book

I cant wait to see they're faces on Christmas morning!

Phew! All done

DD1 (7y 8m)
Lego Friends Shopping Mall.
Littlest Pet Shop Blythe Bedroom.
'Grown-up' colouring book and artist pencils.
Wildlife 300piece puzzle
Sylvanian Family farm cart
'Deadly 60' book

• stocking fillers eg wooden yo-yo

DD2 (3y 0m)
Snow Glow Elsa
Pull-apart Olaf
Toddler Anna
LeapPad 2 power
colouring book and crayola twistable crayons
24piece disney princess block puzzle

• stocking fillers eg wooden spinning top

I am happy with what we've bought the girls. We feel they have a nice 'pile' of gifts and, due the the bargain thread, I don't think I've paid full price for anything!

The girls will be getting gifts from their grandparents when we visit them over Christmas...
DParents - DD1 Lego Friend Sunshine Ranch. DD2 Playmobil Unicorn Castle.
DPiL - DD1 LPS Shop. DD2 play tent.

Like I said, we're happy and looking forward to seeing their faces

It's lovely to see all lists long or short, we are all different in many ways. My children do not have hundreds of little things for stockings, we do not have big family. They only get present each from 1 set of grandparents. We do not go out and buy them toy every other week either. Only Christmas and Birthdays are time when they get presents. They still believe in Santa and Magic, we want to enjoy seeing their excited face one more year. Tbh, I dont know why i'm explaining myself. People seem to doing lots of sceptical face here!

Same here diva never going to have everyone agree on everything!

I think I'm finished, unless I get a twitch, but as I only have adults to buy for I won't bore you with the lists.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have storage space to put all the presents away :)

Dash - fabulous! As a poney-mad child, I would have been delirious with joy at the sight of a rocking horse on Christmas morning!! Definitely a present to keep for future generations.

My FIL is a master craftsman (at making things/carpentry and made his own kids all their presents many of which were passed on to the GC). What a talented gift to have to be able to make beautiful things!

To answer some of the questions...

How do we afford it all?...we have more disposable income than u perhaps?

Where do we put it all?...I live in a modest 3 bed ex council house, I have more than enough room for all the toys ive bought (plus the ones we already own) we have two reception rooms, maybe that's the key?

don't u find it overwhelming?...if we did, we wouldn't do it.

If I did just buy the one board game, and one dvd, one book etc then id be bored to tears by the time next Christmas arrived (surely nobody actually enjoys sitting down to watch the same dvd EVERYTIME), ive bought things that I know will see us through the year!

I do find it insulting that those who choose to buy less think their Christmases are somehow better, we obviously all enjoy Christmas as much as each other considering we are hanging around the Christmas threads!!

what really makes me smile is I think everybody who has posted on this thread have posted modest to medium lists, and there are hundreds of others who wont dare to post because they know they will get flamed (wrongly of course because after all it is nobody elses business)

I'm just looking forward to the run up now, got lots of things planned, hope everyone has a great Christmas!!

Wow.

Need to show this to H who thinks we 'get too much and the kids are spoiled'.

He'd be stunned...

is that comment about my list mindreader ??

Does itreally matter? If you can afford it why not?

Ds, 3.6

Playmags set
My first scalextrics
Thomas take 'n play shark thing
Hungry hippos
Stompeez
Thomas book
Orchard cupcake game
Thomas plate

Dd 3.6
Baby born
Baby born bath
Reusable nappies to go with doll (not intending to keep on buying disposables for a dol )
Peppa hide and seek game
Peppa treehouse
Stompeez
Peppa plate
Peg game (cheap version from tiger shop)

In stockings just pjs, satsuma and sweets, for Christmas Eve

Then an advent calendar, fabric one with Christmas activities, and hot wheels cars for my little boy, and a playmobil tent for my little girl (split over advent)
Paint it yourself tree decorations for one day
And sweets for some of the days

Then, as we originally come from a country where they celebrate st Nicholas, he will bring a playmobil campervan and swimming pool on the 5th of December

No family in the UK, so they won't get many other presents( makes me feel better about buying all this )
Started ages ago and all bought on sale, so spend quite sensibly.

howardbear -

no, it isn't - there are over 200 other posts on here, most of them long lists, so it isn't about 'yours'.

As I said - It's about my H who is a bit' out of touch about how much stuff modern kids get', although our list IS much shorter than many of these.

howardbear 13:37

Im in total agreement of your comment

never met a child overwhlmed by getting lots of presents

Can anyone tell me what on earth a Naked Lunge Doll is?? I'm scared to google.

DS - aged 4
FROM US
MiP robot (yes, the age recommendation is 8+ but DH and I really want it will help him)

FROM SANTA
chocolate
New Dr. Seuss book: Horton And The Kwuggerbug And More Lost Stories
Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
A torch that has slides to put on front to project dinosaurs on the walls
a glider dinosaur

DD - aged 6
FROM US
American Girl doll (ugh) - the Native American one
Clothes from ebay for the damn doll!

FROM SANTA
Russian doll highlighters from Paperchase
Christmassy hairbands from Claire's
Green Eggs and Ham (book,in French, as she's learning)
The Pigeon Needs a Bath (book)
chocolate

May add one or two things to the Santa gifts.

I think my kids have more presents this year, although the same money spent as the last few years, all thanks to local Facebook selling pages. Playmobil for £10 instead of £30, buzz Lightyear for £10 instead of £40, T. rex from toy story £10 instead of £35 etc.
Also, I made use of Argos 3 for 2 and Smyth's 2 for £15.
The older kids gave had about £100 each spent on them, and the younger kids about £50 each.

I'm not justififying myself and the number of presents and/or the cost... It's more something for those people who are 'surprised' at the amount that's given to take into consideration.

I must add, it's been fab seeing what everyone's got for their kids.. It's given me loads of ideas and I'm happy to share my list back in return. Thanks for sharing!

(previously Tobleon)

I know I have spent a ridiculous amount on my Ds1. Do I care if you're flabbergasted? Nope! Rather amused by it instead.

How do I afford it? I am not one for purchasing endless items for myself, I also don't drink, smoke etc.

Where is it stored? In my son's room of course! What a silly question. ;)
(The old toys that he's grown out of are cleared out and given to charity)

This self-righteousness that some posters seem to have is starting to become quite tedious now. yawn

whatthequack

I find it hilarious that people are flabbergasted/ offended by people that chose to spend a fortune, it literally has no effect on their lives at all, it's not their money being spent

I have to agree that I'm too scared to post my lists. I spend a lot on my children at Christmas. They don't get through the year so on birthdays and Christmas they get very spoilt. They only have presents from my mother besides us. We still do theatre trips, cinema and holidays etc but I seem to have no restraint when it comes to Christmas shopping

Dd2 is having a digital piano, a rubiks cube, Beano and Dandy annuals from us.
A stocking full of tat from Father Christmas.
Her (adult) brothers are buying her a wii game each and dd1 is crocheting a creeper blanket for her bed (suspect that this will be her favourite)
We had no idea what to get her as she hasn't asked for anything other than the annuals but she's enjoying keyboard lessons at school and so bought her something to practise on.

Just turned 3yo DS will get the following from my family and from us (my family all live abroad so they send cash each year and let me shop):

Easel, paints, paintbrushes
ELC cash register with a few little accessories
Melissa & Doug wooden toolbox
A few books
We open presents on Christmas Eve and then have a stocking on Christmas Morning. The stocking is just little bits and pieces - Schleich animals, bath toys, chocs, curly straws, a few little Thomas Take & Play engines etc

Its not a long list, but his birthday's in early December so he'll already have a mound of new presents! He also gets presents from DH's parents and brother and a few of our friends.

I'm in awe of people's willingness to shop for various ILs on top of everything else. DH's family are DH's problem which means they'll probably all get Amazon vouchers for the eighth year running

My lg is 3

Playskool camera
Farm set
Leappad 2
Snow and glow elsa
Anna toddler doll
Princess hair set
Peppa pig play doh
Games
Books
Bath stuff
Repunzel
Repunzel hair set
And I can't remember what else
And she is getting a Xmas eve box
New pj's
Colouring book
Night before Christmas book
Chocolate
A glow in the dark frozen wand
And some reindeer food which my friend has had personalised as we can't get her name on anything! Who knew Carmen would be so hard to find! Xx

Carmen is a lovely name! :)

I think these are the final lists... I tend to completely overthink Christmas gifts, as I want them to have things that I know they will love and use throughout the year, but at the same time don't want to overwhelm them with gifts on one day... Also, they are both quite unmaterialistic and I actually suspect that they would be happier on the day with fewer gifts than they are getting. So after a lot of internal conflict, this is what I have chosen:

DS9

• Plush lemur (from Santa)
• Nerf gun
• Season ticket to favourite football team
• Ticket to Ride Europe (board game)
• Lord of the Rings Confrontation (board game)
• Case for the (hand-me-down) phone he will receive for his 9th birthday next week (to his great surprise as he thinks he will never get one)
• Books (in the morning, the other gifts are in the afternoon)

DD6

• Small board game Nobody but us Chickens (from Santa)
• Playmobil safari wildlife set
• Playmobil sphinx
• Playmobil Egyptian tomb
• Haba marble run
• Books (in the morning, the other gifts are in the afternoon)

Stockings:

DS9

• Giant eraser in the shape of a rhinoceros
• Sound machine
• Small card game (BraveRats)
• tangerine

DD6

• Giant eraser in the shape of a gorilla
• Scratch art notepad
• Finger lights
• tangerine