Shopping early and christmas lists

[DeathMetalMum]

In the past we have always shopped quite early got things on offer etc dc were small so was easy to guess what stage of toys they would be at. Dd1 will be nearly 5 come Christmas so is starting to get into things in trend. What happens when I buy things months in advanve and then none of those things end up on a chirstmas list?

Dp is also starting to look for things for Christmas alredy and it's bugging me a little I'd rather wait but also know we have bought things around this time in the past - play kitchen type things that we knew we were definitely getting and got a lot more for our money.

Oh yes, the Christmas List that changes day-by-day.

I start in October buying Stocking Gifts (I don't know if you do stockings) but when mine were little, to keep them occupied at 5am , they were ideal . DH and I used to listen to their chatter while they tore open their presents. I used to wrap them extra well to buy us sleep time
Stocking gifts IMO are as difficult as the main presents, I don't want to spend ££, but I don't want to search these things out in December.

DS has a December birthday too, so we have to buy two lots of presents.

Sainsburys Half Price toy sale in October and Amazon Black Friday . Good hunting ground.
I had no clue what was "in" each year and remember spending hours trying to find "Rabbids Go Home" or something, we eventually ordered from Amazon and it arrived on Christmas Eve

I have two DD's one will be 9 thereabouts at christmas, one 4.5.

the soontobe 9 year old doesnt really change whats on her list.

The 4.5 year old has a couple of things that are certain and the rest is last minute lol.

What i do is i buy good old steadfast stuff for them in the sales. so Play Doh, puzzles, colouring stuff, books

and then for the older DD jewellery, lip gloss, socks, clothes etc.

Stocking stuff is usually simple things like hair bobbles, lip balm, nail polish, pencils, sweets etc. Anytime is good for those!

this year i will have a DS who will be 2.5 months by christmas (!) so he will be getting stuff to grow into

Ds was nearly 5 at Christmas just gone and didn't ask for anything specific, so we just bought him something we thought he would like.

We buy stocking fillers throughout the year and it's generic stuff like books, puzzles, cars, dolls, sweets etc.