Present dilemma

[whoami24601]

So... this year DD(6)wrote her Christmas list months ago -2 A4 sides long! We've talked a lot in previous years about how the list is to give Santa ideas, you won't get everything on it etc. So far so good!

I picked a selection of things off the list to buy and they're all wrapped and ready. Yesterday, however, she announced the present she wants the most off her list and it's not one I've bought! I picked things off her list I knew she'd play with/ get a lot out of.

I feel like the gift she wants is one of those things that will be played with once and then forgotten. It's not cheap, but we can afford it. I don't want to waste money, but we all have that one present we wanted and never got don't we??

WWYD? Buy the present or leave as is? I keep going on Amazon then changing my mind!

Next year I'm going to start doing a 5 item list!

Could you get her that one and keep one of the others for her birthday?

Leave it.
Who is to say she won’t change her mind again?

Hmm this is tricky. On our Santa visit at the weekend my dd told him she wanted a pirate ship (fine, got that) and a unicorn, which I hadn’t got, because how many unicorns can a 3 yo need? But because her request wasn’t particularly expensive and we hadn’t spent loads (and I’m a sucker!) we now have a unicorn, so I guess I would weigh up the cost of the present, and how much I’d spent already and decide based on that.

I told my kids that they were limited to 3 items on their list so they would really think about what they wanted. (The rest we're surprises)

Is she likely to change her mind again? Santa lists are usually final once they are sent?

Just remind her that you don't always get everything on your list and Santa will choose what he thinks she will enjoy the most.

One of mine keeps coming up with new ideas so I have to keep reminding him his letter was sent sometime ago and while Santa might be magic, he can't work miracles when kids keep changing their minds.

I think if you can afford it then get it and keep back one of the other gifts for b'day if you must.
The magic of Christmas is that you get the very thing you dreamed of (within reason!)

If you can comfortably afford it I would get it. They don’t have many magical childhood Christmases and I would want her to have what she really wants.

I would get her the present she wants.

If I could afford it, I would probably get the present and keep one you have back for her birthday.

Thanks all for the advice. I spoke to DH about it, he looked on amazon and it turns out it's 3x more expensive than I thought! I was looking at an accessory to go with the main thing IYSWIM? So decision made for me as it's way too much to spend on her! If she still wants it by her birthday I'll think about getting it then.

Having exactly the same debate as 5yo DD suddenly declared she wanted a 3ft tall ride on unicorn, after I'd already bought everything off her Xmas list.

I was thinking if returning things, saving for birthday etc but then I realised that not only is a 3ft tall unicorn ridiculous, it's also £200.

She's absolutely convinced Santa is going to bring her one and I feel awful for ruining it

We keep saying that Santa can't fit such big things in his sleigh but it's not registering.

Whoami- out of interest what is it she's after?

National - you can only hope she's really naughty between now and Xmas morning

I always said to dc that they had to pick the one thing they wanted most off their list and tell Santa that and made sure I got that the rest I chose off their list. At this stage though they would have been told that Santa would have all the presents already sorted so if they only mentioned now what the thing they wanted most was there was no guarantees. List had to be locked down in the beginning of December.

Cupoblood it's a smart sketcher. She hardly ever draws or does crafty things so I'm not convinced she's use it!

It was on her list! I just didn't realise that was the important one! Next year we'll do our Santa letters differently - maybe a top 5 list so I know which ones are her favourites!

Update to remind myself for next year - I resisted panic buying the present, and it has gone completely unnoticed I'm going to try to remember this next year when I start panicking about last minute presents!