Equal number of gifts or equal cost of gifts or as close as possible to both?

[muldersspeedos]

For the first time ever there's a big difference between the amounts the dc have got. Dd1 has got far fewer but has had far more spent on her. It feels weird as Ive always spent about the same on them except when babies because a newborn has no concept of Christmas.

How do you do things?

Equal enjoyment from what is given.

How old?

How old are they?

When I was six my sister got a humongous Barbie house and I got brand new roller skates. The Barbie house was a hand me down from my cousin but I will never forget the injustice I honestly thought my sister had a much better gift.

@Zarene yes we do this and over the year it all balances out

Dd got a £700 bike for her birthday. But much less for Christmas (still good stuff)
DS is getting an iPhone 13 for Christmas and a bit less for his birthday. But they are both getting precisely what they want as well as some well chosen surprises too.

Each child gets things appropriate to them, regardless of price comparisons or number of gift comparisons.
Equal enjoyment as zarene mentioned above.

DS1 (12) got an early present of a laptop for school. Weve made it very clear to him Christmas is going to be a bit pants in terms of presents.
Weve also made it clear to DS2 (10) that he wont be getting a mega present this year, but when he needs a laptop, he will get one for xmas/birthday.

If its likely to be evened out in the future, go with it. If it's a recurring theme, because one child has expensive tastes and the other likes the simple life, it becomes harder.

It depends on the age gap.

I don’t go for equal spend or number of pressies. They get what they need, some fun bits and hopefully a lot of what they would like.

My DD1, 15, is much easier to buy for than DD2, 11. But DD1 loves £££ tech and DD2 doesn’t want a lot. I’m pretty stuck this year for DD2, she only wants a couple of bits of clothing but her room is such a mess I don’t want to add to it! They both know if they have a genuine need then they will probably get it pretty quickly.

I aim for equal-ish number, so we don't have the situation of one child running out of presents while the other still has loads to open. We do open presents in quite an orderly fashion though. If it was a free for all I probably wouldn't worry so much.

Depends on age. When they are small it is number of gifts, when older price.

We’ve got a big(ish) age gap. 10 and 1.

We’ve explained to the older one that their presents may be physically smaller, but might have been more expensive as baby toys are generally cheaper and bigger than items that older children like. They were fine with this.

Both are just getting a selection of items that they would like / are suitable. Not really comparing the cost as youngest is getting quite a few toys that previously belonged to eldest, so we will end up spending more on eldest.

Eldest is very sensible and laid back about the whole thing, but I do still have mum guilt niggling away in the back of my mind in case they feel anything is unfair.

@Zarene

Equal enjoyment from what is given.

This exactly . Ours are adult , we’ve never price matched and it probably evens out . Never been an issue here .

Equal enjoyment definitely. We have a 9 year age gap between ours, and I probably do spend more on the eldest, but not purposely. We just get them what we think they'd love.

When my boys were little (and believed in Santa) it was equal number of gifts. When they were older they were told we have a set amount we spend, do you want "quantity" or "quality". One son chose fewer things that cost more each, the other preferred more gifts that cost less for each thing.

Mine is only a two year gap. Both get similar amounts to open. And similar cost but they like the same things. Oldest has a bit more spent on them but looks fairly even.

I have 3 and put them on the bed in a grid pattern when I am planning to see where the gaps are! So try to be equal in number and ‘enjoyment’ but not price yet. For example each one would get an item of clothing, each would get a book, each would get something significant they wanted, each would get a small game, etc.

Depends on so many things including age of children and if they 'need' things. Ours are basically adults now but we still try to make sure we all roughly have a similar number to open on Christmas morning because we take turns going round the room and even as an adult it's not nice if you run out long before everyone else. If we need to we pad it out with food/drink/toiletries/etc.

They are young teens and a 6 year old. Of course the little one's presents are bigger but the cost is the same as the eldest who has the least. This year I've said I'm not buying lots of little things for the sake of it because they don't bother with them and I find pieces all over the place. The eldest is the worst for this.

Mine are 5 and 3 so tend to have roughly an even number. The youngest has actually had more spent on him as his was more expensive brands that weren't discounted (Schleich, Playmags, Hot Wheels) and I managed to find really good deals on most of my DD's.

But last year my eldest DD had an expensive pedal bike and DS had a cheaper balance bike so I'm sure it will all work out.

Plus they will probably play with everything together anyway!

Equal enjoyment... And giving kids an understanding that sometimes one of them gets a bigger gift one year ... Bike, PlayStation etc but it all comes out about the same overall over the years
I deliberately avoid equal number or cost each year