I just finished the christmas shopping for my kids.

[MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel]

Big Amazon order will arrive over the next few days (except for a game on pre-order) and I know it's not even November yet, but it's always such a relief to get the kids done.

Now I can focus on the food, drink, and other gifts (not that I really buy for anyone else).

Happy as well as I came in under budget by around £90 😁 across the 3 of them.

They'll get money from the inlaws and my parents which they'll spend on lego undoubtedly come January.

Anyone else finished? Hows the budget looking?

I am almost finished.
Bought so far;

DD5

LOL Surprise Grill camper Playset £33
Janod animal reserve puzzle £18
Disney Ariel soft toy doll £15
Lite Brite £10
Galt ribbon bands craft set £6
The Lorax book £4

DD2

Happyland Fairy Tale House £23
Bing jigsaw puzzle £6
Peppa Pig soft toy £8
Mr Potato Head £10
Let’s Pretend Animal Rescue set £10
Usborne garden sounds book £10

Comes to £153 in total.

Will buy a sticker book each and some Christmas themed chocolate for them and then done.

@DeadButDelicious love you crystal ball and Guinea pig buys. I’ve got 2 boys who are not in the slightest bit interested in either, despite me pushing the ads 😂

Will buy a sticker book each and some Christmas themed chocolate for them and then done.

I just bought these for my teens and some godchildren (small)

https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-christmas-tree-kit.html

We have a 12, 10 and 5 year old. We have never done mega presents, this year roughly 100 per child (probably less for the 5 yr old). So approx 80 on mian presents and 20 on each stocking.

This year stockings are mainly consumables, a variety of chocolates, sweets, bath bombs, beauty bits for the girl, a mineral stone thing etc.

Then present wise they are each getting a face mask snorkel thing, then a few other bits each.

Okay you have 3 teenagers and some teens like expensive stuff (thankfully my DD never did follow the crowd) but to suggest that you are upset about going over budget. Well I don’t buy it.

I have DD’s birthday presents. She turns 20 on the 29th of November and I have a pretty good idea what I will be buying her for Christmas. She has never been into anything trendy; consoles, designer clothing, make-up etc. If she was older you might describe her as eccentric but it makes choosing gifts far more fun for the buyer.

@OneFrenchEgg They look fab thank you! Not seen them before 😃

@Peekaboosanta they have some very cute stuff - I've bought the Oreo train as well

Waltzing past €3000gate (I think it's great you can afford that but agree with others that it feels a tad insensitive/ gloaty in the delivery)....

I am trying to assume the best here, but please for the love of God don't gift an electronic scooter if they're not going to be used soley on private land. They're illegal to ride on public roads (in the UK anyway). In my personal life we have some neighbour's kids who have them and they're bloody lethal as they're fast, quiet and often ridden by teenagers who aren't very safety-aware. I also encounter these in my professional life of working with brain injury. They are not a good gifting idea.

My DD isn’t a child anymore but when she was little it was easy I would buy the gifts and then her dad and I would decide what was for her end of November birthday. She’s quite well eccentric if a child can be eccentric so she didn’t (still doesn’t) follow fashion or popular culture. I think it’s partly her Aspergers but mostly her personality.
It has certainly made choosing her presents more interesting.

Sorry cuwins wrong quote. I remember buying for DD’s 2nd Christmas/1st birthday. The first Christmas she was a month old and I admit I didn’t buy her anything except a Christmas bib. At this age everything is just so utterly fascinating isn’t it? It’s a lovely age. Heaven help your tree this year. 🤣

I think it's unkind to call this ridiculous... I was like this with DS1. When it's a first/only some of us try and over compensate for their boredom factor as there are no other children their age around at Christmas.

OP, your niece categorically doesn't need all this. It's not a question of affordability. It's about her playing with 6-7 things and really enjoying it vs being amongst a sea of toys and packaging, forgetting what's there, skipping from thing to thing because there's just too much. Overwhelmed, and not in a good way.

If you want to get those things for her, of course that's your prerogative. We don't have a budget, and our 3DC will have one large, and maybe 6 smaller presents each.

When eldest DS was about 6, I can remember him having about 40 presents. Just from me. That's without DM/DF spoiling their (then) only grandchild. Plus Nan, Aunts, Uncles... He honestly didn't know what to do with half of it, loads got put aside in his room, and it was all frankly in the way. At the time, I would have told anyone who questioned this, to mind their own business, because obviously it makes DS much happier. Looking back, I see how wrong I was, he's happier now with fewer numbers of presents, because he can actually enjoy each one, relax and play, instead of just tearing open box after box.

Yes I'm not sure if we will put one up this year/where we will put it!

We’ve done this in the past and it worked well in that ds had his console to open and play with on Christmas Day. HOWEVER ds said it felt like he had less because he just had one present to open from everyone rather than getting all the money then buying the console. So when he wanted his phone we bought it so it was there to open, everyone gave him the cash and he then handed it straight over to us to pay us back for the phone!

He’s not greedy or materialistic at all and completely understands that if he wants expensive things he gets fewer things but it was just a bit boring for him having one thing to open while his siblings had lots

I’ve started, I have 8 kids ranging from 1-15 in age and the older ones have expensive taste (like me 😆) so wish I’d started sooner.

oldest wants a gaming console (found one on Amazon refurbished for £500)

second wants mainly football kits/stuff

third wants a new phone again I’ve bought her one off Amazon refurbished, can’t remember how much it was but it was an iPhone 12 for a couple of hundred. She’s not bothered about having the latest one.

fourth and fifth want an iPad , good old Amazon again lol, got them last years model.

6,7 and 8 are all 3 and under and dh) is getting them bikes (balance bike for the youngest)

I don’t want to add up how much all that comes to, plus I always buy them smaller stuff as I like them to all have a similar amount to open. I usually aim for about 15-20 presents each but that is sometimes things like books and clothes too.

Have to say as they get older what they want coats more and they get less but I think it’s really miserable to genuinely only buy your kids one present and not even get them a few other bits to open. 😩

This is why people can't be honest about what they've bought and spent. I can't help thinking things when people outdo each other to spend the smallest amount possible and half of it is made up of things like bedding and socks. That's a rubbish Christmas but you don't single people out and give them shit for it. And you shouldn't when people have spent larger amounts either.

Still doing ny shopping but so far have got the following:

For DS age 12:
Hornby train set
A couple of clothing items
Selection box
Several things for stocking (Jolly ranchers, coins, magazine, Shower gel and deoderant)

For DD age 8:
Scooter
Rainbocorn
Bluetooth microphone
selection box
Stocking items (coins, jolly ranchers, ear stickers, nail polish, lip balm)

DS also wants a Steam game, so we will probably use the gift envelopes to make up a 'voucher' saying the game is now on the pc.

@Foxglovesandlilacs86 not sure if your last paragraph was in response to me or not however I’d like to clarify that when I said ds had one thing to open from everyone I meant that whereas his siblings had a present from us, a present from auntie x, a present from auntie y, a present from grandparents he had one present that was from all of those people. He did still get a stocking and a couple of small bits from us as well and also a couple of things from other people so didn’t literally only have one thing although I can see how my first post read that way. That said if there was something expensive I really wanted and that was all I got I'd be delighted!

We are lucky to have about 8/9 people who buy for our kids so for us to buy them 15-20 presents ourselves would be ridiculous! (Although including stockings we do so depends if you are including stockings in your totals?)

Pretty much done for youngest, So far we have:
Gaming laptop
Dragon ball z board game

Dragon ball pjs
Minecraft complete guide book boxset
Xbox games x3 that DC asked for
Minecraft board game
Table tennis & air hockey table
tracksuits x2
xbox voucher £20
steam voucher £20
Minecoins voucher (need to get)
xbox memory drive (need to get)
eldest Dc I have so far:
trainers
tracksuit
Designer t -shirt
prime drinks
Xbox voucher
stream voucher
aftershave
Go karting voucher
Oreo's
Pringles
New iPhone (need to get)

Done stockings for both DC, Christmas Eve boxes and 1st December (small baking presents) and advents.
I still have to get few more bits for family too and brought nothing for DH yet except his Lilly’s cider advent.

Just working on DDs stockings now.

DD11
Hiking backpack
Owl plant pot
Lego Harry potter book
GCHQ code puzzle book
Climbing harness
Wetsuit
Hedwig blanket

DD9
Camping back pack
Wetsuit
Rugby boot bag
Ministry of Unladylike activity book
Latest Adventures on Trains book
Climbing harness
Harry potter blanket

Joint
Minions game
Warhammer game

DD11 stocking (so far)
Socks
Chocolate vegetables
Harry Potter sweets
Hufflepuff keyring
Shower gel

DD9 stocking (So far)
Socks
Chocolate christmas pudding
Reeses Pieces "Trees"
Headbands
Gryffindor keyring
Shower gel
Harry potter sweets

Yes it did read like that, makes more sense!

no I’m not including stocking fillers in that total as stockings in our house is just little things like chocolate, sweets, maybe bath bombs and toiletries and little joke presents.

I don’t have lots of family that buy them presents, it’s a bit complicated but my older 5 I share with my first husband and they go to his in the afternoon and get presents there too, but here they only get presents from me and something from my husbands family. Younger three get presents from us and then (loads ) of presents at his parents when we go round there in the afternoon. They get them too much really but it comes from a good place.

I don’t think 15-20 presents is excessive but that’s always been normal to me!

I have finished too! Hooray 🎉 To be honest DD is 19 and I only bought two gifts but I did get her 20th birthday presents too. I suppose she doesn’t count as a kid but I am happy to be done.
Just one last present for DH to get now.

DH got his DD a deposit for her flat a few years ago. She didn’t want any ‘bits’ to open as she wasn’t going to be with us on the day anyway. Fair enough she is an adult but honestly not all older kids want bits.

My DD will be 20. I only have 2 gifts for her but I am not going to be buying ‘bits’ to pad it out. She will probably only get 1 or 2 gifts from her Dad too.

Once they get to their mid-teens they don’t need several small gifts just because the one they really want is pricey. By that age they have an understanding of money. Young people are also the generation who have the greatest concern about climate change so will fully appreciate a lack of buying cheap things for the heck of it.

I also just bought DD stationary and clothes when she needed them. With the exception of me choosing her a hoodie and t-shirt every year for her November birthday. This year she has a seahorse t-shirt and Manta ray hoodie from the Marine Conservation Society. It’s become a tradition.

Also please remember not everyone can give their children more than one gift.

I finished 3 weeks ago. Its all wrapped etc.

i haven't gone over board this year, i find when i do it doesn't get played with.

i’ve also done my online order for xmas eve for food.