How many presents do you buy for children

[Yamaya]

Have got 4 and 6 year old 15 presents each (but some are small like lip gloss or a slinky) and a Christmas eve box.

Is that about normal?

Normal is whatever you're comfortable expending and gifting, which will look different for every family, surely?

About 46, but not 46 toys. Things like 6 books, 2 building kits, make up, jewellery, tech etc.

@Solmum1964 and @MaryMollyPolly - do you have certain things that you ALWAYS put in the stockings? We were very poor when mine were small so stockings ALWAYS contained bubble bath, pants and socks (fun ones rather than the usual boring ones) a satsuma, chocolate coins, a tube of Smarties and quite often something like gloves as well as a couple of other little bits.

Except thats not how xmas tends to work, studies have shown time and time again the lowest incomes and poorest areas (like myself) go BIG at xmas and those that do less do so via choice and tend to spend MORE (both at xmas and throughout the year).

Young kids grow out of things fairly fast... my 18 month old isn't using the bouncer, rattles, prambar toys or teethers she got last xmas at 6 months anymore, my 4 year old barely ever plays with Bing anymore (although might humor his sibling) as he now prefers DC/Marvel.

Things also get used up, stickers, bubbles, playdoh, colouring pens, craft kits they hardly last forever, games lose pieces overtime, thing that are genuinly loved and heavily used often end up breaking/wearing out.

I mean the accumulation issue doesn't really hit until 'pre-teen' age (when they have stopped growing as severely in interests and tastes plateau).

Yep my oldest was a new year baby so everything is in 1 week and my second a november baby so birthday where more about 'doing' things than gifts but the gifts at xmas had to last all year as there was no mid year gift giving celebration.

My youngest is a June so perfect mid year summer baby and its thrown me through a loop as it seems like ages to wait between xmas and birthday as something we arent use to lol.

I mean the accumulation issue doesn't really hit until 'pre-teen' age (when they have stopped growing as severely in interests and tastes plateau).

I'd say accumulation kicks in about age 5 or 6 many kids stick with the same stuff for a while from that point, whether it be marvel, dinos, Star Wars or Harry Potter.

Their bikes and scooters seem to last a few years, as does their tech they only need one console, if they are all streaming music, games and films that knocks them of the list.

And then you have the second child issue 😬 hanging on to stuff because LO might pay with it.

It’s very different for us, my children are 9 and 11, both of them have tons of things that are well over 7 years old 😂 my son only just got rid of a castle that was bought for him when he was 2! They are little hoarders and it drives me mad.
Every 6 months I get them to have a clear out to prep for birthdays/Christmas and it still feels like they have too much stuff.
We can’t afford to buy them gifts throughout the year and we have a strict budget for Christmas and birthdays, my husband always feels bad because they’ve never had a huge pile of presents to open but we make sure to get them their main wants/needs.

I'm way off the average it seems. Two DC 9 and 11. Three gifts from Santa that they choose. A few other presents like PJs, socks etc and the odd game. Usually things I chose they don't find fabulous so increasingly I just go for boring, uncontroversial. This year will be more expensive as one wants a big Lego set, the other a tablet. Throughout the year I buy books more or less on demand, craft items etc. Often before a school holiday we go to WHS and we spend up a bit. I don't feel guilty. They have too many things as it is to keep tidy, and we make regular trips to the charity shop, recycling and so on.

DC are 8 and 4. This year they're each getting:

15 small things in stocking (Santa).
14 under tree from DH and me.
3 from DM&DSF.
3 to each other.
1 from PIL.
3 or 4 from my best friend.
1 or 2 from SIL.
2 from my uncles/cousins.

In 2020 they both got about 30 presents under the tree, plus everything from everyone else. That was the year we went overboard because of lockdown guilt. It was also the year I decided to reign it in a bit!

@CoodleMoodle that's about 28 actual gifts- how do you come up with so many ideas?
I'm really struggling to come up with 14 ideas for my 6 yo with a Christmas birthday. I feel like I've completely scraped the barrel of ideas.

Tech does last better but many on mumsnet don't buy consoles, phones, Ipades etc... for young kids hense the pre-teen (8-12) range being when things start to teeter off (less interest in age specific toys more interest in longer lasting tech which starts to accumulate).

A balance bike for a one year old is not going to last until 8 year old it wont fit that long, bikes need upgrading because kids litrally grow massively over the space of 8 or so years.

but the main point is PP is saying that only buying 1 toy, an item of clothing and a book with a stocking would 'accumulate' specifically without ANYTHING else being bought through the year is utter rubbish.

Young kids will grow out of things quickly and even if you found magic toys that are equally as suitible and played with for a 6 month old as 8 year old if you only buy 1 per year they still only accumulate EIGHT over their lifespan not an exorbitant amount.

How are people NOT buying things and yet somehow magically accumulating loads? unless they have lot of other people gifting things to their kids which is 'privilage' not something to feel 'rightous' about.

Many of us do not have anyone else doing that for us so have to buy all the stuff ourselves.

14 stocking filler gifts per child and one 'big' present from Father Christmas.
3 presents per child from DH and I and a joint present of a trampoline for the garden from us too.

They will get gifts from all family members which is of course very lovely and generous but we are usually over run with toys etc so have asked for experience gifts this year and a token book or toy if they really feel they want to give something to open.

We do an Xmas eve box with new PJ's, a new book each and a few little snacks/ novelty bits.

We actually never set a limit or budget but this is getting everything I thought they'd like or need. DC are 6 and 3, for reference.

They usually get books, a board game, Lego set, jigsaw puzzle, some kind of craft activity, teddy, and then a few other bits and pieces related to whatever they're into (e.g. Harry Potter, Hot Wheels). DD is harder as she's less into toys these days, but I usually manage to find things. A lot of bits I've picked up through the year and put away, too. Mine have March and July birthdays so plenty of time in between.

Always socks😂😂; a selection box has generally cost around £1 and an annual used to be about £5. I switched from a knitted stocking to a small (pillowcase size) sack for dts second Christmas as it was cheaper to fill. Drawing pads and crayons featured regularly. As they grew older boxes of jelly babies padded it out a bit. I hate waste and plastic 'tat' so would only buy useful things or something I knew they wanted/would like. They each made a felt stocking decoration in nursery (age 3) and Santa used to pop a bag of chocolate coins in them.
Now they are adults (late 20s) the stocking has become more of a main present. This year they have socks, pyjamas; a book; something sport related; a bottle of Christmas beer (in a gift tube); a small box of chocolates and a toiletries set. Everything is chosen carefully. Things I know they like and will appreciate but often bought when I see things on offer. They will also have some money towards sports shoes.
I used to start shopping when they went back to school in September. This helped spread the cost and meant that I was generally able to get the item at the top of their wish list (Tracey Island one year) and other itms on offer.
They don't have to cost a lot, just a few carefully chosen items that Santa knew they would like. One year when there was a delay on a game that had been ordered, Santa left a note to say it had gone missing somewhere on his journey but as soon as it turned up he'd get one of his elves to deliver it.

Apart from their stocking DC only received one main present from us but did also get presents from grandparents, great grandma, aunts, uncles and a few other family members and god parents.
From nursery age they were expected to write thank you letters/ cards to anyone they didn't see in person.

I've probably got my 6 years old DD about 20-30 presents, however loads are little things and in total everything didn't cost much at all. She likes opening things and a grateful for so much as a paintbrush. My 5 month old has about 5 because she doesn't even know what her nose is yet

2-3 from us
1 from Father Christmas
about 25 things in the stocking. Usually around £150 total spend per child but it’s a rough guide rather than an absolute budget or a target.

In the interests of transparency they get about 10 other presents ranging from £5-40 value from other people, we really only buy at birthdays and Christmas, ‘a present’ could be a few secondhand barbies put in a box together for one child or a PlayStation controller for another, stockings for younger children usually contain 4-5 actual (but small and under £10) presents, 4-5 edible items, a few useful items (pants, toothbrush, hair bands etc), around 5 typical stocking fillers (bubbles, slime, glider, kaleidoscope, wobbly bug in shell, spinning top, fidget toy etc) and a couple of other things we always put in such as a shiny penny and a new tree decoration (older children mostly get food and toiletries)

I think mine have 21 presents each in a sack (I find that amount nicely fills them) and then lots of little bits such as bobbles, stickers, pens, sweets etc. in a stocking.

A lot of presents are practical stuff like clothes or school bags etc.

Dunno, somewhere between 10 and 15, plus stocking fillers, probably. But one of those tree presents could be 'just' a book, whereas another might be an iPad.

Every family is different though, there's no right or wrong.

Mine have got 14 each under the tree from us, plus 1 each from Santa and one each from each other. Then a stocking each of little bits - I think there are 17 things in each stocking including things like chocolate coins. They are 6 and 4.

They will get one thing each from my sister and DH 's sister and a few things from each set of grandparents.

Now I've written it down it seems a lot, we'll pull it back next year.

Ours get one gift from Santa plus stocking from him with edibles only and then 3-4 from us. The years they've had closer to 10 gifts we found they didn't appreciate any of it, and alot of things ended up forgotten about by the end of the day. So now they get one thing they really want (Santa) and the other things from us are what we know they will use and appreciate.

Ours (4 DC) have 10 presents in their sack (1 main present and then books and a few other smaller toys/art supplies plus a selection box), a stocking with maybe 7-8 very little things, including chocolate coins, bath bombs, notebooks, gel pens.

So it seems like a lot but a lot of it is consumable or things that will get used up.
We don’t spend a lot to be honest. ‘Big’ presents this year (things they have asked for were) a Lego set, a Barbie playhouse thing, a Build A Bear and a Pokemon collectors box.

DD5.5 is getting:

From us: new scooter, circuit toy, book, craft sets x2, unicorn watch
From Santa (stocking) : keepy-uppy ball, mini jigsaw, pocket microscope, a clementine and some chocolate.

I had felt that this was more presents than I had planned, but reading this thread makes me feel rather restrained.

My kids have 4 from us, 2 from Santa and a stocking each. I usually only do 5 including 1 Santa present but my in-laws gave us £1000 to pay for Xmas so they got a bit more. We also bought ourselves some things. Big ticket items will be labelled as from the in-laws sothey will have another gift which is 7 total plus stockings.

My 2 have 13 gifts in total, that's from us, Santa, grandparents and auntie. For me it's quality over quantity. I can't stand a huge number of gifts, totally pointless!