What were your 3 year olds like at Christmas? Overwhelmed?

[Voomvoom]

DD is an only child, her dad and I split this year and I've invited him along to Christmas, this means she'll be recieving all the gifts I've brought along with all the ones he has. (And then family gifts) neither of us have gone extremely overboard but it's essentially double presents for her.

If you ask her what she wants for Christmas she only talks about one specific thing and I'm wondering if she's about to be overwhelmed by the amount of gifts?

How are 3 year olds generally at Christmas? Is it better to open my gifts in the morning and daddy's later when he arrives? Save mine and open them altogether?

my eldest son At that age saw his red and yellow little tikes car Father Christmas had brought him and proceeded to sit in that refusing to open any more gifts. We then cajoled him to open a gift, it was a torch he then got back in his car and switched the torch on and off for the rest of the day. 😂

oh I forgot my advice…. Just go with the flow, I don’t think you can prepare for what your child will be like, just go easy and take the day as it comes. Don’t get stressed.

we opened his presents over 2 or 3 days . it was really lovely 😍

Yep first pressie was a game n he just wanted to play that! Go at dc pace and if they seem to be overwhelmed dial it back a bit.

Going with the flow sounds good, so does opening over a few days o suppose we'll just see how it goes!
@Favouritefruits your son sounds adorable 🥰

Mine have always been super excited. I have always just let them self pace and they've never been over stimulated. Let her start opening her gifts from you in morning, when her dad comes he can give them it her and any she doesn't get round to opening can just wait under the tree and you can send pics.

My ds was just 3 last Christmas and we were still opening presents on Boxing Day! He could only manage 1-2 at a time really. (We didn't have a massive pile and it still took ages . . .)

I'm holding my breath to see what DS is going to be like. He's high as a kite already. I'm going to try and stagger the gifts a bit (stocking first thing, then have breakfast, then more presents). If we wants to play as we go along, then that's fine. If they roll over into boxing day, then so be it!

Last year he was lovely but we did have a higher number of tantrums than usual, so bracing myself for that!

Hopefully he won't give himself a black eye again this year due to running around like a loon and falling over a chair at breakfast time!

Exactly the same!

If your child opens all the presents at once, just quietly remove any she doesn't immediately play with and put them to one side. It's useful to have something new to play with when she gets fractious, or you have visitors.

Can't say I've ever had a problem with mine, my youngest is 3 in march and this year totally gets the whole Christmas thing, he knows there will be presents from Santa in his stocking and has asked him for a robot (buzz lightyear). He is very excited for Christmas and presents this year!

Last year he took longer than my eldest to open everything, but my eldest rushes through then going through everything in more detail when it's all opened, though he was disappointed his were all gone before his brothers, so I'm going to try and slow him down a bit this year. Youngest wanted everything unboxed as he opened it but he was still done before lunch iirc

I would do your presents in the morning and then she can do presents with dad when he comes later, breaks it up a bit and you're not spending all day waiting for him and trying to keep her from opening them prematurely

At 3 one of mine thought the stocking at the side of their bed was it. And was heartbroken that Santa hadn't put his main gift inside the stocking.

I've never had the issue of an overwhelmed child.

Thought I'd update on this thread for anyone who may search for it next year.

Today, my 3 year old has happily opened his presents and half of everyone else's 😂. I reckon between us and family that's 30+ presents. He said thank you nicely and has played with a good half of it. Quiet things like books and jigsaws haven't had a look in as there's too much going on, but they'll be looked at on another day. I've deliberately put some of it to one side (does anyone willingly open playdoh and kinetic sand on christmas day???).

He wasn't overwhelmed at all. He would have been last year. My only advice would be don't put any chocolate in the stocking that you're not happy for them to eat on the spot. Had a bit of an argument over a chocolate Santa at 7am!

Another one updating post Christmas day madness!

Our youngest is 2y 9m, we had about 15 presents each plus stockings. He wasn't overwhelmed at all, very excited and thoroughly enjoyed it! He waited until we were ready to begin opening (they had stockings straight away so we're kept occupied) and helped to hand out presents, in between his own he happily pottered about playing with his already opened things

At that age, both DS 1 and 2 took 2-3 days to open gifts. They just weren't interested. But it made christmas last longer in a way which was nice. We used to take whatever gifts they refused to open to the loft and bring them down in batches whenever they seemed bored or calm enough to sit and open gifts.

We do Santa in the morning. Then after lunch a few more. Some on Boxing day. Some after that. We can get to the middle of Jan without all pressies being opened.

The main ones are all opened now. They are enjoying then ( 7, 3). Still all the extended family ones to open. Still a few from us to open.

If dad is only there in the after noon, he may wish to watch child open all of his presents.

I definitely try to get like colouring books, crayons that sort of thing. Gives them an activity on Christmas day night.

We also stuck photos(just printed on regular paper) with names so child can hand out presents to others, not just theirs.

On CBeebies, there a show called something and tig which has a Christmas episode that explains a lot of different elements of Christmas.

All the best

Stuck photos on the presents I mean

@LemonDrizzles if you can get to mid January without all gifts being opened that suggests you are buying too much stuff.
In total how many gifts do your kids receive?

10 each including Santa, + all relatives gifts. They really only ask for the first three. The rest are pencils, notebooks and that sort of thing.

How many relatives are giving gifts?
My kids got about 12 inc relatives.

Well my now 4yo still hasn't opened half of his presents - had about 12 things from us, relatives and godparents. Must be a personality thing!

I'm always amazed by those who can make present opening last days, there's no chance either of mine would choose to leave them under the tree! 🙈😂

I think it would be lovely to have it last like that, although I get a bit excited to see them opened too so I'm not sure I have the restraint to pull it off myself 😂 this year took the longest (just over an hour) as we paced our eldest who usually storms ahead and is done in 15 minutes!