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Christmas

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Original poster

Is a bike a Christmas present or a every day essential?

110 replies

WeavedLentils · 17/11/2023 16:50

I think it's an essential item that gets replaced as needed when children grow. Likes shoes and stuff.My friend thinks I'm mad to buy DD anew bike so close to Christmas and give it her now.

OP posts:
TrishTrix · 17/11/2023 17:08

I came from a financially constrained family.

Big stuff was always parcelled in as a gift and if we got new bikes e.g at beginning of the summer it would be tagged as an "early birthday gift" for autumnal birthdays.

I think you are lucky to have financial resources not to do that.

Notsonifty50 · 17/11/2023 17:09

DS is having a bike this year as a joint Christmas/birthday present.

DiscoBeat · 17/11/2023 17:13

We've always bought them as they've needed them but always bought second hand good bikes in great condition, until they are adult sized then a brand new one as a Christmas or birthday gift.

museumum · 17/11/2023 17:17

A bit of both.
I would definitely keep it to Christmas if I bought one now, but if a child grew out of theirs in April I wouldn't make them ride a too-small bike all summer till the following Christmas or an Autumn/Winter birthday.

MidnightOnceMore · 17/11/2023 17:20

I actually think the premise of this thread illustrates what's gone wrong with Christmas - the fact something is needed/useful is not a reason not to give it as a gift. The idea only completely unnecessary things can be gifts turns Christmas into a soulless, commercial event.

A gift that you need, value and use brings a really deep joy. Frivolous stuff is just not as satisfying.

Mintesso · 17/11/2023 17:26

Depends how much money you have.

DrCoconut · 17/11/2023 17:26

My entire family is just not into cycling. I failed my cycling proficiency 🤣 So I'd class a bike as a toy that kids get bored with quickly. My kids got theirs on Facebook marketplace and they now sit in the shed unused. But if you use bikes then definitely a cool present.

CloudOfDust · 17/11/2023 17:27

I actually think the premise of this thread illustrates what's gone wrong with Christmas

🤣

VillageLite · 17/11/2023 17:29

I agree with @MidnightOnceMore, things that you need make the best gifts!

Someone noticing that you need something and going out of their way to find a nice/special version that you’ll like, and wrap it up is what Christmas is all about.

1stTimeMama · 17/11/2023 17:29

I have bought some of my children bikes for birthdays and Christmas, but it's more coincidental that that's when they needed them, rather than them being main, much longed for presents. I will buy them a bike whenever they need a new one.
I also agree that winter is a rubbish time for getting a bike if it's just for fun, especially where we live with all the rain and not a flat piece of land in sight!

tiggergoesbounce · 17/11/2023 17:32

We don't class it as a christmas present, its an as and when unless of course they are older and its a specific really expensive one, that they ask for but as a run of the mill kids bike, they just need them.

Murpe · 17/11/2023 17:35

DS wouldn't have been bothered if he'd never had a bike, so it would have seemed a bit unfair to get him one as his main present when he could frankly take it or leave it. However, we wanted him to have one, so we just bought it as an additional, during the summer. Until he was about 11 he didn't have any particularly expensive gifts, and the bike was probably the most we'd spent on him up to that point.

Starlightstarbright2 · 17/11/2023 17:37

What are you buying for Christmas instead.

To me it’s just over a month to Christmas. I can’t imagine it’s that small it wouldn’t last till Christmas

aswarmofmidges · 17/11/2023 17:38

Of course it's a present
It's expensive
It's not essential

as long as DD had school shoes that fit, shoes would class as suitable for Christmas present

As PP says - because it's a present you might spend a little more , get something nicer if you could afford it

As another pp says - this sums up what is wrong with modern Christmas

JustKen · 17/11/2023 17:42

I was born in late November so getting a bike was a present for both occasions. Unfortunately for my brother he was normally the one eho inherited them when I grew out of them.

BeautifulBoy · 17/11/2023 17:47

shoes would class as suitable for Christmas present

I really dislike clothes and shoes as gifts for young children as they are essential, not a treat. I would never be so bold as to say ‘of course shoes aren’t a present, they’re essential’, so I wonder why you’re so insistent that people who have different ideas are ‘of course’ wrong.

MinnieMountain · 17/11/2023 17:48

We don’t have a car, so it’s an essential to be bought when needed in our house. Plus I get DS second hand Frog bikes. There’s an element of when I find a suitable one.

clowningaround6 · 17/11/2023 17:49

Christmas present

watchyourfriends · 17/11/2023 17:50

As a kid a bike was my big Christmas present. It’s definitely a present, even if it is an essential it can still be a present.

jesshomeEd · 17/11/2023 17:50

I give my children both want-to-haves and need-to-haves at Christmas, so yes I do avoid buying anything big in the month before Christmas unless really necessary.

Coachvikki · 17/11/2023 17:51

It depends how much money you have. When I was a kid everything that we needed in the last few months of the year were christmas presents so we would have more stuff to open.

aswarmofmidges · 17/11/2023 17:55

One pair of shoes is essential

A pair for wearing to a party or at weekends or just as a change in addition to your basic pair isn't essential

I think that this lack of understanding as to what is truly essential is costing people money , causing them stress ( because once you have all the essentials as not presents you have to think of a present) , contributing to climate change via waste / unnecessary production

So yes people can do what they like - but when people start to claim that you can't buy something as a present because it's essential even when it isn't , it's putting bad pressure on people

So buy a bike for a Christmas present and don't let people shame you because of it

Pipistrellus · 17/11/2023 17:56

A new bike is a main present for either birthday or Christmas. A second hand bike that is needed at a different time of year, such as for bikeability or to ride to secondary school is an essential. A new to the family second hand bike may also be a birthday or Christmas present.

MidnightOnceMore · 17/11/2023 17:56

Coachvikki · 17/11/2023 17:51

It depends how much money you have. When I was a kid everything that we needed in the last few months of the year were christmas presents so we would have more stuff to open.

It doesn't depend how much money you have, it also depends on the family approach to gifts in general.

I have enough money to buy a bike in addition to a Christmas present, but wouldn't, because a new bike is a fantastic thing to get for Christmas, an exciting present giving happy Christmas memories.

BendingSpoons · 17/11/2023 17:56

First bikes have been birthday presents here. However DD will need a new one soon but DS can have hers, so then it will be trickier to navigate as a present!