Does anyone else not hate the big present pile?

[Christmasiscoming2025]

My 4 year olds favourite part of getting presents is opening them so I get him loads of things but it’s not all big gifts/toys. I have got him clothes with his favourite characters on, books, games and puzzles from charity shops, sweets ect.

A lot of people don’t seem to like the big piles of presents on here and say they only get a few presents for their kids and I just don’t really get it as the magic/wow moment is the big pile for kids 🤷‍♀️

With 6 kids it was always going to be a big present pile, they loved it and were able to swop toys to play with / share as they lost interest in something. There was always some 'new' to own /play with.
Most stuff was 2nd hand but in very good condition and when it was totally finished with if condition was still reasonable it went back to the charity shop.
The kids didn't rough house so not many things were broken.
They are adults now and say each year how much they loved christmas. several of they are doing the same thing with their own kids as a result.

This was our house at Christmas when I was a child, there was 4 of us children plus parents and both my parents are from big families so we had over 40 presents just from aunties uncles and grandparents, we loved it, and I don’t think any of it was wasted or went to the bin the next day.

I only hate it when it’s purely so the parents can post a braggy photo of it on social media.

I love a big present pile! Me and my sister grew up with a sofa each full of presents right up into our 20s, even now my mum will give me a big pile of presents for me and for both my boys it’s just how they are! And I will always do it for my boys, I wrap things like bath bombs, sweets, chocolates so makes it look more and the excitement on there face is brilliant!

I would like to do a big pile, unfortunately I've just had to buy a new washing machine, couldn't really have delayed that. So it looks like it will be a couple of small presents and some cash (teens)

We've done it - some year possible bit much - thing is though it's not tat but stuff they need or want and sometime it's been second hand but new to them stuff as well.

We've not buying all year round though - it's birthdays and christmas. We don't post on social media and we don't have family round - pile goes under christmas eve.

So it' s been more cristsim from IL round birthdays - odd thing is Dh says they did same for him huge piles and I suspect some of it's because they want their presents to stand out.

That's so true but in our case, social media hadn't been invented and only tradies were cartling around huge brick phones😁

Agree it’s hard to keep that up as they get older so worth considering!

my daughter actually gets super overwhelmed with too much. We did too many things for a couple years and now it’s pulled way back and she’s so much happier. She’s 13 now anyway so it’s nicer stuff and fewer things and she can actually enjoy them all.

My son likes playing with everything so we do the same for him and he seems happy. We have way too much stuff in the house anyway

It's interesting - I think it depends a lot on your own upbringing. Our present pile is definitely not OTT by modern standards, but it's definitely bigger than my husband would like... I had a pretty large Christmas pile as a child (at least, it felt large to me), but birthdays were very underplayed. My husband's family make a MUCH bigger deal out of birthdays, but dial it back more at Christmas.

Just like the post on here. The best thing about having an only child is knowing the big pile is all for her😲

Plus all the other presents she will get from family just no.
Give people less and they will appreciate it more.
Plus your making a rod for your own back.

Also - if you are posting a photo of your present pile or "Christmas haul" on social media, I am judging you.

We do what I consider a big pile (not some crazy ones like social media!) but maybe 15-20 presents. However!

• we buy hardly any toys all year and not randomly every weekend like some families
• we include nice clothes etc in the pile
• everything is decent quality and not plastic tat to be thrown aside

We spent about £300 per child and get some really lovely things that are all used and played with. I don't feel bad about it as our kids are good as gold and love it!

Everyone does things differently on here I've found.

Some like the piles, some like to take turns with the whole family, some make their kids wait until evening, some make their kids pick their favourite and make them donate the rest to charity after Christmas, some kids get overwhelmed with piles or like to open one at a time and play with it before opening anything else.. etc etc.

I do the pile but like you op it's not all toys, I pad it out with clothes and books and things and of course buy one or two really exciting presents as well. My child is going on a residential school trip next year and we've just got a list from school saying they need slippers, for example, so I'll be buying him some for Christmas and that will be part of the 'pile'

We also do stockings but I don't buy plastic tat, it's things like bath bombs that will literally dissolve away, chocolate coins that will be gone etc.. I don't want to end up with loads of clutter.

Love the big present pile. However, when DD was younger there were also practical presents such as things needed for hobbies, clothes, accessories for her bedroom, even silly things like jars of Nutella and jaffa cakes so it never just ended up being a pile of unnecessary plastic tat. It's all good fun and nice to do before they lose interest in Christmas 🎄

I used to love seeing their faces at the piles of presents, when they were little! Now mine are teens their presents are smaller and expensive. I've given them a heads up, not to expect a pile of presents, because they're more expensive! They both understand!

There’s a weird idea on threads like this that you must sit in one of two distinct camps. You either buy nothing throughout the year and have a humungous pile of tat on Christmas Day, or your kids get 3 presents on Christmas Day but are spoilt rotten with toys every week of their lives.
I am neither of these. We don’t do a massive pile, nor do we buy 3-4 gifts. We have a stocking, one ‘main’ Santa gift and then a selection of presents from us (maybe 7-8 gifts). We don’t buy loads of toys throughout the year, but we do buy craft stuff/books/clothes etc as and when needed, and occasionally the odd toy on a special occasion (for example we went to London to see a show in the summer and paid a trip to Hamleys, and each child could choose one toy). I suspect many people fall into this moderate camp!

I used to get a massive pile as a kid and from when I can remember, about 5 years old or so, it really stressed me out. I didn't enjoy opening them all, I felt overwhelmed. I am still the same as an adult - I don't enjoy buying or getting piles of stuff. I hate living in a cluttered house and I don't see the point of regularly decluttering in order to accommodate more stuff.
My kids get about 7 presents or so each. I remember DS1's second Christmas - he got so many presents from all the family that he refused to open the last ones.

Jesus who the hell makes dc choose their favourite and donate the rest ?? I’ve seen a lot of crazy on MN over the years but I must have missed that one!

I hate it.

It encourages greed and consumerism. Starts out lovely, with wide eyed wonder when they're little. Unabated, turns into entitlement and greed when they're older.

It's capitalism, encouraging want, want, want.

I'm not anti gifting but find the big pile thing obscene.

They don't, well not out of films. I was just using it as an examples of different ways at Christmas.

If they did, it would be a beefy thread though.

There are always lots of presents under our tree, we have big families so they aren’t all
for us or from us. I love seeing all the pretty shiny paper!
We do spoil our kids at Christmas and treat them to things, not necessarily material things, throughout the year (the older 2 are grown ups, eldest finished uni and now working, middle one is still at uni and also working), I don’t feel guilty about it, they’re lovely kids who are very grateful and very thoughtful kind people.
Despite being spoiled at Christmas by both us and the family and extended family they aren’t ungrateful entitled brats with an expectation of receiving a certain amount of presents or a specific value of what’s inside them, they are just pretty average well adjusted people and we all enjoy choosing things for each other and seeing them open what we’ve chosen for them.

It’s was how my childhood was and I have done this also for my two. They don’t always get just toys, it can include things they need, clothing, reading books related to schooling/learning, food treat items.

After all, they aren’t small for long so I love the wow they get. They don’t get as much for birthdays instead. My eldest is now old enough to understand the piles get smaller as you get older due to things getting dearer and smaller, and he’s OK with that.

Oh i hated when my mum did that

I like a moderately big pile, there are five of us so 7 or 8 things each is around 40 presents round the tree, it's so exciting to come downstairs to on Christmas morning.
Once everything is out of the packaging, it doesn't actually take up much space, there is always room on bookshelves and in cupboards/toy boxes for stuff, and we have a clear out of unwanted things in November and take them to the charity shop.
Love seeing the tree surrounded by lovely wrapped and sparkling gifts.