How do you divide presents for your children? What goes in their stockings/sacks?

[Zellie1027]

Curious to know how other parents manage Christmas gifts for their children?

I’m a mum to two girls - 3 (just turned) and 11 months - and I’m just starting to think more about how to manage Christmas gifts going forward.

They have present sacks but all their presents go in there at the moment. This is probably the first year my eldest understands who Santa is etc

Some of my friends have said they do smaller gifts in their stockings/sacks and the rest under the tree. Some have said presents in their stockings/sacks are gifts from Santa and those under the tree are from them.

If you do smaller gifts in their stockings/sacks, what sort of gifts are these?

I’m just curious to know how everyone does it. I haven’t decided what we’ll do yet!

Stockings have small things (lots of smiggle stationery this year, fidget toys, chocolate Santa etc), then Father Christmas brings one present which is always in a sack and then everything else is around the tree 🎄we buy the ‘main’ thing…

Ha!! 17, although tbh he’s far older than his years and probably knows more than the average 77 year old

We just did all presents bought by DH and I in a sack downstairs from Father Christmas.
Gifts from family under the tree.

Used to put more tat in stockings like fidget toys ,hair bands chocolates etc satsuma and the stocking went into the bed so could be felt by a foot on waking
Then the rush down stairs to see the tree yield it's bounty.
From FC
With other gifts from others to be opened later

Get double stockings

So the kids get one present from Santa, wrapped in a special paper. The rest are wrapped in another but one of each kid so I don’t have to label.

They get stockings which have small stuff and some sweets in. A hint a friend gave me and is a game changer, is have two stockings per child. Per stuff one and give them the other to hang up. Then you can do a quick switch and not have to worry about them waking and not seeing it there.

We follow the same tradition my mum set. So we had a big stocking from Santa next to our bed on Christmas morning which was the highlight. I still use the same stocking and its 40 years old.
Stocking is full of fun and practical stuff- bath bombs, colour changing bath foam, bath slime, monster trucks, craft stuff, lego, chocolate & sweets ge doesn't normally get, games. Enough to entertain him all morning. Total spend £100.

Then we don't open presents under the tree until after Christmas lunch. Not gone wild this year as DS has so much bought for him from family so he has 10 presents totally from everyone.

I also do stockings of smaller gifts from Santa (have teens now so although they no longer believe we still say from Santa!) and main presents from us. Things like little games, toiletries, chocolates, fun things. Everything gets wrapped, with two separate rolls of paper so each child has their own paper, and Santa’s wrapping paper then doesn’t get used for anything else!

Mine have a stocking from santa and a pile of gifts that appear overnight from me. The ones under the tree are from family or friends and get put there as we receive them.

The stocking is about half sweets and 4-5 little gifts. Often pound shop bits and definitely under £5.

Stocking just has small things like chocolates, little fidget toys, a drink (carton of juice when smaller, fizzy drink when a bit older), which the elves deliver (had to come up with an explanation for stockings when Father Christmas doesn't come in the night where we are, but comes in the afternoon or evening in person so I told them the elves fill the stockings while they check the children are asleep and their bedrooms are tidy!)
Then some presents are under the tree and are from us, and a few presents are put aside for Father Christmas to deliver later in the day.

In our house (and growing up) stockings are full of things like bath stuff - bath bombs, bubble bath, bubbles ,bath toys etc
Father Christmas does the main presents and they aren't wrapped. 1 or 2 per child
Everything else is wrapped under the tree with all the other presents ☺️🎄

Father Christmas does the stockings/sacks, which are all wrapped, and are smaller things. Sweets, toiletries, always socks, little gadgets or toys.

Everything under the tree is wrapped and from named people, they're the main presents.

Stockings are just from Santa and have things in which are small and used to contain things I wouldn’t buy them eg small can if pop, make up. Some times will have things they’ve seen in a museum shop and mentioned.

Sacks on the sofa and are gifts from us.

They also have Christmas Eve gift from their Christmas fairies of PJs, book and bath stuff.

They don’t believe in Santa anymore (aged 9 and 6) and so I may cut back on the stocking and they’re overfilled.

In the past presents under the tree are from family and friends and their main presents (big an expensive) are under the tree from me. Their sack is filled with everything else from Santa.

We have changed it up a bit as my older lot are almost all young adults (13 to 20) now so the “babies” 2 and 3 have the sacks from Santa and the older lot have one under the tree from him now and everything else is from us, family and friends.

Stockings are little things... socks, sweets, small toys etc at that age (think it has stuff like happyland figures and musical instruments). Plus a book . Now its make up, sweets, a fancy soft drink, a card game.. and still a book!

Never did "sacks" but their bigger presents, from from us, one from santa, and one from their sister under the tree, along with stuff from grandparents etc

One of the purposes of stockings for us is to keep kids busy when they wake at the crack of dawn. So always left at the foot of the bed and full of bits and pieces that keep them busy - stickers, fidget toy, snacks etc. Wrapping slows things down and increases the excitement. we don’t open tree presents until mid morning when family arrive, so things to keep them occupied are useful. Rest under the tree, we don’t do sacks.

Mine have a large stocking.
in this they have sweets and chocolate, pants, socks, a couple of traditional stocking stuffers like gliders and fortune telling fish, a couple of small toys that I would never buy them such as blind bags and slime, a couple of small actual presents (small Lego or playmobil set/small doll or teddy/cars or trains/craft sets…). I don’t wrap any of this. The stocking is from Father Christmas.
Then they have a present from Father Christmas which is wrapped (apart from last year when it was just too big- giant squishmallow). This is usually left on their bed with the stocking.
Everything else is wrapped and under the tree and is from who it’s from.

There are so many different ways to do it and I don’t think it really matters as long as you find a way which works for you and you can keep up every year. I’ve tried to cut down on the stockings a bit over the last few years but I love doing them and never succeed!

Another one of stocking and 1 small gift from Santa everything under the tree is from us - Santa let's us know what's on the list.

We also wrap in different Santa wrapping paper.

I find doing it Stocking from Santa etc makes it easier back at school especially with children excitingly comparing. The majority of parents in DS1 class do the same.

There is a few outliers who will declare Santa brought a PS4 or something but we explain to DS1 that will have been in collaboration with their parents.

It also future proofs it for when they ask for something crazy when 8 years old!

Stockings have small things in, and to be honest are often my favourite part! Over the years we’ve had small card game, logic toys, a torch, sweets, toiletries, a toy car, play animals, tiny puzzle books…

After seeing the tip on here, we wrap stocking presents in tissue paper. Does the trick, looks lovely and is so much less faff than actual wrapping paper

At you DDs age... if there is something they've consistently asked Santa for, put it with the stocking. My then 2yo got really upset as her "toy numbers" weren't in her stocking and she thought Santa had forgotten.

Split into several categories.

We have a Christmas Eve Box left by the elf on Christmas Eve morning to say thanks for looking after him. It contains "cozy" things - book, mug, nightwear, warm socks, bubble bath, chocs etc. All designed for a comfy and relaxing build up to the big day.

Stockings are hung on the fireplace and filled by Santa. They're only small (and not stretchy like the one from my own childhood). So these tend to have small items in, ideally cheaper things (fidgets, models etc). However our teen's stocking this year has a few nice things she'll really love (wallet and earrings).

Santa also leaves a small sack by the fireplace with some surprises and usually one thing they really want. It doesn't have to be big. For example the thing my youngest really wants this year is the next book in the series she is reading. They can mention some things they'd like for Christmas when they write to him. When they were really little we had a few rules to guide them - no pets and nothing mum and dad would disapprove of. Santa is fair in matching surprises but tends to stick to their wishes so he won't attempt to match the gift value.

Then gifts from us go under the tree. These are more balanced and I try to match value and size where I can. Obviously it's not completely possible all of the time. It's made up of some sensible things, some treats and usually a main gift.

They don't have a huge amount of family that buy for them but there will be a few small gifts under the tree from Grandparents and cousins also. Oh and one very badly wrapped gift from the dog. 😂

This is how we've always done it and it works well for us. Our youngest is 10 this year and we think she suspects the truth about how it all works. She hasn't asked though so we've left it this Christmas. We'll probably have a chat with her in the summer. Teen adores her little sister and has been excellent in playing along this year.

My DC are now young adults and we always have the same stuff in stockings - coins, bubble bath, new toothbrushes, tube of smarties, colouring pencils etc. as they got older it's now shower gel/pens/razors but still a new toothbrush, coins and sweets.

To begin with everything was from Santa but quickly changed to stocking only, and gifts from me. There are an awful lot of kids who will be thinking they're on the naughty list as they won't be getting piles of stuff from Santa - my two have pretty much always known that Santa brings just the token stocking

We have things to eat, read and play with in stockings, to keep them busy until a sensible time of the morning. No longer needed as they‘re teens, but I’ve stuck with it.

And I also make sure that they are equivalent, as they do compare as they unwrap.

Small gifts- tangerine, hot chocolate, chocolate coins, money, pencils, pens, whoop ie whoopie cushion, bubbles etc would be wrapped and put in stockings.

All other gifts wrapped and put on the chairs and sofa.

My DC are teens now but we have always done
a stocking from Santa filled with things like chocolate coins, tangerine, bath related toys, toiletries, flannel, tumbler, crayons, pencils or a pen, small plush toy, puzzle toy, craft stuff.

A small sack from Santa with one to three small toys they've asked for.
Everything above is wrapped in different paper from ours and is left in their rooms. They would come in our bed on a morning to open them. That gave us time to have a cuppa before we headed downstairs. They've asked to keep this tradition this year which I wasn't expecting 😊
They get a sack of presents from us which is left downstairs next to the tree- it's usually filled with pyjamas, clothes, the main toy/thing they asked for, selection box, books, jigsaws, board games, craft stuff, mugs, favourite foods.
All other presents from everyone else go under the tree.
Enjoy your little ones, it's magical 😊