If you feel bad and think you havent bought enough for dc's read this..

[frecklyspeckly]

Last year I bought my DS and DD (5 and nearly 3 back then )a fair amount of stuff.

Without wanting to be precise about amounts etc, there was one large main present, a stocking, several parcels in addition to many other gifts from aunties, friends etc.

I know this was more than many people can and do get for many reasons, tbh it was an exceptional year and I was fortunate to have a bit of a windfall which I spent on the kids knowing I would not be doing it every year as I dont usually have the money.

Today I had a clearout and tidy up of ds room and it struck me that much of this stuff meant not much, had not been played with much at all. They had stuck with the same stuff they always liked before. So I asked when ds got home, very casually, what he got off Santa last year.

And the only thing he could remember was Strawberry Haribo. And the wooden santa puppet. And after prompting, his main present. But mainly it was the Haribo that he remembered.

That is it really, I just wanted to pass this on to anyone who feels the urge to go out this week and spend or borrow money they have not got as I have done in the past.

I don't actually do Big and This Year myself as suffer from that dilemma of fine balance between enough and too much.

I think I try to go for quantity...

Freckly. That would have really upset me.

I'm pleased to report that DS is still very happily playing with his Christmas presents from last year (all two of them barring little stocking fillers - he's still playing with those too). Less is more, definitely.

When dcs were very small (2.5 and 4.5) we decided not to buy very much because all their relatives were going to give them presents. We were in the middle of nowhere. On Xmas eve ds2 2.5 suddenly announced that Santa was bringing him a yellow lorry. We were absolutely horrified as he was only getting small amount of duplo farm pieces. Next morning relatives' presents proved to be highly educational and boring (books, trousers, jigsaws). Poor ds2 kept asking where his yellow lorry was, and why santa had not brought it. We were so upset by this betrayal of our poor little toddler's trust in Santa ( - had to rush out on boxing day and buy a horrible lorry from newsagent - only place open) that we never dared to be quite so frugal again. So I do think there needs to be a WOW factor to Christmas. That is why I am buying dd the dreaded Password Journal, which she has been begging Santa to get her for the last 2 months.
But basically all electrical toys are thoroughly boring and never last long. Last year's worst presents (unfortunately from us/(dh) were High School Musical Dance Mat, and Dr Who Voice Changer. Both made a dreadful racket and were tedious, large and caused fights.

Could not agree more. DD (11 months) is getting a box of tissues she can pull out one by one without anyone taking the box away because she is wasting them. DH and I are getting a few books from a secondhand bookshop and I have bought him the Glasvegas CD because he specifically mentioned it.

I've just got off the phone with my mum after finally managing to convince her that yes, the only things my DH wants for Christmas are a sock hanger for the washing line and some gourmet flavoured salt.

Money isn't tight, I just hate tat and clutter and am aghast at waste. PILs used to send absolute garbage novelty presents (fibre optic plastic cactus, ice crusher, paper plane launcher and a light-up Christmas tree that plugs into your USB port all arrived one year) until I chucked a complete paddy about landfill and peak oil. When their granddaughter is living through the economic nuclear winter of $800/barrel crude, I don't want her to know that her grandparents thought oil should be used to make light-up plastic cacti.

Actually I'm not telling the truth. The Rainbow Glow Bear with magic wand was a fantastic success for the next 6 months, and so was Baby Annabel which has been played with for last 3 years despite being as heavy as a real baby. It was better once its batteries ran out though and it stopped crying.

Now swanriver, that is very true as well. My parents are obsessed with not spoiling DS, to the point that they're reluctant to buy any toys at all. DH's mother doesn't do presents so we are very aware that the only toys he is likely to get will be from us. We have tried to find the right balance between fun/play value and longevity - this is hard as he's only 2.4. Then we'll get him a couple of smaller things to go around the tree. Last year it worked, thank God.

With the stocking I tend to go for a few small but good items (this year it's two books, a torch, and a couple of other things) rather than tat.

It's quite tricky, actually, finding the balance between being sensible and being mean.

Lol at me trying to sound experienced at this. I've only done 2 Christmases (first didn't count present wise really) and I'm sure it can only get harder.

"It was better once its batteries ran out though and it stopped crying"

Ah, so it IS just like a real baby

Has anyone read the scene in Little House on the Prairie where Mary and Laura get a penny a tincup a stick of candy, and a fairy cake made with white sugar in their Christmas stockings? They are overwhelmed with joy.

Not only have I read that Swanriver, but I make a point of reading to the DCs every year right before Christmas. Gets them in the correct frame of mind

Danae - just to set your mind at ease.
I have a 4.5 yo and she isn't that pushed about christmas.
Well meaning people who ask her about Santa are met with a blank stare. She's just begining to understand that Father Christmas gives presents to children who are asleep.

We are not very consumerist and have no TV either, Oh, and we are Buddhist!

We do have a tree and she loves the lights. I still haven't got her anything this year. She got some second hand clothes last year - I think.. And her grandad got her a cash register and groceries last year and she plays with it at least once a week - the groceries are used to feed her lovies at least every two days.

In her 4.5 years we have accumulated three storage boxes of toys that are played with again and again, and one chest of drawers of clothes - we make regular drops of bits and bobs DD has out grown to friends' kids, and that's all. DD has her own bookshelf, and chooses which book to read herself.

No plastic fantastic tat here! And it's not missed

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Box of tissues for baby is such a good idea! I might do that with a pack of wipes for ds3 (2.8yo). I think you need a wow factor too,and also to manage expectations with a letter from Santa explaining if he's not planning to bring something that dc is expecting. Mine are sure they're going to get what they asked for unless they get a letter from Santa to steer expectations.

I think things like snakes and ladders or connect 4, and suchlike games that you can't easily break or forget how to play are really good presents and are used for years.

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Oh Danae i've seen one somewhere, but cant for the life of me remember where!

Havent been shopping much so it cant be too hard....have you tried toys r us, wilko, or tesco. That is about the extent of where i have been but i have def seen one as debated about getting it for my DS. It was really sturdy - too ideal for under three.

My dp was upset a couple of years ago ,we were struggling and he lost his job a week before xmas , one of my friends was chatting to him and asked him to reel off all the presents he ever got for xmas as a child he could only think of a few ... but he could remember lots of happy memories about christmas and traditions but many of them did not include gifts he got .

Dd is getting too much this year, we can afford more this year and it has been a tough year for both dd's (finding out they have ASD). Dd says she only wants a playmobil park and play-dough ice cream shoppe so would be happy with just that.

Most of what they got last year did get played with as i don't buy for them in the year (apart from something small for birthdays).

danae how about this one?

now dd is 8, I am just stumped for ideas, beyond books. Have really been wracking my brain for something to get and feeling totally uninspired.

We made the mistake of just buying too much in past years when she did not yet have every last thing she might conceivably play with. However she will be expecting a heap probably as that is what she has always had IYSWIM. Best not to overdo it from the beginning

Danae my ds had the one that rudolph has done a link to and it was really sturdy. We got rid as he outgrew it. It was amusing too as quite often the tv remote would activate it???

The things that I remember getting for Christmas were the things like coloured pencils/pens/felt tips/soaps/books and unusual bits and pieces that would be considered stocking items (as a child of the eighties I remember with joy getting a hand decorated Kraft margarine tub filled with assorted scented erasers in the shape of fruit, hotdogs, milk cartons etc). The bigger things like a bike or some faddish thing I had my heart set on, I just can't remember now.

One year I wanted a Carebear really badly because of the craze for them and then never played with it...because after all it was just another dumb cuddly toy. I think the same year I got a very basic tape recorder/player and spent ages with my friends for years afterwards making our own "radio shows" and so on.

One year all my little bro wanted from Father Christma was a bubblegum dispenser 2p money box and a roll of sellotape!

You're quite right. DD is the only one of her generation on both sides of the family so gets tons and tons from gps, uncles, aunt etc.

We always try to get her one main present, and let everyone else know what other things she wants, or if we need something to go with the main one. HOWEVER I am extremely stupid and about half way through the year I start seeing odd little things which I think she'll love and would do in a stocking and when Xmas comes I find I have 932 things for her!