Easter gifts

[Breakingpoint1961]

When did an Easter egg turn into Easter 'gifts'?

When I was young I'd get an Easter egg if I was lucky (I am old) but nowadays kids get gifts/money too? Why, just why??

I'm waiting to see all the (very expensive) 'gifts' my DGS has been given by my DDs in laws.

Why, just why do you care what others do??

We got eggs, gifts and money as kids 30/40 years ago. Both of my kids got eggs and cash yesterday. One got some clothes and trainers and one got a new phone as well. We’re not religious, it’s just a time we all see more of each other, see friends etc and eat nice food and buy gifts.

Funnily enough it has been my parents / in laws who bought my daughter gifts that I wasn't expecting, nor did I ask for them. I thought it was strange. I made up my daughter (age 2) a small Easter basket with a milky bar bunny, some crayons, stickers and a colouring book (rather than any more chocolate). I certainly won't ever be making any more of a deal of Easter than that and hope the grandparents won't build up any expectations in future!

I do an easter basket filled with little gifts. Then my kids get one medium-sized egg each. That's it - no easter eggs from relatives or anything.

What make me laugh are the ones who moan about us giving gifts at easter, about how much money we're spending and how wasteful it all is, when they'll spend absolutely fucking loads on 10+ easter eggs for their kids 🤣

I divert that money away from chocolate and into small gifts they'll enjoy and keep forever. We all allocate our money differently and value different things, you should care less.

I thought this was gonna be about gifts for wives, I bought my wife flowers, chocolate egg and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Her mum some flowers (she lives with us)
Wifes friend came over Saturday evening and is having a hard time at home with DH and grown up DS, so when I went out to fetch my DS from golf I came back with flowers and chocolates for her. My kids both just have chocolate eggs.

Another expectation from people who don't have it to give, and another 'hallmark' day.

And I should care yes, about those close to me and the superficiality and expectation of life.

I mean..trainers for Easter? Really?

Trainers and a new phone for Easter!?

Trainers , yes, thats a bit OTT, but I guess some people just have spare splash money laying around.

@Tourmalines @Breakingpoint1961 @Mrssheepskin

Yes, we do have plenty of spare cash and we spend it how we like. Judge away. OTT, in your opinion. Thankfully your opinion is utterly fucking irrelevant.

We get together with family and friends 3 times a year, Xmas/New Year hols, Easter hols and simmer hols and give gifts. Our money, our time, our choice.

We don’t do any of it through expectation, it’s just the time that we’re all off so it suits us all. If you feel expectation, that’s your problem. Peer pressure ended for me about year 9. 🤷🏻‍♀️

*summer

Both of our opinions can be irrelevant then.

Only I’ve not expressed an opinion on anyone not giving gifts or giving less than us for Easter, just said what we do. If someone gives their an egg and nothing else, it’s not my business.

Easter gifts/cash isn't a new thing. I buy Easter gifts for my nieces and nephews as that was normal (for the well off families) when I was growing up (I'm early 30s now). When they're teens, I'll probably give them cash instead.

I’m 40 and my Grandmother would alway buy me a new summer dress for Easter. My own children got a small lego set around the same price of an Easter egg from PIL. Other than that it’s chocolate.

There were certainly friends getting proper Easter baskets full of things when I was young (1970s). We got chocolate eggs (in my mind they were more fantastic than today, with the chocolates hidden inside the eggs). Most of my friends though have always just had Easter egg hunts for their kids and now if older it's just one big egg (I mean no one gives presents).

The OP started a thread asking about it. If you didn’t want any opinions on what you or others do then perhaps don’t post about it.

Any reason to buy or consume I guess. Probably the same people who change cars every other year and post about their holidays on Facebook.
Whether they get any joy out of it is another question.

There is no expectations you just have an issue with what someone else does and now need to turn into onto how of affects you and to give you something to complain about

What others do or not does not change what we do for our child, it is none of our business close to us people or not

Couldn't care less tbh. We aren't big on Easter gift giving but I always make a whole Easter slideshow with quizzes and fun facts, and those who give more correct answers do get small prizes (accessories, stickers, figurines etc). It's just a tradition we have, and while I personally wouldn't do trainers or new phones as Easter gifts I don't object to others doing it. Live and let live ig 💁

@BastardEasterWeekend what will you top the trainers and phone with next year? And the year after? I'm not antagonising honestly, just very curious as to how far/how much you (people generally) will give.

@WandaWonder and my 'issues' are? Consumerism and materialism mainly.
And if you look at my OP I don't think you'll find I'm complaining either🤷🏻‍♀️

We always received gifts as kids as well as eggs. I remember getting a Nintendo gameboy one year and we got bikes another year. It’s not a new thing.

We get our kids gifts, my daughter got a new iPad and my son had a new bag for uni and cash, as well as eggs. My partner bought me trainers and I bought him some art.

what will you top the trainers and phone with next year? And the year after? I'm not antagonising honestly, just very curious as to how far/how much you (people generally) will give.

Why would the pp have to ‘top’ them next year? I think that’s your own messed up thought process there. We sometimes spend more/less than other years depending on what everyone would like.

I don’t have Facebook, in fact no SM other than mumsnet.

We get a lot of joy out of it. We get joy from many things. 😊

@AnotherBankHolidayMonday I think it's the consumerists and the materialists that are 'messed up' quite frankly..Happy Easter

I do gifts because that's what we had growing up, instead of eggs (I was allergic) so it's like tradition for me.

However, I do give them eggs and do a little hunt as well, and use the gifting part as a good time of year to give outdoor toys, as my eldest was born October, I usually add in some colouring books and they asked for some nail varnishes this year so nothing too big at all.

The tricky thing for you @Breakingpoint1961 is that your DD’s in-laws consider Easter to be a gift giving occasion and you don’t. Maybe they’ve always done this, maybe they only started with their/your DGS. Maybe it’s somewhere in the middle - they’ve always done it a bit but has been escalating recently.

I get why you’d be annoyed. FWIW, my parents have always been able to/chose to give my dc more than MIL would/could. It makes not one jot of difference to the relationship. My dc adore MIL.

Why did you assume that the pp would have to ‘top’ it? The poster didn’t say anything to indicate that at all. Her children could have needed new trainers/phone, for all you know their other ones could be on their last legs. Not that it matters. You made assumptions and I question the messed up thought process behind it.

Gift giving for us is about giving something that we know the person wants/needs and would like. It’s not about it being bigger than last year.