Christmas presents

[LivingAlmostLarge]

What do people spend on their kids for Christmas? Do they say if they have young children "santa" and parent presents? Or all from one or the other?

This is our first year we are doing presents. My DH doesn't want to do anything period. But I feel like a budget and we stick to it. We usually travel so we don't usually do presents, plus we get a ton usually from family and friends when we go home. But now we are in our own home and getting a tree.

[FLA]

I used to spend approx $100-150 per kid when they were young. usually there were enough "big" toys like Little Tykes cars and such that I got at garage sales and they scoured up well. Then when they hit video game age or iPod Touch age, they got one big thing (I did split the costs of game systems with my brother) and a few little.

My budget changed to $100 and stockings per kid last year, they didn't complain so I'm doing it again this year. We have a big breakfast, open presents which does not take long now that they are so much older. Later we play board games and have a nice dinner. It's so much less about the presents now and much more enjoyable.

oh and we did Santa presents and parent presents and used different wrapping paper so we wouldn't get caught.

[creditcardfree]

I've allocated $150 for each daughter this year. I'm aiming for that to include stocking items. Your budget should be all inclusive of santa, since those are still gifts you buy.

I'm sure we spent less when the girls were little. They got more then too. The stuff they want now is expensive!

Have you heard of the gift giving idea of something you need, something you want, something to read and something to wear? Just four gifts that fit those categories.

Going overboard is not necessary to have an enjoyable Christmas.

[FLA]

Have you heard of the gift giving idea of something you need, something you want, something to read and something to wear? Just four gifts that fit those categories.

Going overboard is not necessary to have an enjoyable Christmas.

I heard about that but I had already started buying for them, next year. That fits me to a T

[phantom]

This is going to be my first Christmas with a kid of my own to buy for. This thread is a good reminder that I need to talk to my husband about exactly what we're doing for my daughter's first Christmas. I think she'll mostly be getting necessities wrapped up in pretty paper. She loves paper or anything else that crinkles, so I know better than to worry too much about what's inside the paper at this point. We have a lot of relatives who want to buy her Christmas presents, and she'll have her first birthday shortly after the holidays. So, I'm going to really try to limit how much stuff we buy for her.

We'll probably do both parent presents and Santa presents. My parents used to wrap my presents from Santa in solid red paper, my sister's in solid green, and any for the family in green and red striped. I really liked the idea that Santa's workshop was a no-frills sort of present wrapping place. My mom once told me that some years she had a hard time finding solid colored paper but that she would stock up when she found it. I couldn't find any solid paper on clearance after the holidays last year, so I'll have to ask her if she has any stock left if I can't find any this year.

[snafu]

Since your DKs are young you can easily create your own Christmas traditions. Our extended family tradition is to make Christmas gifts. We did one Santa toy [used cheapest, Santa imprinted paper] a small toy and sports equipment from DH & I. Most expensive gift was always from the two sets of grandparents. I remember those as clothes and tickets to events. DSs mostly remember money given in small bills which looked impressive. Our DSs got toys, pjs, toques, mitts & socks from extended family when they were still 'Santa' aged. Later they were part of the family draw of names and over the years mostly got items they truly wanted.

My dad gave each grandchild at least $ 100. every gifting occasion for their education fund. He encouraged the other extended family 'patriarchs' to fund education programs. DH and I did our best to match the sums along with our regular, monthly sum.

We're not very commercial about Christmas. We go downtown and pay ridiculous parking costs to admire decorations and themes. I really like the shopping centres that do 'live' statues, celebrity decorated trees, or charity fashion shows. This weekend I'll join friends at two really big holiday bazaars mostly to chat, visit, and compliment them on their purchases.

[WhiskeyGirl]

What do people spend on their kids for Christmas? Do they say if they have young children "santa" and parent presents? Or all from one or the other?

This is our first year we are doing presents. My DH doesn't want to do anything period. But I feel like a budget and we stick to it. We usually travel so we don't usually do presents, plus we get a ton usually from family and friends when we go home. But now we are in our own home and getting a tree.

I do about $200 per kid. Something big they want, or two "not so big" things they want, something to wear, few things they need.

PJ's, bikes, Legos, remote control car, beats headphones, hoodies, to give you an idea what my kids will be getting.

[creditcardfree]

We'll probably do both parent presents and Santa presents. My parents used to wrap my presents from Santa in solid red paper, my sister's in solid green, and any for the family in green and red striped. I really liked the idea that Santa's workshop was a no-frills sort of present wrapping place. My mom once told me that some years she had a hard time finding solid colored paper but that she would stock up when she found it. I couldn't find any solid paper on clearance after the holidays last year, so I'll have to ask her if she has any stock left if I can't find any this year.

Guess what? Santa never left wrapped gifts at our house when I was a child and the same was true for our daughter's. We would come out on Christmas morning to a stuffed stocking and a gift below. Yea! Santa brought gifts!! All wrapped gifts were from the parents.

[MonkeyMama]

I'd say do whatever it is you want to do.

I mentioned recently in another thread that our Christmas budget is literally $0. It's not that we never buy our kids anything and doesn't speak to the quality. But it's just not something we make a financial priority or spend our cash on. In past years we have bought kids new game systems with credit card rewards (free for us). My dh usually gets them piles of new books for free. I recall last year he bought one of the kids a used video game for a few dollars.

I'd personally be fine with just not buying anything and not partaking in the materialism, but my dh feels a little more obligated. We often seem to end up with one gift for each kid + a shared gift. Just how it worked out the last year or two.

[LuckyRobin]

We always did that just the stockings were from Santa and the presents were from us. This taught our kids not to expect crazy expensive things from a magical creature (who we never explicitly told them was real) or have ridiculous expectations in that department, just a few small toys, some candy, a stuffed animal, and a book or coloring book that would fit in the stocking. The presents were from us and the kids knew we had a budget and kept their expectations in line with that even when they were little. They usually got some new clothes, two or three toys, and more books. Now that they are teenagers, they usually each get a video game and one or two other items that they specifically request and a book.

[dawnwes]

When they were little it was easier! Thomas the Tank engine, duplos, that sort of thing.

Now that I have two teens and one pre-teen, they want more expensive items!

We typically spend about $500 per kid max, sometimes less.

[FLA]

We always did that just the stockings were from Santa and the presents were from us.

I wish I had thought of this!

[phantom]

We always did that just the stockings were from Santa and the presents were from us. This taught our kids not to expect crazy expensive things from a magical creature (who we never explicitly told them was real) or have ridiculous expectations in that department, just a few small toys, some candy, a stuffed animal, and a book or coloring book that would fit in the stocking.

My parents taught me the opposite. They'd always get us one really nice fun thing and some new clothes from them. But, Santa often went a bit crazy on gifts. I probably believed in Santa for a lot longer than normal because I didn't think my parents could afford some of what he bought. Santa once brought the family a computer, and that stuck out as proof of his existence to me for a long time. Somehow, our expectations for Santa never escalated out of control, and we were always pleasantly surprised and grateful for whatever he brought. I think it all worked out pretty well for my parents because it let them spend a lot on us without impacting our impression of what we could expect them to spend the rest of the year.

While I've got no complaints and lots of happy memories about the way my parents handled Christmas when I was a kid, I can't see myself handling things the same way. I think I'd like to keep things on a smaller scale. I do like the idea that Santa just fills stockings. Maybe at my house he'll fill stockings and leave a single gift under the tree.

[MonkeyMama]

We always did that just the stockings were from Santa and the presents were from us.

Same here. Just not a big emphasis on Santa in our households growing up. Our kids never really believed in Santa anyway and so I didn't answer about Santa above. You might have different motivations or your kids may be REALLY into Santa. (I would have preferred to have the Santa magic a little longer in my house, but my kids just weren't buying it).

[amastewa93]

I do not yet have kids, but my family always did half and half where presents were concerned. Half were from Santa and half were from my parents. As we got older, the presents from Santa slowly faded out.

As far as cost, I think that really depends on age. You can shop for younger kids much cheaper than teenagers.