Average amount of presents you get your child for christmas

[100AcreWood]

We usually do 2 under the tree and 6 from Santa. I love the magic of Christmas morning. And the kids don't seem to ever remember who gave them what except for what Santa brought. My parents are retired and have thankfully slowed down their gift giving. When my oldest was 2 they gave her 15 presents for Christmas. She cried she was so tired of opening presents! My in laws don't listen and give as much as they dang well please. They also give more to my oldest dd and my 2nd child finally caught on last year.

 

[Colleen27]

This year I am vowing not to overbuy. My 6 year old daughter wants an American Girl Just Like You Doll so she will get that. I have already purchased the beauty chair from Target that fits American Girl dolls and the backpack carry case thing too (when they were on sale). I am considering the bed that fits American Girl dolls from Target and I already know she wants some Friends Legos and a cotton candy maker. That's pretty much going to be it for her so that would be 6 or 7 presents, probably 3 or 4 of them from Santa and the rest from us. For my oldest, I am buying her a pair of boots and a Michael Kors key chain and I think that will be it for her. I will wrap up money divided up into boxes to even up the number of presents to open on Christmas morning. My oldest is in college and all she really wants, other than the boots and the key chain, is money but I like for her to have the same number of presents to open. Should be an easy Christmas to shop for!

I'm getting good at not overbuying... Overspending, though, is quite another matter.

This year we had a heck of a time coming up with birthday gifts; we aren't a family that buys all year round, but still my older kids couldn't think of anything they really wanted. They both ended up with concert tickets to see favorite artists. For Christmas I know we're going to have the same issue, maybe worse because they've both made pretty good money this summer and have bought the few small wants they had for themselves. So I'm leaning towards making specialty camp for each of them the big gift, which would mean this Christmas would see the fewest packages under the tree and the highest price tag thus far.

 

[kajs22]

Way too many - I have never counted, but, the tree is always packed! My kids are 10 & 12, but, still claim to believe in Santa - lol. I told them I believe and that is why Santa still leaves me a present under the tree even though I am a grown up

 

[reginaastralis]

Last year I changed my mind about how Santa should work, he brings one special gift and a couple small things but the rest come from my husband and I. I decided that we work really hard to provide for our family and that we should get credit for bringing the majority of the gifts.

We will have to talk to inlaws though as they had gifts from Santa at their house for our kids and for some reason that is probably not ration this just doesn't seem right.

THIS! I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but this is where we are. DD has received an American Girl each year the past two years for Christmas, and is asking for Kit now this year. Part of me wants to get the credit for Kit, but I also really think this is the last year she'll believe. I also said I thought that last year would be the last as well, so haha on me. She's already told me some kids in her class told her Santa wasn't real last year, but that she didn't want to believe them because he brings awesome gifts.

Our plan right now is for Santa to bring Kit and maybe a few other smaller things, and we plan on giving her the old fashioned typewriter she's asking for and a camera (thanks to Kit, she's trying to write her own newspaper) She isn't really asking for much (well, she just asked for Saige, and that's not gonna happen) because she's trying to convince us to let her go to two summer camps and she's told us she'd like us to just give her money. I'm honestly shocked that's happened so quickly!

 

[nancygirl1]

We set a specific amount and they decide how they want to spend it. Last year it was $400 each for a "big" gift...we also buy some small things (3 teenage boys). One wanted a new set of drums, but for that amount everything wasn't as good as he wanted because he was upgrading. He ended up finding a great set on Craigslist that was worth a lot more than $400. My kids have learned to be creative if they want something that costs more than they have to spend. They don't mind buying used or refurbished in order to get what they really want. We've done it with electronics, video game systems, video games, phones, etc.

They don't receive any other gifts from anyone else but us. We have very little family so we don't mind spending some extra.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Well in our house its usally instering:
The kidsget 10 gifts each, never from santa. My mom and aunt usally end up with 3ish (one from me, one from each other, one from gma)
gma gives me 20 on black friday and I buy my own gift (and wrap it, im full service). Mom spends about 35ish and asks me what I want. Last year I got one gift (a tablet). My aunt usally asks me too ($20 gift) and the girls always get me somehting (usally somthing weird, they pick it out themselves, the 11 year old gave me a 6 pack of gum last year and a bean bag....)

 

[verleniahall]

We don't have any kids ourselves, but the DH and I usually spend about 1000 each on each other, not including stocking, and the little gifts year round.

Then, extended family gets 100 per person for gifts

As for Santa; I'm 25 and you can't MAKE me tell you there is no Santa!!
My older brothers (one is 46 the other is 48) and I still have to write letters to Santa and give them to our parents (yes; we still do Santa at all of our ages) and it makes it fun.

 

[MinMouse]

In our house we have a rule "if you don't believe you don't receive". So dd18 and dd15 get a few gifts from Santa and a few from mom and dad. We set an overall budget per daughter but it doesn't have to be exactly the same. Usually $400-500 each.

 

[bbak3030]

I guess we do things differently than most. Everything comes from Santa. We have told our girls that Santa picks out the gifts and brings them, but mom and dad get the bill!
They usually get 7-8 gifts each. And they get sooooo much from family and friends.

 

[lisaross]

we celebrate Hanukkah so we like to give a present each night. That is 8 gifts. As the kids are getting older its a bit harder to fill in nights with cheap gifts as usually its 1 big gift and then smaller ones. "big gift" could be an ipod touch, tv - last year my son got a g-shock watch. I have a budget that i stick with.

 

[Sydney2977]

Has anyone started thinking about gifts for this year yet?

Older DS is taking 2 college classes in hs for dual credit. He came home after the first two days and said "I'm gonna have to use the laptop a LOT during this year." So DH and I decided that we will get him his own for Christmas. That takes care of our gift, then Santa will bring him some others if he's been good.
Now we've gotta figure out what to get younger DS. We also need to start actually "shopping" for the laptop: reading up, researching, etc. I work in retail and I like to get our gift buying done early. Plus our family is all out of town so we have to mail gifts. I'm hoping when we're at WDW the first week in Nov. I can find some stuff.
Anyone else got a plan in mind?

 

[LMN]

We have 3 kids: 16, 13 and 8. The last few years have been leaner since I am now working a job at less than 1/2 the pay of the one I used to have before I was laid off.

I try to spend about the same on each child, but it is too hard to keep to the same number of gifts since the older kids gifts usually cost way more than the things the youngest wants.

The kids get 1-2 things from mom and dad and 1 thing from Santa (usually the big gift). They also each get a gift from each sibling. We give the kids $40 to pick out the 2 sibling gifts they each buy. Honestly, this is one of my favorite traditions. It is fun to see the things they have picked out for their siblings. Sometimes it is something the sibling has asked for, other times it is something that they "just know" that the sibling will enjoy.

And Santa always brings a family gift. Most of the time it is a movie, but last year it was a cake pop machine!

We used to spend alot more money on Christmas, but these last few years have been leaner by necessity and it has made dh and I realize that for us, spending alot more at Christmas really didn't make for a happier Christmas. A good lesson for us to learn.

 

[pigletto]

We have 3 kids: 16, 13 and 8. The last few years have been leaner since I am now working a job at less than 1/2 the pay of the one I used to have before I was laid off.

I try to spend about the same on each child, but it is too hard to keep to the same number of gifts since the older kids gifts usually cost way more than the things the youngest wants.

The kids get 1-2 things from mom and dad and 1 thing from Santa (usually the big gift). They also each get a gift from each sibling. We give the kids $40 to pick out the 2 sibling gifts they each buy. Honestly, this is one of my favorite traditions. It is fun to see the things they have picked out for their siblings. Sometimes it is something the sibling has asked for, other times it is something that they "just know" that the sibling will enjoy.

And Santa always brings a family gift. Most of the time it is a movie, but last year it was a cake pop machine!

We used to spend alot more money on Christmas, but these last few years have been leaner by necessity and it has made dh and I realize that for us, spending alot more at Christmas really didn't make for a happier Christmas. A good lesson for us to learn.

It is a good lesson and one that I am already struggling with. Christmas has always been a big fat deal gift wise because we don't buy them wants throughout the year very much. This year we have a surprise trip planned for Dec 13th to the 23rd. Of course that is the GIANT gift. I still don't want there to be nothing to open on Christmas day though. So dh and I are going back and forth on how much we want to spend or what to get them. Obviously it will be much less, but I still want a Christmas. It's hard to make the budget and stick to it. But we will. We have to. Not only will there be far far less disposable income because of the trip, I also don't think they need much else after a big trip.

 

[mum2simon]

We give one gift from Santa, usually the "big" gift and 3 gifts from Mom and Dad (since Jesus was brought three gifts from the Wise Men). Santa also leaves a filled stocking and on Christmas Eve we gift the kids new PJs and a family game/movie/book.

When our oldest was little we went overboard and the kids just don't play with it all. We have huge extended families, and my oldests birthday is Dec 22, so we are still inundated with stuff. Keeping our gifts minimal and thoughtful lead to wonderful stress free memories

 

[aprilgail2]

I guess we do things differently than most. Everything comes from Santa. We have told our girls that Santa picks out the gifts and brings them, but mom and dad get the bill!
They usually get 7-8 gifts each. And they get sooooo much from family and friends.

I did the same when mine was younger- I gave one gift and santa left tons! I didn't feel the need to get "the credit" for all the gifts then, would rather see the magic of Santa- when they get older they know who bought all the stuff.
This year my daughter is getting just 2 or 3 things because they are expensive- one is a 3 day trip to a festival thing in Florida that I bought her and her friend tickets too.

 

[Poohforyou]

We never set a number of gifts just a $ amount. Dd is now 14 so her taste has gotten more expensive. Last year she got an iPhone 5. Her birthday was just last week and we got her a touch screen laptop. She knows it's partly an early Christmas present. Her other big want is wireless headphones so that'll be her big gift. We have 2 school trips looming in the future so she knows some birthday and Christmas funds will go towards those over the next few years.

 

[phewms]

This Christmas will be the first year that my 5 yr old son is not an only child. Prior to this year, he got lots of gifts from both Santa and us. Santa usually brought the "big" gifts (that were too big to be wrapped) such as a bike, drum set, train table, etc. Last Christmas, he asked Santa to start wrapping gifts, so even though he received about the same amount, the gifts from Santa decreased but the gifts from Mom and Dad increased, so he didn't really notice a difference.

His little sister arrived in April and he knows that Nick (the family elf) cannot make as many gifts for the both of them. Santa will bring his new drum set and Mom/Dad will get the rest. This is also the year that we pull 4 names from the Angel Tree and he helps pick out gifts for those kids as well as writes letters to Santa from each one in hopes that Santa will bring them something. The years that we pull from the Angel Tree, he "shares" his presents.

Soon he will stop believing in Santa so I like to make each Christmas has magical as possible, while not forgetting the REAL reason for the Season.

 

[DizMe]

My mom, dh's aunt and my in-laws were notorious for overriding our wishes to keep it small. We don't believe in giving kids masses of gifts. We LOVE Christmas and the magic it brings but too many presents is just a bad message, not to mention unnecessary. Things got so out of hand that we had to take action. We told everyone that they could get each child up to 3 gifts (one being the preferred number). Anything over that was going to be donated to charity and we would randomly select the wrapped gifts to be donated. It actually worked pretty well, except that dh's aunt has now figured out how to stick a whole bunch of things in one gift bag.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that our kids are the only kids in the family on both sides.

 

[Deffenm]

We have 3 kids 14,12,9. They usually get about 10 gifts each. Santa brings one gift and fills stockings and the rest from mom and dad. Last year we did the want, need, wear, read theme. Now for wear they didn't just get one gift it was actually 3 (one box for shirts, one box for pants, one box for shoes). The kids actually liked doing it that way. None of them believe in Santa anymore but they still go along with it right down to sprinkling reindeer food on the front lawn.

DD9 birthday is Christmas Eve so she gets 5 gifts on her birthday and then once we are done with her birthday celebration we have a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Christams Eve gifts which are new PJ's and book/game.

We also have an advent calendar box that has special treats for each day as we countdown to Christmas. The treats could be anything from making christmas cookies, visiting zoo to see lights, candy, new ornament for the year, to seeing movie at theater. The holidays are a special time for us and we enjoy spending time as a family doing lots of things.

 

[MinMouse]

My mom, dh's aunt and my in-laws were notorious for overriding our wishes to keep it small. We don't believe in giving kids masses of gifts. We LOVE Christmas and the magic it brings but too many presents is just a bad message, not to mention unnecessary. Things got so out of hand that we had to take action. We told everyone that they could get each child up to 3 gifts (one being the preferred number). Anything over that was going to be donated to charity and we would randomly select the wrapped gifts to be donated. It actually worked pretty well, except that dh's aunt has now figured out how to stick a whole bunch of things in one gift bag.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that our kids are the only kids in the family on both sides.

We dealt with the issue of family overdoing it on gifts when my girls were pretty young. I asked my parents to put the $$$$ in a college fund. Also asked extended family to do the same...small gift and $$$ in college fund. One of the best things we ever did.