Average amount of presents you get your child for christmas

[BeckyEsq]

We are new to this as we only have one DD who just turned 2. I don't have a set number of gifts in mind though I do try to stick to a budget. On Christmas Eve we will give her new PJ's and a couple of special ornaments to hang on the tree. Santa is bringing the Fisher Price Disney Princesses Castle and Ariel's coach, a doll high chair, a doll cradle, Animator's Collection Snow White doll (got at outlet for a good deal) and several books. There may be a few other things as well. Being the first child, our house is not already full of toys. She really does play with them, and children learn through play. The right kind of toys are not a waste IMHO.

I understand the concern about kids' expectations from Santa and I have thought about it, but not entirely sure yet what our approach will be when DD is a little older and able to understand. On the one hand, I don't really care if we get "credit" for buying the gifts as I think there is plenty of time for her to learn about work and money once she stops believing in Santa. On the other hand, I do wonder how to explain about less fortunate children. Maybe we will say some of the gifts are from Santa and some are from us, but refuse to specify.

 

[jm-mom]

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.

Exact same thing at our house. Our kids are old enough now to understand that things cost money and they should be grateful to us for providing them. Santa still comes because my 9 year old still believes but he only brings 1-2 things for each child and now the pricier, more elaborate things come from mom and dad.

 

[jm-mom]

I'm surprised by how many of you actually have gifts for THIS Christmas already! I am feeling way behind. I can't pin my girls down on a wish list but I better get working on it.

 

[lady9]

Our gifts amounts vary from year to year depending on what the kids want but generally 10 or less gifts.

Our kids believe that Santa brings you one special gift wrapped in Santa paper so you know it is from him. The rest are from mom and dad. This happened because we were shopping with our then 4 year old DS for gifts for the same age little boy we picked off the Giving Tree at church. Our DS wanted to know why we had to shop for him if Santa brought the presents. We quickly told him Santa only brings 1 gift, the rest are from mom and dad, and we are helping this little boy's parents this year give him a nice Christmas. As our children have grown I find them very appreciative of their gifts because they know all but one comes from us.

 

[jacksmom]

I looooove Christmas (maybe cause its my bday) I love to have lots of gifts for everyone to open! I do 1-2 bigger gifts then smaller gifts to fill in, but like to have as many as possible for kids and dog to open !

 

[richmond282]

Our kids believe that Santa brings you one special gift wrapped in Santa paper so you know it is from him. The rest are from mom and dad. This happened because we were shopping with our then 4 year old DS for gifts for the same age little boy we picked off the Giving Tree at church. Our DS wanted to know why we had to shop for him if Santa brought the presents. We quickly told him Santa only brings 1 gift, the rest are from mom and dad, and we are helping this little boy's parents this year give him a nice Christmas. As our children have grown I find them very appreciative of their gifts because they know all but one comes from us.

We told our DD that we have to leave $ for Santa to help pay for the gift. Some kids parents don't have $ to give Santa to help with the presents.

 

[kayrosek]

It definatly depends on the year for us. For years it was 15-20 a piece but alot of those were little things. For the last few years we have been going to Great Wolf over Christmas and still doing one big gift(electronic or similar), one 40-50 dollar gift, one 25-20 dollar gift, possibly a book, alway pj's on Christmas Eve and a season pass to our local amusement park. This year we are still going to Great Wolf but we will also have another child joining us for Christmas. Four kids instead of three makes a big difference so no big gifts this year and a much smaller budget per kid, but we are increasing our number of gifts to probably 8 to 10. They will all be smaller. Probably one 30 or 40 dollar gift then the rest around 20 dollars or less. Several small things like slippers and books. We will also still probably do season passes to the amusement park for our kids and throw in a gc to somewhere, probably a movie theatre for our bonus DD so she won't feel left out on that. Also I always do the same amount of gifts for each kid. DS is on the Autistic Spectrum and counts everything so he would really notice if one kid had less gifts plus I don't like the idea of one sitting around while others still have gifts since we unwrap one at a time. Sometimes I have to be creative by wrapping two similar things together or find some way to split a larger thing up but they always have the same amount to unwrap. This year will be one of those creative years for DS if DH gets his way cuz he wants to get DS a Hermit crab and supplies which will be above budget for one gift so it will have tto be split into 3 or 4 luckily there will be lots of little items to this one gift so Ill just split into groups of like things.

 

[luv2mickey]

In our house it's quality not quantity!

We have three kids 21, 20, and 18 and have always given 4 maybe 5 gifts from Santa nothing from us. Our kids were only allowed to ask Santa for one gift when they were little, boy did that make they really think about what they truly wanted. They were told if Santa brought more gifts that was up to him.

It's more about the monetary value, I spend about $600/kid now that they're older, Spent a lot less when they were younger.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Perhaps credit is the wrong word but appreciation is 100% correct. Not only do my Dh and I carefully pick out gifts so do their grandparents, aunts and uncles and when they say thank you it should be too the people who provided those gifts. Then again my kids are expected to say thank you and we do write thank you notes to everybody who gives and that is the "credit" I am talking about. Santa is a fun tradition we just no longer have the majority of presents come from him.

 

[Ginny Favers]

My oldest has asked for a dollhouse didnt see that coming so looking into a Kidkraft one instead of the Barbie Dream house she also getting a Dreamlite pillow pet and a few dvd/cd's she wanted and I bought my youngest the Disney Little people Castle with all the Princesses so far...

Did you see that zulily has Kidcraft on sale now? I got a construction set that was normally $140 for only $50.

 

[jcemom]

We don't go by number of gifts, because some things are far more expensive than others. We have three kids: 19, 18 and 10. They get about $300 each from Santa (not including stocking stuffers), and $100 each from Mom and Dad (not including clothes). I usually get them about $100 each in clothes, give or take a little.

This year DS19 wants a PS Vita video game bundle which costs around $300 so that will be his only Santa gift, DS18 wants a $300 camera, so only one Santa gift for him too, and DD10 is planning to ask for American Girl McKenna's bedroom set, which costs $225. I'll have to find some less expensive gifts for her (pet shops, craft kits) so that she has some presents to unwrap. If I can stay in the $15-20 range per gift, that will give her five things under the tree in addition to the bed set.

It's tougher when they get older and want more expensive items. I remember when my two boys were pre-schoolers a large chunk of the living room would be filled with gifts on christmas morning. Now we can barely get the tree skirt covered.

We open gifts from us to the kids and from the kids to us on christmas eve, and Santa gifts on christmas morning.

 

[monica9]

well, I feel I am going to go over the 20 present limit this year. The disney store has such great deals on the site! $8 princess dolls and clothes I feel are great! I ended up getting aladdin, jasmine, pocohontas, rapunzel and flynn all for the same price of 2 barbie dolls!

 

[VagueFury]

We usually give the kids about 5-6 things and they get a gift or two from relatives most years. I'd say a big year they might get 10.

This year it's questionable if they'll be getting anything since we're trying to climb out of a nasty hole and have had nothing but bad luck recently. I usually have most of their stuff bought months early, but I haven't had money to pre-buy this year. It's being a pain walking past great deals since I just didn't have the money no matter how good the deal was. We may have to have tax-Christmas this year. Luckily my kids are older and can understand the situation.

 

[amylynne01]

I have 3 kiddos (DD1 will be 5 on 12/22, DD2 is 3.5, and DS will be 8 months). They're each getting 10 gifts - 2 from Santa and 8 from us. Plus they'll get Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and stockings (toothbrushes, candy, small trinkets, hair ties, fun socks, goldfish, Disney gcs since we're going in January). I'm also doing a couple family gifts this year - Just Dance Disney, a Mickey waffle maker (if I can find one), and a membership to a local children's museum.

According to my spreadsheet (yes, I have a Christmas gift spreadsheet lol), I'm going to spend $200-$225 on each kid for gifts plus the other stuff. I loved having big Christmases growing up. I love to see the twinkle in my kids' eyes when they come down and see a beautiful tree with gifts that Daddy and I picked out for each of them.

 

[Swirly girls]

We have 3 daughters, ages 16, 15, and 14. We JUST got back from our vacation to Disney, discovery cove, sea world and universal. We also budgeted to let the girls get whatever they liked, and wanted during our 11 day vacation, so this Christmas we aren't going to spend as much as we normally do

I buy the same number of gifts for each child. I also make sure the amount is close too.
They are old enough to get quantity vs quality too.
Last year they each got more spendy, bigger things ( IPad, Kindle and Nook)
They always get pjs, and perfume and gift cards.

They love clothes from hollister ect, so that is usually a given each year too.
I guess the amount of presents is usually 15-20 each kid.

This year, in their Santa stockings I'm doing a Disney theme. I thought since we just got back, they would enjoy that. I bought some stuff while on vacation fir stockings. I have been on Disney world online for park merchandise as well as the Disney store.

Their stockings also have some sort of candy and chocolate too.
They are old enough to know the truth about Santa, but still play along

 

[100AcreWood]

This is really interesting. We went nuts when our first was the only one but now with three we have set 5 from Santa and 3 from us. We keep it under $300 per kid. Our kids are the only grandkids so our parents go really nuts. They give a lot of gifts. Last year I counted and my dd5 received 36 gifts!

 

[Swirly girls]

This is really interesting. We went nuts when our first was the only one but now with three we have set 5 from Santa and 3 from us. We keep it under $300 per kid. Our kids are the only grandkids so our parents go really nuts. They give a lot of gifts. Last year I counted and my dd5 received 36 gifts!

I remember those days when our first daughter was very small. She had so many gifts, she actually got sick of opening and wanted to stop. We saved some for Christmas morning, except it was almost as bad then too! Every holiday she got a ton of presents, Easter, and even Halloween!

Now, it is more expensive things they want. I can't really get by with much under $20 anymore
My oldest just got het license to drive in June, and we gave her a truck ( we live in Minnesota and four wheel drive is a must) so, I'm planning on buying some accessories for her truck for Christmas.
She also loved to go get coffee at one our local coffee houses, so gift cards for those is a must too.

 

[StacyMarie]

I spend a set amount on each kid. My DD are 17 and 16. They know that if they ask for something expensive, they will get less gifts.

 

[justakrazymom]

What is the average amount of presents you get for your child for christmas or hanukkah? If for christmas, how many from you and how many from "santa"? What are the ages of your child and how many children do you have? This is not counting the presents they get from relatives or friends, just from their parents and "santa".

1- 4 year old girl

About 10 from Santa
About 10 from me and DH

4 kids..ages 7,9,10 and 18. We spend about $100-300 per kid.. that includes Santa.. they get 1 santa gift and 3 from us

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

We have four kids: 15, 12, 9 and 7. The kids all get three unwrapped gifts from Santa, plus their stockings. They also get one from each sibling and maybe 5 from Mom and Dad. We also have gifts from dh's side of the family. All together, the kids have about 18-20 gifts under the tree. They get a few more from my parents after Christmas dinner.

I shop all year, so there are things they don't ask for that I found on a great deal. I also always include many practical things that I probably would have bought anyway (clothes, new gloves, new battery for dd's laptop, etc.). I just prefer to wrap it all up to add to the pile under the tree!