How many presents does Santa usually bring for your children?

[arielsleepingbeauty]

I feel bad because the past years I feel we set a precedence for them to get many gifts from us and Santa. Last year they got 8 gifts from Santa and 8 gifts from me. I have been hammering into their heads that Christmas is about being with family and friends. They haven't asked for much and I prepared them for the fact that mom can't get too much, their dad either and even Santa isn't. We watch Good morning American every morning so they hear how bad the economy is and it reinfoces all my discussions with them about how bad things really are. So this year I decided to team up with my ex and go halves on all the gifts. We are giving a total of eight gifts to each and I am not sure how many will be from Santa. Maybe one or two. I fell so cheap, but when it comes down to it, they don't even need anything.

 

[donnajon]

Santa never wrapped at my house growing up but he did at DH's. I didn't want everything to be done my way so Santa now wraps at our house. Of course, DH's tradition, but does he help Santa do any of the wrapping? Of course not. And to the person who said Santa doesn't have time to wrap all of those gifts...that is why he has elves!!!
I actually really enjoy having the presents wrapped. It makes Christmas morning last so much longer. Instead of coming out and seeing everything all at once (yes I go way overboard and really spoil them at Christmas...but that is the only time.) my three kids are really good about each opening one gift at a time and really looking at it before the next kid opens one. And Santa's elves got really smart a few years ago. They came up with printed out name labels for each kid so Santa didn't have to hand write everything. And it makes counting the gifts to make sure each kid has the same number of items a breeze. Just compare the labels and make sure the same number of each name has been used. Santa also uses his own special paper...that has Santa on it of course!

 

[TheRatPack]

Every year we've had way way too many gifts. I find sales and clearance items so they end up with a lot of little things (Barbies, hotwheels....etc) Especially with Target clearance where things are 1-2.00 each. This year we told them they could ask for 3 things, and then I'd get them something they needed and something they could use as well, so 5 presents total. I think when all is said and done they'll have a few more than 5....but still better than the previous years where they had 10+ each.....again....lots of little things that are nice but were clearance prices and bought all year.

 

[monorailsilver]

Santa brings all the presents.

That is the way I was brought up & that is the way my dh was brought up.

I never once questioned why my parents didn't get us anything.

Oh & I wrap everything.

But I did tell my then 6 yo last year that "I hope Santa doesn't steal our wrapping paper to wrap presents". She thought it was the best thing since I had my wrapping paper box out with all the Santa wrap in plain site.

I told her that again this year so I don't have to worry about hiding it.

 

[jensen]

It's interesting following the posts on this thread... I guess I'm just one of those stick to my guns kind of people and when I decided that my children would only get 1 gift from Santa and 1 gift from Mom & Dad, that was it. I always end up buying way more than that during the holidays, but I simply don't wrap them and put them under the tree. One year I bought my daughter a new bike because it was such a good price at Christmas time... I didn't wrap it and put it under the tree... I simply put it in storage and when the time came to get out the bikes in the spring, she had a new one... no big deal. I don't quite get the facination with opening dozens of gifts... for me the specialness of the holiday gets lost in all the material excess.

 

[Fabinva]

My kids get one present from Santa and the rest from mom and dad. How many? depends how early I start shopping. One year I started in mid Sept and ended up with way too many!

 

[disykat]

It's interesting following the posts on this thread... I guess I'm just one of those stick to my guns kind of people and when I decided that my children would only get 1 gift from Santa and 1 gift from Mom & Dad, that was it. I always end up buying way more than that during the holidays, but I simply don't wrap them and put them under the tree. One year I bought my daughter a new bike because it was such a good price at Christmas time... I didn't wrap it and put it under the tree... I simply put it in storage and when the time came to get out the bikes in the spring, she had a new one... no big deal. I don't quite get the facination with opening dozens of gifts... for me the specialness of the holiday gets lost in all the material excess.

Good for you! It always really bothers me when people try to tell other people that their way isn't "magical" enough. Different people define things differently and trying to define how others are spending their holiday is just plain rude.

I'm glad that most of the people on this thread have been so accepting of the different ways we celebrate and haven't been saddened by the choices of others.

 

[Booknut]

We decided that every Christmas we'll give our daughter 3 main gifts because that is how many gifts Jesus received from the Wise men and we'll fill her stocking with a few little things. One of those we will make from 'Santa' - after all, Santa has to deliver gifts to every child and he can only carry one gift per child in that sled of his ;-)

She will get lots of gifts as well from family/friends but we think that as a family this will be a good tradition for us to start.

 

[mello]

This is exactly what we do.

Santa leaves one big gift that is unwrapped (sometimes they are individual gifts - last year the wii was their Santa gift) and their stockings (which also have things unwrapped).

 

[ChrisandDon'sMommy]

4 to 5 plus stocking.

Any more is a little much for me.