How many gifts do your kids get at Christmas?

[Meriwether]

I was going to say a lot, but Catwoman set the bar pretty high for "a lot".

Gift numbers are padded with necessary things, like any sparring gear that is wearing out and clothing that needs to be replaced, particularly socks and underwear.

Each kid would get their stocking and maybe 15-20 things, but only 5-10 would be what people generally think of as gifts.

We will be moving right around the holidays this year, so I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff, even stuff that are more needs. Maybe we'll celebrate boxing day this year. Each kid will be able to paint/decorate their new room which will be a big part of their Christmas gifts.

[alysee]

9 hours ago, Drama Llama said:

For those of you whose relatives give a ton of gifts, has anyone had any success getting it reduced?

Things have gotten really out of control here.  

Part of the issue is that I think all of the family is hesitant to treat one set of cousins differently from the other, and my SIL really wants her kids to get a ton of stuff.  

We did have to talk to both sides of family. My moms love language is gifts but we had to stop it because it was ridiculous. This won't work for everyone but we told her point blank that anything other than books or clothing will be automatically donated because there is no room for stuff. Last year she gave them an IOU for a date with them and a gift card they can spend when they are together. They had a blast getting one on one time with Nana. My MIL used to give the worst gifts. We had a talk with her when we moved back that we will only accept gifts that we have approved because our living space is limited and a one year old doesnt need an entire full band of instruments(yes this happened!). She now usually makes a gift or she asks what they want. Last year she made bath robes for all the kids and bought them slippers. We have had to impose a ton of boundaries to make it a Christmas that we can all enjoy. 

[Hannah]

My siblings live on other continents, so we only exchange gifts when we happen to be together for Christmas or a birthday and even then we're flying to be together and usually extending the vacation, so the items need to be small.  We usually try to add a paid activity that we all attend as well.

Our Christmas is usually only direct family - dh and I and the kids, and now elder Dd's boyfriend for Christmas Eve.  We do the gift exchange after dinner as this is the tradition I grew up with.   On Christmas day we used to go to the in-laws, but they have passed away.  Elder Dd will go to her boyfriend's family this year.

When the kids were little they'd get one large gift and about five smaller ones from us.  We also followed the wants, needs, wear, read recipe, with sometimes two in a category, depending on budget.

Now that they are older its mostly larger items that would be nice to haves.  One child got a gift card for a washing machine as this took away the need to go to the on-premise laundromat.  The other will get a lot of better quality than she'd otherwise have got photographic equipment for her university course.

[MercyA]

9 hours ago, Drama Llama said:

For those of you whose relatives give a ton of gifts, has anyone had any success getting it reduced?

Things have gotten really out of control here.  

Part of the issue is that I think all of the family is hesitant to treat one set of cousins differently from the other, and my SIL really wants her kids to get a ton of stuff.  

A long time ago, when nieces / nephews / cousins were starting to arrive, my brother basically said, "We're not going to be buying for nieces / nephews / siblings anymore. Everyone else can do what they want." It was too costly for their family and was going to start to be overwhelming and stressful as well. My sister was happy because money was tight for her too. I was happy because it simplified things. They didn't worry about what anyone else did. They would not have cared if I continued to buy gifts for their kids, but they were not going to be able to do the same. 

It really just took someone saying, "We're going to be doing something different."  

On DH's side of the family, someone said, "We're going to draw names from now on." And we did. There were a couple people who continued to buy for all the kids for a few years. And then someone wanted to switch to a white elephant exchange. We did that for a while and it was fun. 

Now on both sides of the family, we buy for our parents and our parents buy for us and the grandkids. That's it. It's great. The kids still get fun things from Grandma and Grandpa but it's not a crazy amount of stuff.

[ScoutTN]

Besides stockings, 3-4 from us. Varies year to year. Dd is getting theater tix and a new coat, big ticket items, so probably nothing else. Ds is harder to buy for. 
 

They will get something from my mom, and 2-3 things from Ds’ side of the family. And they generally get each other something.

Edited November 2, 2023 by ScoutTN

[mommyoffive]

15 hours ago, Drama Llama said:

For those of you whose relatives give a ton of gifts, has anyone had any success getting it reduced?

Things have gotten really out of control here.  

Part of the issue is that I think all of the family is hesitant to treat one set of cousins differently from the other, and my SIL really wants her kids to get a ton of stuff.  

We got them to reduce it but not eliminate it.  They still give them a lot.  I tried for years to just get them to give then an experience.  Like get together for the day and go do something together.  We live 3 hours round trip from them.   But they always wanted to see the reactions of the kids opening presents, even though that is a lot more money, work, and effort.  Sigh.  The kids years ago agreed that it would have been more memorable to do something with them instead of getting things.  You forget what people give you pretty quickly.  But you remember the time you spent together. 

[QueenCat]

It varies... it all depends on what I find for someone or what their desires are. Usually some combo

of both of those...

But no cars... I'd hate to have someone choose a car for me without me test driving it 😉

[BlsdMama]

Three from us plus pajamas and a stocking. Grandparents give 1-2 each. 
Our adult kids and their married spouses each get a guy or a gal gift plus stocking and cash. 

[katilac]

Way more than most of you, but considerably less than @Catwoman! 

My kids remained excited about gifts year after year, and never got too tired to keep opening them, lol

For sure, the grandmas and aunties added to the flood, but I was not willing to give up the excitement of lots of gifts upon waking on Christmas morning. 

[SKL]

20 hours ago, Drama Llama said:

For those of you whose relatives give a ton of gifts, has anyone had any success getting it reduced?

Things have gotten really out of control here.  

Part of the issue is that I think all of the family is hesitant to treat one set of cousins differently from the other, and my SIL really wants her kids to get a ton of stuff.  

I used to be the culprit when it came to buying too much for too many.   😛  Not long ago, I told folks I was just going to buy gift cards except for the little kids and my parents.  For young kids, I generally try to get one or two toys or a gifty bag with stationery in it, so not too many things to open.

I have 5 siblings, some of whom have a lot of kids (including steps, grand-steps etc.).  I used to spend like 8 hours just wrapping gifts for all of those people.  😛  And if we're honest, nobody really wanted all that stuff.  I didn't know most of them well enough to buy the perfect gifts.

Some of my sibs and my folks had already decided to stop buying for any extended family adults.  When I dialed it back, the remaining sibs did as well.  My minor kids still get a few things from extended family, but it's not overwhelming like it used to be.

My youngest sister started to get really annoyed with gifts, and she told everyone not to buy anything for her kids (who are a few years younger than mine).  My girls were in 8th grade at the time.  I told her it didn't feel fair since she had given my kids gifts all their lives, so how could I just cut hers off?  But I totally understand that too much is too much.  (Her kids also have all my kids' hand-me-downs, LOL.)  We agreed to set a rule that felt fair to all the kids:  gifts exchanged through the 8th grade.  And I try to give things that won't add to their clutter.  The last couple years, I bought gift certificates to the movie theater they go to, and added a little bit of candy and such to make it festive.

In general, I think gift giving will die a natural death as kids get older.  It's harder to try to buy for more complex people who have specific interests in reading, hobbies, colors, styles, etc.  And it's nowhere near as much fun as buying kiddy toys.  😛

[mommyoffive]

Most of the gifts we get our kids are practical things.  We know they will get tons from my family so we get them dance stuff and clothes and shoes that we would have bought for them for back to school.  Then we usually get them a bunch of Lego sets and some books.  So yeah we get them a lot of gifts, but most of it is stuff we would have bought them in the last few months and we just save it up to Christmas.  My oldest 2 might be out of the Lego stage and get more practical things that they need as young adults.