Presents??
Just curious, how many gifts do each of your children get from santa? I'm just trying to get an idea what other families do. The past couple years I have really gone overboard and now we really need to start saving money. I realize I was getting a little ridiculous with the gift thing, lol.
I think each of our 3 kids are getting 8 gifts this year. Some of them are shared gifts such as an art supply set and 50pk of matchbox cars and the boys are getting a big container of legos to share. Those will all be Santa gifts along with a doctor playset for my stepdaughter to make up for the legos which she isn't sharing because she's 3. They are all getting an innotab, the boys will get the same, she'll get one for younger. The boys are each getting a hotwheels set and she's getting a play kitchen. They are each getting a movie and a robe and pjs set. So 3 Santa gifts and the rest will be from us. I spread the spending out so we could get them more.
My parents had 4 kids so buying a lot of Santa gifts wasn't always practical. I was raised Catholic so my parents gave us 3 Santa gifts each, one for each of the gifts the 3 wise men gave to baby Jesus. It was a pretty good idea actually. I'm not really religious as an adult but that's how I've been doing with DD and it works great. A little different now with skids but we are trying to work that out.
1 Santa gift (sometimes it's 2 things wrapped together) and another 1-2 other presents from us. We buy them things they need or could use as toys (didn't matter how expensive) would get destroyed and were not appreciated. They all get the same # of presents because they fight and compare if we don't. We spend around the same amounts per child and this year they are all getting the same things (different styles and colors).
I refuse to go overboard anymore after seeing the results of my ss's who expect quads, snow machines and laptops for Xmas/birthdays. It is ridiculous and I'm not buying into it.
Ds gets things throughout the year and probably more when ss's aren't with us but he is with us all the time.
Thanks ladies for all the ideas! Thinking probably 2-3 from santa this year, or maybe we'll just decide on an amount per kid. @lovePINK, that's a great saying, I've never heard it before :-)
Totally following. My SD birthday is two weeks before Christmas and i got her about 14 gifts for each occasion plus still some coming in mail and stocking stuffers for xmas/giftbag for birthday. And we have one on the way.. now i really think i overdid it. I always did like the "one you wear, one you read, one you want and one you need" thing so i think I'll be trying that next year.. lol..
I've always only done one santa present the rest are from me. Things are tight this year so we snuck in a lot of necessities like stocking stuffers are hats, gloves, mechanical pencils, and candy. Also ss is getting a new coat, the girls some clothes. No body is really getting anything pricey. They each got 4 presents plus two Christmas eve (pj's and a board game).
O and lo got a second hand jumper and activities table both to big for her now but she'll get there.
Last year, SO and I got his daughter (age 5) 5 gifts and our daughter (age 2) 5 gifts. Mainly barbies and an easy bake oven to take back to her mom's. This year, we are struggling. Expecting our 2nd daughter together next month. And HEX1 is also having a really hard time financially. So we are gonna get his daughter (now 6) a cheap tablet, and some art stuff. Going to get our daughter (now 3) art stuff. We can only expect to be able to make it up during tax season :/ luckily they're still young. Easy to please. So maybe 3-4 gifts each. All totalling to $150 altogether.
Sorry I don't have an answer for you. I'd like to follow this post though. I'm newly married with stepkids 12,5,5 and our 14 month old. This will be our first official Christmas. I always overdue it with spending but I'm really trying to ensure that everyone gets things they need and that I go semi moderate because we have one coming so we are tight on money.
I like that phrase @lovepink. i have to keep that in mind. I have ss & SD 5 and ss 12. Plus my daughter who's 1. I wanted to get them things they needed plus one or two things they would want. Also didn't know what to get my daughter since she doesn't need clothes. How it turned out the twins have 5 outfits a piece, a coat, 3 sets of pajamas, and a bike. We're finished with their gifts. For older ss he has two outfits and a coat, still need a few things for him. I'm leaving that in Hubby's hands. My daughter got a few pairs of 4 pairs of boots, a push bike, and a elephant toy that pops out balls. I went overboard and think I've sent over $1k so far. I'm ready Christmas to be over. Next year won't be like this but since it was our first Christmas as a family I wanted it to be nice.