Great "How to have a cheap Xmas if you've kids" Hunt

jellyhead

Lyncroft wrote: »

Tell them they really don't need any of this c*ap and how when you were young you were lucky to get a satsuma.

I have no children.

:rotfl:

My mum told me this, and in her case it was true. Fruit and nuts in the stocking, and 2p at the bottom to buy sweets with (pre-decimalisation). Grandad made gifts for the children (people would have about a dozen children back then lol!), out of wood or even lolly sticks. He made me a dolls house one year, out of wood. The furniture was made from lolly sticks and the family were peg dolls. There was a garden with a lolly-stick fence and he painted stones to look like ladybirds and flowers.

I have such happy memories of spending time with my grandad, he let me help in the vegetable garden and the greenhouse, and he baked cakes with me too I don't think he ever spent any money on me, but plenty of time.

I asked my son last week about his christmas memories, he is 12. The only gifts he remembered were games (some board, some console - a merry family gathering makes for hysterical games of singstar or wii tennis).

jellyhead

ticklepenny wrote: »

How about a storage solution for him and if he is arty a few paints to decorate it

Thanks, but he has storage solutions, toyboxes in bookcases etc. - the 'problem' is the obscene amount of stuff he gets. Lots of people buying for him, large families. I have 24 people/couples on my gift list, not including my husband and children. All of those people will be buying for my children - they really don't need santa!

Susan_Frost

For goodness sake, why stress kids out about money. Make them budget pocket money, etc. yes, but explanations about food, bills, etc. that's grown up's world. Keep within your means and you will enjoy your Christmas too.

Certainly younger kids will be happy with a BIG SIZED PREZZIE, not necessarily expensive. Older ones can have something they want, but still within your means. Reasonable price does not necessarily mean naff or nasty.

My best buy : When my son was 6 yrs old (27 years ago) I spent £6 on a box of lego advertised on the supermarket notice board. There was only me and the kid in those days. It was about a foot square and crammed full of individual lego pieces. Must have been worth two to three hundred pounds even then. It was quite grubby, but I spent many an evening when he was in bed, scrubbing it with a nail brush and getting it dry.

Christmas morning, there it was, wrapped in bright red shiny paper. Great.

Together with some reasonably priced books, jigsaws, playing cards, etc. we had a lovely Christmas.

I love that kid. Just waiting for him to present me with a couple of grandchildren now - dream on .....

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas - dont stress.

Xmasidea

3 Gifts !!!
A simple way to keep Christmas special and cost effective, as well as keeping to the traditional story of Christmas is to remember that in the Christmas Story, Jesus only received 3 gifts! We should encourage families to try and adopt this very simple idea of 3 presents per immediate family member, rather then placing loads and loads of expensive gifts under the tree.

LouiseMegrath

My husband got made redundant about a month ago, he has a new job now, but we're struggling.

I explained to my 5 and 3 year old that they had so many presents last year, it's someone else's turn this year - they both agreed and asked for 3 presents each! - result!

I asked for a Nintendo Wii when i got a new mobile phone contract, and i've kept that for Christmas!

big_gay_kirk

I know I'm going to get slated for this.. but here goes.....
1.. the only reason kids expect to get loads is because parents give them loads... so don't even start.. spend a tenner max on each of them... if they ain't happy, then they're ungrateful greedy little bu**ers and don't deserve anything....
2 follow this up by using the magic word "No" more often.. and mean it.. if they want games consoles, make them work for them.. and not just for you... cutting granny's hedge, or washing cars never hurt anyone...
3 Don't even start the Santa lie.... lets be honest... when they find out the truth it either hurts them or reinforces the image of "adults as liars.." surely as a society we are past lying to kids in this way... my son never had Santa.. he didn't grow up sick and twisted... Santa is mainly a commercial ploy to get you into the shops.. he even switched to wearing Coca Colas colours in the sponsorship deal of the 19th century..
4 If you must use Santa, enforce the "he only comes to good boys and girls..." that way yyou can explain any lack in the presents by saying, "Yes, well, remember that time you had the tantrum in the shop.. well thats why Santa didnn't let you have a wii..."
5 Don't bother with Christmas.... or at least don't let it be as big or commercial.. millions of people in this world manage without.. it doesn't seem to hurt them...

PaulX

Hi,

A trick that worked with my kids was to tell them that if they would settle for a lesser Xmas present, we would take them to Disneyland in the summer.

They always happily agreed.

Paul.

rothiequine

I have told my 7 year old that Santa doesn't have much money this year because of the world wide financial crisis. She asked why Santa needed money as his elves made everything. I told her that due to copyright Santa isn't allowed to make things anymore and has to buy them and he relies on people visiting him in Lapland every year, but because people don't have much money they can't visit him, which means Santa doesn't have the same amount of money as usual and he has lots of boys and girls to buy for. She seemed to accept this.
I just told my 14 year old that money was tight and to ask his Granny for anything expensive!!!

coppercounter

My kids are quite young, 7, 4 and newborn. The new ones not an issue obviously but with the other two I havent mentioned anything. All they're bothered about at that age is the number of pressies they have and the size of them, not how much they cost.
We've had a few trips to pound shops and got stuff like crayons, stickers with characters on, tennis balls etc to wrap so they're happy they get more pressies and don't even notice.
Also like the feature says, wrap it in a bigger box!:T

JimmyTheWig

big_gay_kirk wrote: »

1.. the only reason kids expect to get loads is because parents give them loads

Agree to a large extent, though also blame the adverts, etc.

2 follow this up by using the magic word "No" more often.. and mean it.. if they want games consoles, make them work for them.. and not just for you... cutting granny's hedge, or washing cars never hurt anyone...

Agreed, again, though only when the kids are old enough.

3 Don't even start the Santa lie.... reinforces the image of "adults as liars.."

Disagree, though fair enough if that's the way you want to play it. Kids are kids - let them have their magical time. I remember believing in Father Christmas. I don't remember finding out he didn't exist. I also remember believing in God. I _do_, however, remember finding out _he_ didn't exist. That was a much bigger deal for me, because all our teachers had always said he existed.

4 If you must use Santa, enforce the "he only comes to good boys and girls..." that way yyou can explain any lack in the presents by saying, "Yes, well, remember that time you had the tantrum in the shop.. well thats why Santa didnn't let you have a wii..."

No, that's just mean. By all means use FC as a way of encouraging children to be good ("ooh, I think that's another present for your stocking" or "that will help Father Christmas decide to get you xyz") but don't blame your lack of funds on your kids' bad behaviour. The chances are the kid down the road with richer parents / more in debt parents who got the latest stuff has been just as bad and your kid knows it.

5 Don't bother with Christmas.... or at least don't let it be as big or commercial.

"Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."
Agreed. It's about having time off work to spend with the people you love.