lots or little at xmas?

yummy-mummy-amy

hi,

i know there has been similar threads on whether santa brings gifts of friends/family etc.

but was wondering do you do lots or little amount of gifts? the reason for this is when me and OH got together he was totally bemused by the "pile" of gifts he had from me and my parents, as all his life his family did 1 gift each and a selection box etc. (which i thought was strange as i have always had "piles" of gifts.)

OH has got used to the idea of the gifts over the past 5yrs.


i wouldn't say i spend loads but i go bargain hunting - £1 shops, charity shops (new gifts and toys etc), and my kids get 1 big present and the rest of what i spend on them is little bits like books, dvds, pencils, "mini action figures" and such.


so are you like me or OH?

Chell

More like you, I like lots of little token gifts.

Like you, I've not found this Christmas expensive as I've bargain hunted.. I don't know what I have spent this year as shopping has been done gradually as I've seen good deals/offers. I haven't overspent at all.

retrocircles

i have a big present, and lots of small thoughtful ones.

trish123

One big one and lots of small parcels which have been bought throughout the year.

Spendless

Me and sis always got lots, but my parents and grandparents have continued doing it with my kids. The result was my kids were overwhelmed at Christmas, items got broken, damaged, lost before they'd even made it to their bedrooms. Eventually I decided to cut down on the amount we bought our kids, to reduce the quantity.

Hush-Puppy

I like the 4 kids to have 'huge' piles of gifts. They get one main thing each then lots of little parcels of things costing between £40 and £1, lol. They end up with about 16 parcels each normally.

The other people I buy for usually just get one or two parcels, but my mum gets lots (6 or so) because she helps us out all year long. For me and dh ... we usually have 4/5 parcels each from each other.

XX

rainmac

I like lots at Xmas but I have been avidly bargain hunting this year so people have lovely pressies but they have cost far less than previous years. I don't buy rubbish but love a bargain. I think I've only paid full price for one or two things this year and am very proud of the fact

Happy Christmas Everyone :xmassmile

yummy-mummy-amy

ok, so seems OH's family are the "strange" ones. I can get away with this as we dont speak to them!

shirlgirl2004

My OHs family are strange too. I'm a big pile of gifts kind of girl and the OH is a small pile. It means we disagree as to how much DDs should get. But I do the buying so he just has to put up with it

tillybilly_2

my parents tend to go for the piles and piles and piles option whereas dh's mum tends to buy one thing for each child. It's funny though as my parents go overboard at christmas but only spend a small amount at birthdays. I think they just love to see big piles of presents under the tree, they have never really grown up either, :-)

I buy piles too, I was wrapping up new books for them last night and hadnt realised how many I had bought until I put them all together last night and couldn't carry them! They are mostly from bookpeople though so not many full price ones. I also have the problem that ds is 10 and dd is 2 so dd's presents are naturally bigger (in size, not price) than ds's . This year I have solved the problem by also buying ds a hyuuuuuuge bean bag for his bedroom and I'm goint to pile his other presents on the top of that.

I am also a sucker for seeing big piles under the tree but this year we have two trees and I cant decide if I should put one pile under the family room tree for the morning and one pile in the living room for after lunch or just to let them open the lot in the morning.

OMG I am sooo excited!!!!

dazzle21

It's our little boy's first Christmas and already o/h and i have had this debate, his family santa brings all the presents (from everyone) and then they have a present from the tree (small toy under £3) in the afternoon, my family santa brings you a stocking in the morning with fun things in i.e. character pj's and toys then you get any presents from friends/family after christmas lunch taken from under the tree one by one! We're doing it my way this year and his way next year..(or atleast that's what he thinks!) Merry Christmas!