The thing that annoys me most about buying presents ...

mikeywills

Something that my parents did when my sister and I were very small was to tell all of their brothers and sisters, that they were not going to be buying their children christmas present and did not want them to buy us any either.

That way all the money they wasted buying naff gifts on all of my cousins could be put to good use buying cool presents for me.

My mother was one of two and my father one of five. At that time we had 12 cousins. It makes a lot of sense if you look at, if you spend a £tenner per child, what can you get of any use. Combined though £120 can get something very nice for your own children.

Cards are more than sufficient, and your nieces and nephews won't be disappointed they will more than likely be very happy that their own parents have more to spend on them.

lil_me

Oscar wrote:

Get the parents to do the shopping and you just hand over the money!!!!

We do that for my BIL, he hasn't a clue what to get the boys, and even with instructions has failed before, so we say right set a £ limit and we will get it, and I even wrap it for him etc aswell, he prefers it that way.

My Dad has just rang to ask what to get them, and I asked roughly how much and gave him the Argos numbers for the gifts they want under that amount. Then tick it off my list. My sister does the same and I consult her before buying anything for her children.

Grandparents/Great Grandparents/G Aunty and Uncle on the other side will ask but don't always listen, did say about my sons difficulties with balance having Autism and Dyspraxia and they still bought him a scooter (which is still in the box and being donated to charity fair)

Zziggi

I agree with the OP that often kids have so much pocket money these days, that they could go out and buy what they want anyway.

My family have generally cottoned on to the fact that my kids often get duplicate prezzies, or prezzies they just don't want. Therefore they tend to just give me money for them and tell me to buy the presents. Not a huge problem as i always get good deals on what they children want & need, so much so they often get the £20 present for a fraction of the price but i put the money saved into their bank account. The kids get the best of both worlds. Kids happy they got a prezzie& money in the bank , relative happy the kids got something they want/need and not wasted the money and mum frazzled from rushing round doing the shopping. I always make a point of taking the kids with their gifts to show the relative what they have got. Sometimes it is boring pyjamas/winter coat/a set of clothes but most often it is something i know they would like and i am happy for them to have.

One thing i can't stand is money wasted on duplicate presnets and presents that are unwanted.

HopeElizzy

Unfortunately with our family there is the great in-law divide. My family ask what my two want and I'll give them an idea and they will work to that with whatever budget they have. My in-laws however buy the most extraordinary presents. They love surprises which is nice but very often it means the kids already have something they buy or they buy something age unsuitable or just plain too big for our little house. It seems very ungrateful to complain but I hate the waste of money and the disappointment this causes.

In reply to the OP I'd check with the parents just to get a general idea of what they'd like. If the parents have no idea perhaps a voucher and a small token present would be the best idea. Last year one of our relatives bought my daughter, 4yo, a few hair accessories and an elc voucher. The hair stuff was one of the things she was most pleased with that day!:rotfl:

*Louise*

I would ask the kids themelves what they would like, and if they don't know, then just give them gift vouchers...

vastsarah_2

hi all:j
just had a phone call from sil hubby side family asking what younger kids would like for christmas.Its fine for her to ask and i havent got a problem with giving her ideals of what they are into.But other sil who also means well but dosnt hear what i tell her will buy clothes for my kids which they and i apperiate but ds3 has aspergers and i have tryed to say not to buy for him because of sensory issues,but she still does and he dosnt wear it.Its a good job he has a younger brother who gets the clothes eventually
sarah

Alikay

I think these days we all have so much stuff that we just don't NEED christmas presents. I'd be all for abandoning the idea....maybe just keeping stockings for the children. Don't mean to sound like Scrooge: I'd still like the festive food, decorations,cards etc etc but more gift-sets with packaging to end up in land-fill and other stuff we don't need or particularly want? No thanks.
I'd much rather the effort would go into family and friends spending time together at Christmas, and if everyone had spent less time at Boots tills and the Argos collection points maybe we'd all have more energy and inclination to have our frinds round for a curry night or whatever!
I'd never DARE suggest this to my own family mind!!

VickyA_2

I'm not a parent and the only child that I have to buy a present for is our godson (who is also DH's nephew). Having read this post, I'm going to ask his mum what he wants. He likes things that makes noises, BUT maybe he does need a pair of jimjams that I never thought about.

As an aside, every Christmas my grandma would give my brother and I a "special bag". At the time, this "special bag" was one of the wine carriers from Morrisons (paper, so it was recyclable ) with lots of little "bits and pieces" in - eg a pen, pad, gold chocolate coins. Nothing very expensive, but we loved having a little peek in and used them religiously, though the gold coins went within seconds :rolleyes:. Her "main" present was some money that went straight to my mum for our savings account, not that we knew about this until our 18th birthdays......

growingafamily

we only buy when its a baby in the family's first Christmas - it's my SIL's twins this year (a boy and a girl) - none of the other kids on either side of the family regardless of what everyone else does - everyone knows that now - we do a homebaked basket of goodies for all 3 SIL's and usually a board game for my lil bro, small gifts for parents and my grandma - then bargains for each other - sometimes a framed pic/baked goods for close friends but no one else really gets a look in LOL

It does help that we don't really care what our families think (we're the "weird money saving ones" ROFL) - they all go on hols together in my dh's family and we never go (they don't even bother asking us anymore as its just not our cup of tea)

don't be afraid to be different - they'll get used to it LOL

Tran

Alikay wrote:

I think these days we all have so much stuff that we just don't NEED christmas presents. I'd be all for abandoning the idea....maybe just keeping stockings for the children. Don't mean to sound like Scrooge: I'd still like the festive food, decorations,cards etc etc but more gift-sets with packaging to end up in land-fill and other stuff we don't need or particularly want? No thanks.
I'd much rather the effort would go into family and friends spending time together at Christmas, and if everyone had spent less time at Boots tills and the Argos collection points maybe we'd all have more energy and inclination to have our frinds round for a curry night or whatever!
I'd never DARE suggest this to my own family mind!!

totally agree with you Alikay