Main xmas present when to open which one

pupsicola

For me the kids main pressie is usually something they have asked for over and over.

I dont focus on whether it is the biggest and most expensive thing they will recieve. I look at it as the thing they have longed for most and give it to them first.

I do believe in kids understanding the value of money. But not when it comes to their xmas presents from me. All they need to know is that they are given with love and it doesn't matter how much or little it cost.

My ex-mother in law use to ask how much every single gift cost. It was always her first question and in the end she made me feel really pi*^&ed o"! :mad:

pupsicola

roger_ramjet wrote: »

we don't do the main present thing - we're very much in the "poundland" christmas mode! So we keep spending to a minimum and is done for laughs rather than buying something the recipent "wants". It is more to see who has bought the most outrageous gift - and for the lowest money!! My brother, big Dr Who fan will be getting lots of freebies from magazines etc! We spend a little bit more on the kids, but not much - birthday's are for spoiling, christmas is for fun and family.

As to when they get opened, my parents instigated a no opening until after the washing up after the christmas dinner is done! Great way to motivate kids to do some washing up! And it has stuck. We then open presents, one at a time - means the whole gift opening experience can last 3-4 hours! Presents opened in no particular order, and some of things we've had in the past - so many laughs.

I know that this all may seem "odd", but it is the way we have been doing it for the last 30 years, and I don't see any reason to change what is a winning formula.

Your Xmas sounds like such a laugh. Dont know how you get the kids to wait till after the washing up is done. The kids in my family would lynch you for that idea. Any tips?

jakes-mum

My kids get a stocking from santa on their beds when they wake up, then there is presents under the tree, some from santa (which just have their name on) a couple from mum and dad and then a present each from each other, then their main present is always hidden in the kitchen which is always from mum and dad and usually tends to be the most asked for gift (and usually ends up being the biggest gift!).
Last year was a Wii drum set and a kids kitchen, this year they both have a bike. I like them to appreciate that we have saved the money to get them something they really want (oldest is 9 and does have a good understanding of what things cost now) and it means they take good care of them.

ncsmummy

My kids get a stocking that is from Santa - they know everyone else buys their pressies but Santa delivers them! That's how it was when i was little so have just passed it on!! We have stockings in bed then come down for the other pressies! Sometime it has been known for Santa to 'forget' their main pressies only for them to appear when we are out for our post lunch dog walk!!

cat04

My DDs are 6 and 3, and this will be our 3rd Christmas with my OH. Ex hubby was a scrooge and I can't really remember much about Christmas with him thank goodness! So, for the 3rd year running the girls will have Stockings/Santa Sack in their bedrooms - they choose and buy which one they would like and put it out ready for FC on Christmas Eve. They bring them into our bedroom in a flurry of excitement and it's usually a few small bits: a book each, hair bobbles, favourite character socks, colouring pencils, any small pressies they might have asked for etc. Not much really, it's just to wet their appitetes lol.
They have as their main/'big' present the one thing that they have asked for lots and lots, which this year is a Peppa Pig kitchen for DD2 and a Peppa Pig playhouse for DD1 (don't know why, I thought she'd grown out of PP but obviously not!). These are from FC along with one other individual pressie and a joint pressie. Everthing else has tags on from OH and I or other family/friends who we've already done present swaps with. We see close family during the day and they get more presents then.
Last year and this when we did their letters to FC they were a bit 'more up' on the whole tv ads and asking for things that they hadn't done before. We looked through Xmas catalogues etc and I told them to choose a max of 10 things and we put them in order of preference in the letter. They knew that they wouldn't get everything, but that FC would try his very best to bring them their 1st choice and some of their other favourites. This year DD2 has only got 4 things on her list. DD1 has 10, but 2 of them are a new colouring book and some stickers!

Oops, this is turnng out to be a long post! Before I go - I left at home at 18 when I got married, but even on my last xmas I still insisted that my mum and dad should put my presents in a pillowcase on the armchair next to the Christmas tree, just like they had always done. Just couldn't break the tradition!

jcr16

we say the stocking and the 1 main pressie is from santa. the kids know we buy them pressies as does the rest of the family.

What we do is, in the dining room hangs the stockings. the dining room is where we leave the mince pie and milk etc out. santa fills the stockings and leaves the kids 1 pressie each under the dining room tree. this yr it has worked out santa has bought our ds1 an expensive lego set, but my dd a pressie which was less in money than ds1 but what she really wanted. my ds2 is only 2.5 so hasn't cost much for him but it is what he wants. then after we been in dining room and all opened stockings etc, we all then move onto the lounge. and the tree in there has all the pressies from the family.

scuzz

When I was little, Father Christmas brought everyone's presents - Mum, Dad, Nan, Grandad, me and sis. Sis and I had a pillow case as a sack on our beds in the morning, which we would take into Mum & Dad, along with Nan & Grandad. The presents in the stockings were from family, but delivered by Father Christmas. The same for under the tree.

There would be two presents in the fireplace with initials on them in glitter (fairy dust) - one for me & one for sis - and that would be the present from Father Christmas.

Probably sounds odd to a lot of people, but it worked for us.:xmassign::xmastree:

Jami74

Father Christmas only fills stockings in this house which are left on the end of the bed. It is what happened when I was a child and was so very exciting, possibly more than the main presents as they were all the sort of little things that I'd ask for but my parents wouldn't buy. The stockings are designed to keep the children busy until it is respectable enough hour for us all to get up, as a kid me and my brother would wake up ridiculously early and open our stockings in bed together and they are memories I really treasure.

Then we go downstairs and once we are dressed open presents from each other. I try to only buy things that they've asked for through the year or that I think they'll like and play with through the next year so I can't start shopping for them in the January sales because I couldn't possibly guess what they might want in a years time. Their birthdays are only a few days apart so we don't go mad on those a present or two and a day out/party/friend to sleepover type thing. They don't get new stuff throughout the year, it all comes at Christmas.

The main present is usually the thing they are hoping for most and is always hidden at the back, the least exciting things (clothes) are at the front.

I've just finished watching the home video of the last couple of years of present opening and realise that after the first couple they stop even being that interested in whats inside and are just eager to unwrap, it's like an item that they'd usually be thrilled to recieve and spend ages looking at just gets thrown to one side so that another present can be ripped open so this year things will be a lot more spread out. We'll visit my Nana in the morning before main present opening and open her present. Then home to open our presents, then to my parents in the afternoon to open their presents.

roger_ramjet

pupsicola wrote: »

Your Xmas sounds like such a laugh. Dont know how you get the kids to wait till after the washing up is done. The kids in my family would lynch you for that idea. Any tips?

tbh it's what they've always known christmas to be - so they don't know anything else. It is a great laugh too!

jackomdj

We have a stocking in their rooms from Santa (last year my parents were staying so they shared a room & we were woken up at about 2:30 with our 5 year old shouting "He's been"!) and a few of the other presents are from him. They know presents come from other people, how else can they thank them for them?

We open the presents one at a time & I don't rush them to open the next one. It has been known to take until Boxing day as they have stopped opening to play for a while. I always remember before we had children being at my Sisters house & she was rushing her children to open things so they did not get any real enjoyment from it