Where do you all get stocking fillers from and what do you spend on each item?

victory

Nope you are not silly at all:D even getting some more pressies so it does not look bare is understandable but not because of you boxing day in his eyes is more fun, more exciting, your mum could be right but you are also right, shame it cannot be resolved rather than a tug of love:D

jakes-mum

no bigmomma your not silly, he's your son and you work all year to give him nice things at christmas and its a bit of a slap in the face when granny has more gifts to give him especially as shes hoarding all the relatives prezzies which just makes it seem to a littl'n that granny has brought him loads and loads (what kid checks the labels or listens to mum saying 'this is from auntie maude'

On the stocking front (no idea if we've moved on from OP) I used to buy my stuff from wilkinsons, tescos and amazon. My eldest is 10 and I still give him some cheap fancy colouring pencils/pens from wilkinsons. They both get a bag of chocolate coins each (wilkinsons 2 for a £1) and a book. This year I have haunted the comps threads and have won both kids entire christmases, including DS's stocking and half of DD's (will still get them both choc coins though).

Bumpmakesfour

bigmomma051204 wrote: »

Another present related pondering.....

My little boy tends to only get the presents we are buying him on christmas day - this is because we visit both sets of grandparents on boxing day and they, of course, like to give him his pressies then which i understand totally. (Though, when i was young, i always had ALL presents on christmas day from grandparents as my parents refused point blank to do any visiting on xmas day.. so had loads to open which made it very exciting lol!)
So i kind of always feel i have to buy quite a lot of pressies to go under the tree for my little boy as otherwise, he would only have a couple!
Also, all other relatives who buy for my little boy tend to give the presents to my mum as they see her (we live a little way away)... so she decided last year that she wanted my little boy to open ALL those presents at her house too and refused to let me have them to put under our tree. Consequently, despite me buying a couple of extra ones for him at last minute (lol), it still looked pretty bare and empty under the tree! Now i find this a bit cr*p - call me jealous lol but i kind of want our little boy to enjoy christmas day with us and have loads to open etc rather than having to wait until boxing day then be given TONS!! He even said last year that he prefers boxing day at grannies to christmas day at ours cos there are more pressies lol! :cool: Am i silly to feel like i want him to enjoy christmas with his mum and dad the most??

My three only get the "santa" presents under the tree too but then I guess as there are three of them it looks more.
Then they get the grandparents presents over the next couple of days and tbh I think that's actually a good thing...spreads it out.If your child is anything like mine when faced with millions of presents it becomes a "open one,quick look,move onto next" which me and hubby hate!!

Can't your mum give you a few of the presents to put under yours and keep some herself?I'm sure your son has a fab day with you and then another fab day on boxing day..best of both worlds! xxx

ETA.get on the grabbit board if you haven't already!Soo many bargains to "pad" your tree out x

Spendless

bigmomma051204 wrote: »

Another present related pondering.....

My little boy tends to only get the presents we are buying him on christmas day - this is because we visit both sets of grandparents on boxing day and they, of course, like to give him his pressies then which i understand totally. (Though, when i was young, i always had ALL presents on christmas day from grandparents as my parents refused point blank to do any visiting on xmas day.. so had loads to open which made it very exciting lol!)
So i kind of always feel i have to buy quite a lot of pressies to go under the tree for my little boy as otherwise, he would only have a couple!
Also, all other relatives who buy for my little boy tend to give the presents to my mum as they see her (we live a little way away)... so she decided last year that she wanted my little boy to open ALL those presents at her house too and refused to let me have them to put under our tree. Consequently, despite me buying a couple of extra ones for him at last minute (lol), it still looked pretty bare and empty under the tree! Now i find this a bit cr*p - call me jealous lol but i kind of want our little boy to enjoy christmas day with us and have loads to open etc rather than having to wait until boxing day then be given TONS!! He even said last year that he prefers boxing day at grannies to christmas day at ours cos there are more pressies lol! :cool: Am i silly to feel like i want him to enjoy christmas with his mum and dad the most??

I think that's a bit selfish of her tbh Your mum had her turn of seeing a little kid going thru lots of pressies when you were little. Now you should be having that turn with your little one as the mum and taking on a backseat role when you become a Grandma. I think you'll have to take it up with her tactfully and politely. Are you able to ask the other relatives who buy for your child if you can have them at your house, even if it means going collecting them in advance?

leandygandy

We always got sacks outside the door - usually chocolate coins, a board game, toiletries, a teddy.

Even now Father Christmas always puts a sack full of presents under the tree (strange how he seems to have the same handwriting as my Nan lol) comprising things that we need e.g. nail polish remover, cotton wool pads, some sweeties (I always get liqorice allsorts), socks, toothbrush, deodorant etc. A couple of years back he forgot to get me my liquorice allsorts and I don't mind admitting that it spoilt my Christmas! (bear in mind I was in my mid twenties at this point) So it goes to show that money isn't everything, for me it was the tradition that was important!

When hubby and I moved in together I didn't get a stocking the first year, I made a lovely one for him full of nik naks (razor blades, socks, sweet treats, aftershave etc.) and was so disappointed that he hadn't thought to make me one, as I love a cup of tea in bed on Christmas morning while opening a stocking! I didn't make a fuss but the following two Christmases has seen stockings for me so he must have realised...

I even wrap presents up for the cats - one each from 'mummy and daddy' and one each from each other (generally one gift is a food treat of some sort and the other is a new toy)

As children my brother and I grew up in a single parent household where money was very tight. We'd get four or five small presents from Mum, but the 'big gift' was only every other year, so one year I might get a stereo and the following he might get a bike. This was always explained to us that there just wasn't enough money for big presents every year but that our turn would come if we were patient. Plus aunts, uncles and nan used to spoil us rotten too so the tree always looked fit to burst anyway!

balletshoes

bigmomma051204 wrote: »

Another present related pondering.....

My little boy tends to only get the presents we are buying him on christmas day - this is because we visit both sets of grandparents on boxing day and they, of course, like to give him his pressies then which i understand totally. (Though, when i was young, i always had ALL presents on christmas day from grandparents as my parents refused point blank to do any visiting on xmas day.. so had loads to open which made it very exciting lol!)
So i kind of always feel i have to buy quite a lot of pressies to go under the tree for my little boy as otherwise, he would only have a couple!
Also, all other relatives who buy for my little boy tend to give the presents to my mum as they see her (we live a little way away)... so she decided last year that she wanted my little boy to open ALL those presents at her house too and refused to let me have them to put under our tree. Consequently, despite me buying a couple of extra ones for him at last minute (lol), it still looked pretty bare and empty under the tree! Now i find this a bit cr*p - call me jealous lol but i kind of want our little boy to enjoy christmas day with us and have loads to open etc rather than having to wait until boxing day then be given TONS!! He even said last year that he prefers boxing day at grannies to christmas day at ours cos there are more pressies lol! :cool: Am i silly to feel like i want him to enjoy christmas with his mum and dad the most??

just because thats whats happened in the past, doesn't mean it needs to continue - could you visit your Mum on Christmas Eve instead, have a drink or tea with her then, and pick up your little ones pressies from everyone else to put under the tree? Thats what I'd do.

jellyhead

balletshoes wrote: »

just because thats whats happened in the past, doesn't mean it needs to continue - could you visit your Mum on Christmas Eve instead, have a drink or tea with her then, and pick up your little ones pressies from everyone else to put under the tree? Thats what I'd do.

Good idea :T

I don't really understand why she refused, really? My mum and MIL also get given presents off the other relatives, and it's up to us whether we go and get them beforehand. I get them beforehand because it makes my meagre pile look better. My kids still know who each gift is from, we don't pretend they are from Santa.

Twice we've gone to stay with the in-laws because they don't live locally, so we've slept there on xmas eve and santa has been to their house instead of ours. Maybe you could do that, and then he'll get the 'wow' factor of all of his presents on the same day, but if she lives locally and you like to have a family christmas morning I don't suppose that would work. We only do it because they don't live close by and it's nice for them to experience christmas morning with the kids sometimes (once every 3 years or so).

My mother does go overboard at christmas, and I keep asking her not to but she buys tons for all the grandchildren. I think it's because we were so very poor at christmas, so now she gets all the 'tat' and the colouring sets etc. that she wishes she could have provided for us. I just sigh and wonder where I am going to put it all. She spends at least £30 each on their main present off her, which is okay if it's a teenager asking for a playstation game I suppose, but last year I told her my 5 year old wanted something that was £7 and that she was NOT to buy extra. She still did though:rotfl: The difference is that she puts stuff into my pile, the stockings or whatever and she doesn't care whether the kids know that she bought it or not.

I really don't understand why your mum refused ... can you ask her again?

jellyhead

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

We do one gift plus a stocking from Santa and three gifts from us (to represent frankincense, gold & myrrh.)

I really like the 3 gifts cap, but have been known to wrap up a bundle of books into one gift to keep with this Xmas theme.

Oooh, I like that idea! I wrap all the books into one present too.

Is the one gift from Santa, or all 4 of them?

mummyroysof3

does anyone else not do a 'big present'? i usually spend £50-£60 on each of them and fill a sack. ive never bought them anything expensive as they still young and we save bikes etc for birthdays when they will get more use through the summer. we usually buy jigsaws books etc and i save bigger stuff that they ask for to suggest to grandparents lol

the oldest 2 have asked for playmobil this year, which im happy with as what they already have gets lots of use..with them both being at full time shcool now alot of stuff they dont get out much so i need a big sort out after october half term

balletshoes

rosie-lee wrote: »

Just wondering, how many presents under the tree, people tend to do for kids.

Mine are 5 & 10, I usually do a stocking and then a sack downstairs. Things will have to be scaled back this year, how many pressies is a nice amount do you think?

just a sack here - but how full it is depends on what the items have cost me. I have a set amount I kind of stick to with my DD for her presents from Santa, so if one or 2 items on her list have cost the majority of the budget, she might only have 5 or 6 other small items in her sack. I think the older she gets, the less volume of presents she'll have to open, as her main pressies will be more expensive.