What christmas advice would you give?

socks_uk

This is what we do...

I always buy a large fresh chicken for Christmas dinner BUT I then go round the supermarkets on Christmas Eve to see if any turkeys are being sold off. If I get one the chicken goes in the freezer along with the (cooked) turkey legs & wings for another time. There are usually reduced veg etc. which you can keep cold and fresh for ages in the garage/shed or even in the car boot! One year I managed to get a last minute cheap turkey and kept it in the car boot overnight because it was -2 outside so colder than my fridge!

Also, when my daughter was little I would sit with her when she wrote her Christmas list and I told her that Father Christmas chooses 2 or 3 things of the list to bring her and mummy & daddy buy 2 or 3 things too. She always believed me - she's 23 now and no adverse effects!

Maybe it is/was easier with a family of just 3 but I think I spend no more than an extra £20 on food over the festive period.

VJW87

Hide the presents at a neighbours house! And offer to help the neighbour stash theirs too. Quite confusing one year when my neighbours sons went snooping only to find barbies and a full length mirror (which were actually the gifts for me and my sister!).

I'm not a parent, but this year we've (DH and I) finally set budgets for gifts which we are sticking to! We've been shopping online for the gifts we want to get people and are actually finding some bargains - the rest of the money leftover will do us for our food/travel over the Christmas period. The biggest saving will be our gifts to each other. We have tried to set budgets in the past but gone over them, sometimes by quite a bit but this year no way, Jose! All I've asked for is a couple of books which I've placed on the Amazon shopping list.

Food wise, we generally go to others, offering to help wherever they like e.g. bringing desert or the crackers, maybe a bottle of wine etc. No point cooking the full meal if you don't have to! I always offer to help out with washing the dishes too!!

Biggest thing - WEAR A SMILE. Every single year my parents had some form of argument on Christmas Day, I try my best to let everything go with the flow and enjoy it, but lets face it ... sometimes we don't have total control. So smile, enjoy it, appreciate it for what it is - a day to be thankful and be surrounded by loved ones.

QueenB.

socks_uk wrote: »

This is what we do..

Also, when my daughter was little I would sit with her when she wrote her Christmas list and I told her that Father Christmas chooses 2 or 3 things of the list to bring her and mummy & daddy buy 2 or 3 things too. She always believed me - she's 23 now and no adverse effects!

We do something similair. My boys not only write their christmas list but i give them piles of catalogues to look through and they cut out the images of the gifts they want...........makes it easier to buy the right thing, especially if its the OH picking up the gifts:)

My children also know that Santa buys some of the gifts and that we get some of them. We ask them to pick the three gifts they want most on their list and put a star beside them (large for most wanted item, medium, small) the gifts without a star are ones they would like but don't mind not getting. This helps me budget and keeps them happy.

jfdi

Father Christmas only ever brings the stockings in our house (LOVE the 2 stockings idea, btw), which are left in an easily accessible place to gain Mum n Dad a few extra minutes in bed!

Everything else (eg the bigger or more expensive stuff) is from who it's from (Mum n Dad, Grandparents etc).

This has meant if we've had a 'lean' year financially Father Christmas is not affected - so DS still get little games, sweets, chocolate coins, satsuma, book etc from Father Christmas, but maybe Mum n Dad's or other relatives gifts are cheaper.

And I also do as much prep in advance - gifts & food - & always have a couple of wrapped, unlabelled generic gifts for kids & adults - 'just in case'.

creditcard123

We always have a santa present and a Mum n Dad present after eldest daughter asked what we had got her:o
So santa fills stockings and leaves his presents under their stocking unwrapped because how on earth could santa Claus have time to wrap everybody's presents:D
Then our presents are in their appropriate corner of the couch or seat along with their other ones
Of course our children are all getting older and I think we only have one true believer (age 10) and one sceptical one (age 11) but as the rest are told if they dont believe they dont get:)

My one piece of advice is not to go overboard if one year they ask for a toy at £20 get them it then the next year when they ask for a PS3/Wii etc you get them that. You dont need to spend the same amount on each child every year .
Also just have fun, Eat good food, have some champagne and dance about with your family:T:T

yabajaz

We too work on the empty stocking getting filled by father christmas - but big gifts come from family.
Also - good children are alowed 1 gift to open on christmas eve after tea - funnily enough they tend to chose the one with a chocolate lolly selotaped to the outside. The pressie is a snuggly new pair of pajamas. The kids are happy to leap into their pajamas and the photo's taken the next morning are so much nicer.

knightangel900

Very good thread, with very good advice. My advice might not apply for everyone, but it might help.

Christmas advice for new parents
Buy your child one gift until they are around five years old (this can include birthdays as well). You can use the excess money to buy food and drink for Christmas, use the money to pay off the Christmas debt or put it towards a holiday.

Christmas advice for a new couple
Set a limit for presents. For example, instead of buying a £200+ necklace for your wife, ask her if there is a gift you could get her for around £50. Use the extra money to save for a house.

Christmas advice for anyone
This one is obvious, buy Christmas stuff (crackers, puddings, card, wrapping paper, etc) when they are in the sale. Two months before Christmas, start putting some food (chocolate, alcohol, etc) away. The amount of food and drink that I had hidden in my room last year was surprising. Got young children? Buy toys and small gifts at car boots, in sales or Ebay throughout the year. Gather them all up and place them into their stockings, it’s amazing how many you’ll have. Use past Christmas cards as tags for presents.

Easy pudding for Boxing Day. Get two chucks of a Toblerone, melt them in a small microwaveable pot, and dip in dried apricots, thin almond biscuits, marshmallows, strawberries, cinder toffee and any other fruit or berries. This is done every year in our house and it’s enjoyed by everyone.

And finally:
Prepare the Christmas meal (mostly veg) on Christmas Eve, wrap the presents during December and have a vague time line of when you want to eat the Christmas meal.

Don’t forget to stay cool, calm and collected as well as going with the flow (if you don’t feel like a bug lunch, just have a prawn cocktail) and keep reminding yourself it’s only for one day.

Edit: Thank you to the people who thanked me for this post.

busiscoming2

Best advice for new parents is be careful what traditions you start. Remember you have to carry them on for years and years....

I made the mistake of buying a present from santa and have to remember to buy a suitable present to suit all the age range (fine when they are into Disney videos) and different wrapping paper so it doesn't match ours. Also do presents from the tree which they get on Boxing Day. That's in addition to the stocking presents which come from Santa (different paper again!)

PixieDust

Don't go in to debt for Christmas presents/food/trimmings. It's just one day.
Manage your children's expectations from a young age.
Try to keep Christmas Eve evening free from vosotors/busy-ness/stress and devote it to giving your children low-key attention. Play games, watch a family DVD, create your own Christmas Eve traditions....they will wind down more quickly and (usually) go to sleep at a respectable hour.
Don't do ANYTHING you don't want to just because your mother/his mother expect it, particularly once you have children. Your family is the next generation....keep things you enjoyed from your own family Christmases (and your partner's, if you have one), and then build on them to create your own.

I'll second the individual wrapping paper, twin stockings, batteries and disposable-wherever-possible. SOmetimes we have disposable small plates to use for Xmas day tea.

Something we do, which I'm guessing most won't but I'll mention it anyway, is that we have our main "Christmas Dinner" with crackers, hats, three meats and twelve veg (joke!!) on Christmas Eve. Who wants to be stuck in the kitchen missing all the fun on the day??? One the day itself we get in "party food", pizzas, pop, crisps and nibbles (which we don't buy all year round - the kids buy their own usually) and have leftovers with them, and we do a "buffet" from lunch time onwards; anyone can eat what they want, when they want. It took a LOT of persuasion from me to get hubby to trial this one year, but he LOVED it as he's the main cook, and he was the one missing out.

PixieDust

ps...in our house, Father Christmas only BROUGHT the presents, he didn't BUY (or make ) them. So, Mummy and Daddy (or whoever) sent the presents to FC throughout the festive season (which explains big bags coming into the house, secretive behaviour and random comings an dgoings). You see, FC watched the children all year, and he then chose which presents ( if any :eek: ) to deliver for the children on the big day. Their present choosing is then limited by Mum and Dad's budget, and they have to behave or else they just might not get anything :eek: Genius And slightly cruel