Christmas for adult children

System

Does anyone else LOVE buying presents? Last year was the first year i'd had a job since falling ill so had a bit of a spending spree for my familyy and my ex. I just love buying gifts and seeing the smile on people's faces when they open then

God forbid if i have kids i will end up buying loads

Kaz2904

fairy_lights wrote: »

Father Christmas used to visit my older sister and leave a stocking at the end of her bed until she was well in to her 30's...she lives at the opposite end of the country to our parents but always came home for Christmas, so I suppose he knew where to find her.
I live in the same town as my parents so visit during the day at Christmas but don't stay overnight, so father Christmas stopped visiting me when I moved out at 23. Clearly my parents didn't give him my forwarding address. I'm not bitter...honest

Ah that happened to me too! It only happened a few years running and then someone asked me what I had had for Christmas when we were with the family. I rattled off my presents (nothing from DH/ DK's as we couldn't afford anything) and I think I'd got something like a book from the olds (which I had asked for and was really happy about) and a couple of tat type presents. My sister then started to look very guilty as she had stayed overnight so had a massive stocking full of chocolate and gifts. I saw a Toblerone at one point and whist fully said "I love Toblerone!" And my sister said "So do I, it was in my stocking! ".
I think one of the olds must have suddenly realised, nothing was ever said but the following year I got stocking gifts under the tree .
I think that because DH and I aren't complainers though, we get forgotten. Quite often people say at the end of the present session "ooh, let's see yours!" And then look at what we have and realise they've forgotten to buy our present .

seven-day-weekend

We very rarely spent more than £50 at Christmas on our son when he was small anyway, so no change.

angeltreats

My mother in law has three adult children who are all married, and she treats us all exactly the same whether she gave birth to us or acquired us by marriage we all get a stocking every year. If we're not spending Christmas with them (we live 300 miles away) , Santa fills the stockings early and the in laws bring them in advance with strict instructions not to peek. Every year my husband gets socks and pants in his which I love as he wears them out and i always forget to replace them. I get girlier stuff We also get an advent calendar every year with little pockets which MIL fills with choccies. Then we get a few little presents and either money or a big present if they know there's something we would really like.

My own parents who are now elderly still love Christmas and if we go there for Christmas (they're in a different country) we also get a stocking, and they also tend to give money as well as some little presents.

I'm not materialistic and don't expect much but I LOVE Christmas and would be gutted if I didn't get a stocking to open even if it was full of stuff that had been found for free, stockings are exciting

This year we'll have a baby for the first time and I wouldn't be surprised if the grandparents preferred to spend less on us and more on their grandchild but that's only natural really. I certainly wouldn't feel hard done by.

roobee13

My Mum loves Christmas and despite moving out at 23 (I'm now 30), I still get a 'main' present and a stocking of socks, smellies etc. I kind of love it!! The only difference these days is my Mum has reigned in the spending, which is fair enough.

When I was a kid my parents had very little money so used to alternate who got the 'big' presents each year between me and my brother. It taught me to be appreciative of what I had and meant my waits for the next installment of Sylvanian Families all the more exciting, lol!

Izadora

My mum has been saying for nearly 20 years (since I started college) that she's going to cut back and not go mad at Christmas but my brother (39) and I (37) still get stockings (well, pillowcases) and a little pile of tree presents as well as our main present. The only real difference from when we were kids is that I can spoil my parents as well now.

Indie_Kid

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Does anyone else LOVE buying presents? Last year was the first year i'd had a job since falling ill so had a bit of a spending spree for my familyy and my ex. I just love buying gifts and seeing the smile on people's faces when they open then

God forbid if i have kids i will end up buying loads

I hate it. Not helped when certain people are so hard to buy for. Not that I can talk anyway...

snowleopard61

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Does anyone else LOVE buying presents?

I love it too, spending ages choosing and thinking about it, then wrapping them all up.

Something that really has surprised me is how often posters have experienced siblings being treated completely differently by their parents - I can’t imagine doing that in any circumstances. My daughters are 23 and 21, both living at home, and even now I actually wrap their presents in pairs so that for each one there is an equivalent present (not the same) for the other – even if they didn’t say anything, I think they’d be quite hurt.

I do the ‘pile’ thing mainly because we have very little in the way of surviving extended family, and this has been the case since they were young children, so they don’t get lots of presents from other people. I also love doing a stocking for each of them with little things like fluffy bedsocks, hair ornaments, handwarmers, etc. But it’s definitely getting harder because of no need for CD/DVDs, and also because one has her own income from full-time work – therefore an income not far off mine, and much less expenditure - and the other has increasingly definite (expensive!) tastes, so I think I need to talk to them this year, not necessarily to reduce expenditure but about what sort of thing I actually give them.

Something I have found to be unsatisfactory is when present-giving in the extended family we do have is reduced to an exchange of money or vouchers, making the whole thing (IMO) rather pointless and giving a horrid, chilly, calculated feel. Personally I’m not keen on the ‘children only’ idea either, though I know many people find it a good solution – adults like presents just as much as children, and I enjoy choosing them for other people! I’d much rather reduce the overall expenditure by having a very small budget for each person such as a fiver (or even less if the family’s huge) and using my imagination.

This thread is so interesting; people's views and traditions are so different.

lulu_92

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

Does anyone else LOVE buying presents? Last year was the first year i'd had a job since falling ill so had a bit of a spending spree for my familyy and my ex. I just love buying gifts and seeing the smile on people's faces when they open then

God forbid if i have kids i will end up buying loads

I absolutely love it! My sister and I buy each other silly presents that also have a function, well, except for my 21st when she bought me a pinata for no reason....and she wrapped it up in paper that had Nicholas Cage's face on it...

wondercollie

I fill a stocking for my sons, husband, one son's girlfriend, and the dog.


Since the girlfriend arrived, I finally get a basket that she fills up with things that she thinks I'll like. I'm happy someone finally remembers me.