Children presents help

magical

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice please. I have six nephews and one neice to buy for at christmas. They range from 6 months to 13.

I often win things to give as gifts or buy stuff in the sale. However im getting quite fed up with giving gifts and never getting a thankyou. I hardly see the children and never see the toys again either.

I was thinking either give them £5 each or make them some cakes and give them as a family present or buy some sweets.

Any ideas x

missbiggles1

We stopped giving presents to a nephew and niece when we found that they never bothered to thank us for them.

Have a word with your siblings and if this doesn't have any effect, stop buying.

04624181

Hi,
As a mother of 2 children aged 13 and 5 I have to admit that before christmas I get my kids some thank you cards ready to thank everyone who has bought gifts but we have never got round to giving them out as christmas gets so hectic with ill health, visiting family etc.It usually ends up with me texting a picture with the kids in the clothes gifts that have been bought with a big THANK YOU! Or me saying Thank you on their behalf saying they love the gift. It was difficult when they were younger as Father Christmas is supposed to have brought the gifts so was difficult to explain you have to thank an Aunt/Uncle or Grandparent. We have managed this over the years now and we explain that Father Christmas brings some toys, we get them some toys and family get them gifts too. Now they know to say thank you to loved ones.
How about a Family night gift. A hamper style box with popcorn, bottle of pop, sweets etc and maybe a family game/ dvd or colouring books, pencils etc.

Spendless

I always got round the Father Christmas issue by telling the kids that he might bring the gifts, but the bill came to the relatives, so it was them you thanked. They have never written a thank you though, always thanked in person or a phone call. We live in the same town or village as the rest of the family though.

magical

Thats a nice idea 04624181. I think i would enjoy making it up. I recently made a werewolf box for my nephew and put sweets in it. I saw the box still in my brothers kitchen and he loved it probably more than the present i got him x

Oh i thought about doing those reindeer sleighs with chocolate on for each of them. I think i'm getting abit of a scrooge as they have so much stuff that they dont need more x

ilikewatch

As a child the rule was that I could open my Christmas presents while the "oldies" watched the Queens speech, but wasn't allowed to use/play with any of them until I had written (and posted) thank you letters for each of them. I'm now almost 40 and this habit stick sticks with me, all of my relatives appreciate this and many of my cousins no longer receive gifts because they never bothered to say thanks (or didn't take the time to write a thank you letter).

Mojisola

magical wrote: »

However im getting quite fed up with giving gifts and never getting a thankyou.

I hardly see the children and never see the toys again either.

I was thinking either give them £5 each or make them some cakes and give them as a family present or buy some sweets.

You don't see the children and never get a thank you from them or their parents? I'd have stopped spending money and time on them years ago.

Smoosh

I'm in a very similar situation - I have 5 nieces and 3 nephews and I never see any of them as my family is very scattered around the country. Two of them are in their 20s so I don't buy them a present (as my family is so big we generally have a rule that adults don't get presents from the whole family as it just got to expensive and hectic) and the rest get a small present from me (usually worth around £5). This year I have given up on getting them toys because they have so many and I doubt they even pay attention to whatever I manage to buy them for £5 when they get so many more expensive things from their parents and grandparents! Although I have to say they do always say thank you for whatever I give them. I'm trying to be more creative with presents and making little hampers, for example for my 5 year old niece I bought a big pink mixing bowl and I've filled it with Frozen themed baking things so hopefully she can have fun making my gift

MoneyMission2015

I'd suggest this year get them a family gift, like a board game and box of chocolates. Then when you speak to them next, ask them if they received and enjoyed the gift. If you don't get a thank you then don't get them anything next year.

I always tell my girls to make sure they thank everybody for any gifts they receive and then after the excitement is over I text everybody to say thank you again. I can't believe you don't get a thank you from them, the younger ones should thank you but may forget in all the excitement but the older children and especially the parents should have no excuse!