holiday gift giving - how much, is too much???
luvbug00 wrote: This weekend Brad and I went christmas shopping for Mya. Every year she is over whelmed with all the things she get. ( mostly from extended family) Anyway so we go to Toys R' us and I got her the v-tech v-smile pocket & a cartrage and a pound puppy kinda thing.My thoughts were I got her one mega expencive thing and one small thing so her dad only needs to get her a small thing. but NOOO he goes with his cart and gets her....drop pant spongebob, rockem sockem spongebob, 2 movies,a hackie sackie game thing, another game cartrage and I had to talk him out of a barbie power wheels! WTH !!!
anyway IYO how much is too much ??and honestly did we get too much???
Boys r us replied: You're probably asking the wrong person, b/c I tend to go overboard and am already feeling badly that the kids only have about 15 gifts a piece under the tree, when they normally have about 30 or 40 each. But they both have some really expensive things under there(new flat screen monitor, ipod, powerwheels truck etc..)
But to answer your question no, I don't think you've gotten her too much.
mckayleesmom replied: I don't buy that much for them...because they get stuff from the inlaws and my mom and grandma too....
For Mckaylee she got
A couple pieces of clothes (not too much because my mom wigs out on clothes every year)
a grocery cart (she has been wanting one forever)
a disney princess walkman thing
a disney princess jewelry box that talks
a dora diary
sidewalk chalk
books ...alot of them 
perfume with a teddy bear
coloring pencils
coloring notepad of paper
stickers
Russell
bathtub toys
couple pieces of clothes
laugh and learn toy
walking toy that turns into a scooter bike
and something else I can't remember
jcc64 replied: Dh and I go back and forth on this every year, and on birthdays as well. Having spent the first part of his life in Korea, the over-the-top gift extravaganza that constitutes an American Christmas is not ingrained in his consciousness of the holiday. To him, it does sort of seem vulgar and unnecessary, particularly when the kids aren't old enough to really understand the value of things. Over time, I have come to agree with him, for the most part. While I realize that Christmas is considered a time to indulge a child's magical thinking and a way to make "dreams" come true, the impact is lost after a certain point. I think a few carefully chosen gifts will accomplish the same thing as a HUGE pile of stuff that will undoubtedly be cast aside a few days after the holiday. So, with my boys, who are beyond the Santa thing, I let them know that there is a monetary limit, and they can either choose a few "big" things, or a bunch of little ones. Sometimes, the 10 y o needs a little reminder about why his pile looks so "small". As for Corey, she will ask for any number of things, which I then edit, and by the time Christmas comes, will undoubtedly have forgotten about the things she didn't get. If not, it's a good opportunity to let her know that you can't have EVERYTHING you want, all the time.
Finally, I find it a little sad when kids have/get soooooo much, that there's nothing left to wish and wait for, kwim? When I asked Noah what he wanted this year, he actually couldn't come up with one thing, not one thing! I found that pretty disturbing, and it's what set me to thinking about all of this.
Sarah&Mackenzie replied: Well we didn't get Mackenzie too much, because she will get a lot from other family members, plus she is only a year old so she doesn't know what she wants. This is what she is getting from me and dh:
Know your name pooh
books
few outfits
little toys for her stocking
Other than that I may pick up a few things here and there, but once she gets older I will probablly buy 1 "expensive" gift and get small things here and there.
mckayleesmom replied: Most of Mckaylees small stuff came from DEALS..its a dollar store here...they have such cute stuff...and Mckaylee and Russell are too young to know the difference. I would say that I spent about 100 dollars on each of them....I might go back and get Mckaylee a disney princess bike...she can ride in the house.....she can't reach the pedals on her big wheel and I know that once she sees that Russells walker turns into a car..they will fight over it.
MamaJAM replied: We never get tons for the kids for Hanukkah -- with 5 kids - we certainly don't do the gift-a-day thing! We give 3 'nice' gifts - but mostly even those are $15-$20 each....and 1 other small gift. We also try and get together with the grandparents during Hanukkah and the kids get a few small gifts from them that day (we don't give anything that day).
Right now - we have nothing for DD#1 (she has no clue what she wants.....her b-day was in Oct and her Bat Mitzvah was in Nov -- she's already gotten everything she wants).
DD#2 is getting a pixel-chicks house, a teen trends doll, and already got a kitten...her little gift is a cat-book.
DD#3 is getting a glow-in-the-dark doodle bear, an easle, and she also already got a kitten....her small gift is a robe.
The boys are each getting 3 parts for their train set as their big gifts....and they'll each get a DVD on the 'small gift' day ("I Love Toy Trains 3/4/5" and "Oy Baby 2") -- actually all of their gifts were around $15 each.
DH did pick up some musical instruments for the kids to get as a group gift one day too.....this is a bit 'over' what we usually do - but, on well.
C&K*s Mommie replied:
ITA!! While we want to get our girls many of the things that we see that we think are neat. We have to hold ourselves back, and realize that a few pratical things are well worth it. We plan to get Kellie a Supertrike from Toys R' us (since Christian is getting a Dora bike) and one of those kid karoake systems and a tv so the can watch it in their playroom. Other than that maybe a few things but nothing overboard.
jem0622 replied: We've got a 3 gift rule for each child and this makes things so much easier, plus it helps us teach about the 3 kings and their gifts to the baby Jesus. They truly appreciate these gifts instead of being overwhelmed. They do get gifts from other family members too.
jcc64 replied:
This is just lovely. It relates back to our conversation last week about teaching kids what Christmas really is all about. A creative and effective way of doing that.
ammommy replied: I have to reign in DH at every birthday and Christmas. His attitude right now is let's do it while we can afford it, but I don't want my kids to be spoiled brats. I do make sure that at least one or two things on Alec's list are not purchased because I want him to realize that "you don't always get what you wa-annt". I have begged grandparents to limit gifts to one or two things, but I'm afraid that my breath was wasted 
I really like the 3 gifts/3 kings idea. I might try to implement it next year.
luvbug00 replied: ITA Amommy, I wanted to gt her one big thing one small thing but He wants Mya to have whatever she asked for. 
USMCwife replied: The past 2 years I think that we spent way too much on Eden for Christmas. The year before last her Daddy was in Afghanistan and so I guess I went a little over board since he was gone. Last year was his first Christmas we really got to spend together as a family. I aslo went overboard, I think she had around 20t presents under the tree besides her stocking stuffers.
This year we cut back some. She will have her bigger presents from Santa a few more under the tree from us and then her stocking stuffers. We now have a baby and have to watch our money more.
We arent getting each other anything except for stocking stuffers.
I want Eden to know that Christmas is more than getting presents.
Maddie&EthansMom replied: Maddie can choose ONE thing she wants. She gets about 3 things from Santa every year.  I try not to go overboard b/c she doesn't play with everything and I try to refrain from buying stuff just to buy stuff or b/c I think it is cute. I have done this in the past and decided to quit when I cleaned out their playroom and donated 3/4 of the toys in there that were never touched.
Her one thing this year happened to cost $100. But that is okay. I know she will use it and love it. Ethan of course can't tell us what he wants, but I know what he likes. They both get 3 gifts for the same reasons Julie mentioned. And they have their stockings.
MomToMany replied:
 Only 15?? Wow.
No, Nadia, I don't think you got her too much. Our kids get maybe 3 presents under the tree, plus their stockings. And they are happy with that! They aren't spoiled; they appreciate each & every thing they get. We're not made of money, but they each make a list, and we try to get a couple of things off of it that we know they would like the most.
jacobsmama replied: Wow...this is a great post..We go way to overboard especially after reading all your great ideas. My husband doesn't get into any other holiday but christmas and he goes crazy and so I tend to go with him. Plus our parents are both divorced and remarried so we buy for alot of ppl..I love Christmas time!!! 
holley79 replied: Man after reading most everyone's post, Poor stepson is getting jipped by us. LOL. Usually every year he gets a big gift from us and each of his grandparents not to mention the little things. His big gift that he is begging for this year is that freaking XBOX 360. Every year Dh and I have gotten him a game console, this year we have kept our foot down and said no. JMO but it's too expensive. He threw a fit like a 2 year old. I was thinking about getting him gifts recommended for a 2 year old, he's 17.
He will get some nice gifts just not the big gift he wants. We have bumped heads over it and now getting the baby throw up in our face. I broke it down for him real quick:
"Get a job, see how long it takes you to earn $500.00, see how hard you had to work, then go buy it for yourself."
JMHO on that one.
I really like the three gifts idea though. That does bring back the true meaning and I think that is something that is lost.
C&K*s Mommie replied: XBox 360's cost $500??!! Now that I know that, any of the game systems my husband keeps talking about do not sound so bad to make an investment in--even if he will not play it because of a lack of time.
And there are plenty of 2yr old toys out there nowadays to choose from, Holley that he would be less than thrilled to receive.  LOL
holley79 replied:
Well the system that he wants is $399.99. Then he wants another controller, the cables that you need for the stupid thing, and then a game. It's just absolutely crazy. If people seriously want to buy that's wonderful. I'm not dogging on anyone that buys one. It's just time for HIM to learn that he can't have everything he wants. Not to mention this is a crucial time in school and also he's going to be enlisting here very shortly.
Not from us this year.
I saw some really cute and fun toys for 2 year olds at Wal Mart today.
C&K*s Mommie replied: Go for it! I would!! Just to bring some fun into it. 
The systems that Chris was thinking about are the outdated ones, that are less than $200. There is no way I would advocate him buying a $400/$500 game system. No way at all!!
holley79 replied:
Brandon has in his possession the older Xbox, the PS and the PS2. I think he has enough. LOL
I really like the leap frog stuff. Things have really come a long way since when we were kids. (That really made me sound old and we aren't. LOL)
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