Do Your Kids Get/make Others Presents for Christmas?

we (let's face it, I) try to do a combination. i've bought the foam ornament things at Pat Catan's or Michael's and had him make one for: 2 grandmas, 3 grandpas, 4 greatgrandparents, 3 uncles, 4 sets of aunts & uncles, and teachers.

last year, we started having him use the money he has from birthdays, report cards, etc... to buy little things for the grandparents and uncles at the Santa Shop at school.

he doesn't buy or make for his cousins individually.....that would be overwhelming. we J. give them a gift from all 3 of us. now, when they get a few more years older, depending on every one's financial life, i'll suggest that the kids do a grab bag or exchange names. we'll see if that goes over well. i have a ton of cousins, and we always did that. it was so much fun to get stuff like that, even if the cousin giving you the gift wasn't able to be there because they were out of state.

yes, I learned from my Mom to always think of others & to "give" at Christmas....& most importantly, to never expect anything in return.

My sis & I made Christmas gifts for all of our aunts, gmas & gpas, the gr gparents, & all of our elderly neighbors. It was usually a very hokey gift...but they all loved our gifts & always anticipated them. I'm 49 & we actually still have a few of our gifts....which those gparents kept forever.

& when I say hokey, I mean hokey! One year, we painted flat, round rocks. We painted them as ladybugs & glued on a felt bottom. They were used as paperweights.....still have one! Another year, my Dad cut a sapling into slices. We put decals on them, varnished them, & then Dad drilled holes for the key chains to go thru. Everybody loved them....especially the uncles/gpas! The log keychains floated & made the best boat keychains! When my uncle died, he'd had his for almost 30 years....

With my own sons, we have always made cookie/treat trays for our neighbors. My sons are 15 & 24....& still help deliver the trays. :) This is something which I Iearned from my gma....we made cookies to distribute to all of our neighbors (we lived across the street from each other!).

Every Thanksgiving, we do craft projects with my Mom & my sister's family. They are given as gifts to the aunts/uncles & gparents. This year we are making bookmarks. We're using gossamer ribbon & attaching a silver charm to one end...& a bell/bead on the other. Very pretty! & I'm thinking for the guys to attach bobbers & a weight.... It warms my heart to think that my kids are still willing to make gifts...in fact my 24yo is looking thru scrollsaw patterns - trying to decide what to make!

Well...my kids make a gift for all the families we exchange gifts with. I supply any craft stuff they need. We also exchange store bought gifts, but those come from the entire family. So when Mee Maw opens her present it's from all of us.

They are given money from their grandparents to buy a gift for Mommy and Daddy.

We also stopped exchanging gifts with friends. We are all so fortunate, the kids don't need more stuff. It was getting harder and harder to shop for one another. So instead, we go do a Christmas activity together. Something we may do on our own anyway...we J. make it a group outing. It's much more fun.

Last year when my grandson was J. 5, he asked my why I was buying people Christmas presents. I told him that it was for the people that I loved & cared about. Later he asked if he could buy presents for people too. I told him that he had to have some money to spend. We talked about it & deceided he would do extra jobs at grandma's house to earn points. He made a list of the people that he wanted to buy for (this also included the waste management drivers) we kept a ledger & when Christmas got close, we baked cookies for some people (like neighbors & w/m drivers) & went to the dollar store to buy the rest. He had earned enough to buy everone on his list 2 gifts. We spent 2 hours there & everyone in the store was really in to it. He asked M. yesterday what jobs he can do to earn points for Christmas. I think that he enjoyed giving almost has much as getting.

That's wonderful. Love what you're doing, and love the answers you've received! I'm gonna have to take notes for this year. :)
Lowes and Home Depot are very kind about letting us take our craft home to do on their Saturday craft days, because my youngest son will not have it-M. spending some nice time doing a craft with my older son isn't going to happen with little guy around. So we save them and sometimes they're rainy day activities, but mostly we use them as little gifts he can build and paint/decorate for gifts. He's making a little firestation bank (from either HD or Lowes) for his little brother, a birdhouse (also one of those store's crafts) for dad, and he'll paint/decorate a $1 wood frame from Michaels for M., and pick out a picture for daddy to put in it of us for my gift. For his grandma who is fanatical gardener, I bought a stepping stone kit and he and his little brother will work on it together. He writes his own thank you, birthday, and soon Christmas cards. If he wants to buy someone a little something, he can do so with his spending money (he gets a 25 cent a day allowance and is good about saving). We make ornaments too, especially out of things we find outside (pinecones are great with glitter, or little cotton ornaments that we picked from the side of the road, or we'll make angel ornaments with the cotton. He found out my mom picks pecans for money, and he has been saving some sandbuckets full (he picks them while out at the park or on a picnic, or waiting for his riding lessons...we'll do something with those). We also took cheap little bottles that we found at a dollar store, filled them with beach sand, and got out the hot glue gun and made little ornaments for his friends from back home (we'd J. moved here at the time). Family Fun magazine always has neat ideas. Another thing we give: we like to bake TOGETHER and he gets to do the cookie cutters and help M. decorate. We'll give baked gifts and notes as gifts to some people. So, he does try....and in my opinion does well! My almost 2 year old.......he'll get to help us this year. Last year, not so much. But now he's got a little friend, and we'll figure out a way for him to get some gifts to give to M., daddy, and big brother.

I give my kids $10 each to buy eachother a gift and they can get them whatever they want. I'm sure when they get a little older I'll encourage them to use their own money.

My son (who is 7) made everyone a picture last year. He is EXTREMELY hard headed and wants to do only what he wants to do so at age 6 that was the first year he was even open to doing this. I tried other years and it was a huge battle and was not worth it. He has almost no interest in doing crafts. This year he is already planning what he wants to make for each person. In our town we have a "Children's Christmas Bazaar" where you send in your child to buy xmas gifts. Everything is super cheap - $1 or so. This year I am going to give our son $10 and let him pick out things for his cousins and grandparents. He will have gifts to give out AND he will have his pictures he made for everyone. So, be thankful you have a little girl who likes doing crafts and thinks that kind of this is fun! I am hoping my daughter (who is 2 now) will be like that as she gets older.

Last year my eldest who was five used his pocket money that he had saved by helping Daddy at work to buy his little brothers gifts. My other boys are not yet at the stage to earn money. I like the idea of giving personal vouchers as gifts. For instance, a voucher from my son to his grandmother for an hour's worth of help in the garden, or tidying up her pantry etc.