How Many Christmas Gifts Do You Give Your Kids?

My families tradition is simple, and we just started it 2 Christmas' ago. I told the kids I spoke with Santa and asked that he only bring 4 gifts that go along with this theme:

Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
Something to read

Then the stockings are full of like dollar store stuff.

It has made Christmas time less stressful and cheaper especially since I have 5 kids. It works for us, give it a try.

I also liked what someone said about 3 Wise Men = 3 Gifts. Great idea!

Good luck

How many Christmas gifts do I give my only grandchild>>>TONS!!!!! And I get so much joy on Christmas Day when he comes over.

I don't even count the number of gifts. I just try to keep the prices and numbers pretty even between my two kids. I start shopping for Christmas about 6 months early and buy a little at a time so it's not overwhelming cost wise. They usually get 1 big present each. This year they are both getting a Nitendo DS. Then I buy accessories to go with their big gift. And then odds and ends... I buy sales and clearances. I LOVE giving a lot for Christmas. As long as I am lucky enough to be able to do Christmas this way, I will.

I like to see the tree overflowing with gifts. My mom would even wrap tube socks and underwear so we'd have more to open. We were poor, so nothing pricey, but a lot of stuff to unwrap.
I love love love Christmas, so I tend to go overboard. It is very full under our tree. I dont dare count presents or dollars spent. ;) But we open presents at home with just our kids. I would feel really akward opening Santa gifts with other families.

My Christmas is a season, not an event. We have a mixed household of 9 people. We call it Dragon House. My parents are VERY split, so there's a Seattle Grandma Christmas, a Seattle Grandpa Christmas, and a Dragon House (household) Christmas. Of the six kids who live at my house, four of them have other houses as well, so they each have additional Christmases at their other houses. Plus grandparents at the other houses. Plus we do a fairly involved gingerbread house project every year. Plus ice skating at the Seattle Center and riding the carusel. All told, "Christmas" is 3-5 weeks long with probably a dozen events. No single event carries all that weight of CHRISTMAS. Each one is a part of Christmas. If you're disappointed in one event, oh well. There will be another. We also have a general emphasis on experiences rather than things.

Within this context, every member of our household gets a stocking from Santa with two candies, an orange and a small toy that is suitable for group play (one year we all got kazoos). Kids get an additional present from Santa that may be large or small. Santa brings what is best for that kid, and does not compare kids.

We also do one large household present. Sometimes that present is an event. Two years ago, we did a weekend at an indoor waterpark. Sometimes that present is a thing. Last year we got an electric piano.

There may or may not be gifts between kids and between adults. It really depends on who got inspired. Gifts may or may not be reciprocal. There are also gifts from various relatives. Since we all have different relatives, this is obviously uneven...and that's okay. Counting and comparing presents is not allowed and has never been a serious issue. Opening presents is an event of 15-30 minutes. We immediately move on to a fancy Christmas breakfast and then they get to play with their toys. "The Opening Of Presents" is a fun but minor event.

I firmly believe that trying to keep things "fair and even" teaches kids to be jealous. It teaches them that when someone else gets something good, they have been wronged and should be compensated. We strive to celebrate what we have, celebrate what other people have, and share in joy.

I also firmly believe that too many presents overwhelms children and makes them cranky and greedy. I've observed this in many contexts. If two children have four toy cars, they each have two and they're both happy. If two children have 50 toy cars, they both try to take them all and they both end up miserable. Most children will be happiest with one or two toys that they can unwrap and play with immediately.

I know this is a much more complex answer than you wanted, but I hope it helps.

We go a little crazy with Christmas gifts. We only have one child and under the tree are so many gifts it looks like we have 10 kids. Last year we bought my daughter so many gifts it took her two days to unwrap them all. I figure she is my one and only, we have the money, so why not make Christmas extra special? As far as the other kids in the family, we used to buy 5-6 gifts for each of our neices and nephews. This year both our families decided to do a name draw so we only have to buy for one child on each side. This will be the easiest Christmas ever. I think Christmas is such a fun time for the kids, why not spoil them a little?

Three, if it was good enough for the son of God it's good enough for mine.

Too many!! I am really starting to realize that my kids are just plain spoiled. They have everything under the sun and they are always complaining that they're bored. Last year, my daughter got a ton of Littlest Pet Shops and Barbie stuff and I can count on one hand the number of times she has actually played with it by herself. She will only play with it if a friend is over playing with her and even then, it is no guarantee. I feel like it was a complete waste. Her birthday is also 3 days after Christmas, so she gets SO much stuff it's rediculous. I was just at a MOPS meeting this morning where we were talking about keeping the REASON for Christmas in focus and someone said that they give just 4 gifts. They give a "need", a "want", a "read" and a "surprise" gift. I love that idea and I'm pretty sure I'm going that route this year. I can't think of a single thing these kids should get in the way of toys. They have it all! I really feel like we have gone overboard in the past and I don't intend for that to continue. I grew up with basically nothing and so did my husband, so I'm sure there is a little bit of compensation happening where we feel like we should give them things because we have the means, but it has gotten out of hand and my daughter, especially (who is 5), is already starting to show signs of "entitlement" and I don't want my kids to be that next generation of people that expect things! We are focused on GIVING this year, not GETTING. We do Operation Christmas Child every year where we pack a shoe box full of toys for kids overseas and we also do an "Angel Tree" gift for an underprivileged kid locally, so we try to do our part to instill this in them, but somehow, that message is getting lost in the shuffle and I'm feeling very convicted that Christmas isn't about a tree full of presents, but about the gift that Christ gave us the day he came to this earth to save us. I don't plan to be a total scrooge, but we are definitely paring back the gift giving this year and are just going to focus on being together as a family and spending time together.

I also learned to sew a year ago, so I am planning to make at least one gift for each of my kids so that it isn't about the money spent and getting the latest, most popular toy, but the thought behind the gift and the effort put into it that makes it special.

Anyway, I didn't meant to get on my soap box. My answer is just that in the past, we have given lots of gifts (I never really counted them and I didn't make sure they were "even" between the kids) and going forward, it will likely be 3-4 each with a couple of small things and maybe some candy in their stockings. Hope that helps.

Every year is different... but a LOT. Not like Dudly (from Harry Potter "Last year there were 37!") a lot, but a lot.

How I do it is like this:

1) I make a list of everything I WANT to get / NEED to get (sigh... 2 different lists)
2) I buy them
3) I divide them between Santa, Mom (special), Dad (special), and Mom+Dad (big things)

What's the "need'? Well... I save shopping for Xmas. New clothes, pillows, dishes.... any winter & spring sports/camps... any "memberships" (zoo, seasons passes)... electronics... those ALL get bought for xmas. Bdays are smallish (1 gift each), but xmas is probably 2/3s needed (would be buying ***anyway***) and 1/3 bonus (toy type/ treats)

There's no exact "number". It REALLY depends on the year. It's always exciting, though, because when you've been 2 inches grown out of your pants, and your snow jacket is too tight to be comfy (but still theoretically fits)... clothes ARE fun to get. When we haven't had a TV for 4 months... that's an exciting thing. We hold off on MOST things until xmas.

The "best" (aka most wished for; regardless of price) always get brought from Santa. Adds a little humility into the process!!!

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ADDED:

Did you know I have God Like Powers???

I do.

It all started because I have both Serbian and Albanian Friends. BOTH have Santa... and Santa NEVER comes on the 25th! The Orthodox Christians celebrate xmas on Jan 7th (9th? Oh... Dragana will shoot me for messing this up!), and the Albanian/Kosovars are MUSLIM. Santa comes to THOSE houses "When Dad gets paid" (as the norm). It's SUPER fun in their schools (the muslims), because Santa comes on all different nights... so you never know when you're going to wake up and find presents under the New Year's Tree OR when your friends will! Stockings hang up for weeks, and one night, Santa comes...

This gave me an idea a few years ago. I MOVED XMAS.

Only by a day in our house, but my God Like Powers know no bounds. I could move it by a week! Or a month!

I moved it, because with all the BIRTHDAYS we have on xmas, there's no way to avoid family on the 25th and have it just be out nuclear family. And, like your extended family, EVERYONE does xmas differently (I have a niece and nephew who don't get santa presents, either, but the other cousins do!) so it makes for a bit of friction. And it made for EXHAUSTION when we tried to have our "own" xmas in the morning and then went running around... and impossibility for our own traditions if we were all sleeping over.

Moving "xmas" / "when Santa comes" has been the BEST, hands down, decision I have ever made regarding holidays. Period. Even better than the insisting Uncle J wear clothes when we're all present. As Uncle J is neither a young man, nor a particularly fit man... this decision ranks rather high as well. Esp with the rest of the family who couldn't figure out a way to get him to do it (Uncle J has a weakness for Scotch. ONLY if I don't see his wrinkled behind for the entire day, do I give him a bottle of Glen Livet upon leaving. My mum prefers we leave last. I wonder why?

We try to keep it at a dollar amount for each kid. They usually each get 1 big present and then a few smaller ones and then clothes and socks / underwear if they are needed. I would say they each end up with about 10 gifts depending on the price of their big gift.
I'm bad at making sure the stockings get filled so I'm usually out at the last minute getting little toys/candy from the dollar store to fill them with.

Way too much - and it will always be that way. I go for the WOW factor with my kids and will never change that, not caring who else cares. I want them to come down and be so excited for all that they are getting. They work so hard throughout the year and we do tons of donating and helping others during the time of year, they deserve it. My kids don't ask for anything ridiculous, ever.

This year the big gift will comes from my husband and I. This has been the biggest ever dollar amount per big gift, and it's about $200 per kid. Then their 2 outfits each, their two new pairs or pj's, their new shoes, socks, underwear, a few small toys from us, 3 decent toys from Santa, and stockings.

We spend way too much, but a lot less than a lot of people I know - though not many of the moms on here :).

It varies year to year. Some years the Santa gift has been something like the DVD player for the family. Some years it has been one big thing per kid. The year we spent $$$ trying to save our cat was a smaller Christmas. DD was just a baby so I don't even think we did a Santa gift.

I think you and DH can come to a compromise. Just two things seems awfully light if you can afford it. Even if it's just new pajamas thrown in there (my aunt used to get her kids new underpants and pjs every year). I also think that you need to work on the kids not comparing who got what from Santa. It's a slippery slope and one you are unlikely to win by keeping up with the Joneses. Don't let someone else set your gift giving priorities for you.

In our home, we also allow each other to sneak small gifts into each other's stockings (NO PEEKING!) which is part of the fun. If the children have not yet started shopping for each other, allow them to do so. Remind them that giving is a good thing. Until Christmas morning, most of the gifts under the tree are for others so the kids don't know (except for a few teaser gifts) what they're going to get.

In my family it is not a certain number of gifts. We live on a pretty tight budget and when it is Christmas time its about how much we put in our budget to spend total. If we decide to spend $900 then they each get $300 spent on them and that includes taxes and stockings. Every year we get one big gift for the three of them, so we take the total cost of the item and divide by three. Its easier having a money amount than it is having a gift number amount for us.

We celebrate Yule, so it is 3-4 days of gifts depending on if the Solstice is on the 21st or 22nd. We do one medium gift on the first day of Yule, 1-2 smaller gifts each day until the 25th, and than the big gift from Santa. They usually also have some other smaller gifts on the 25th, things like books and cloths or small toys.

First off, I think that if there is gift jealousy then gifts should be done at home ... secondly I think there is TOO much emphasis on the gifts and not enough on the togetherness and enjoyment of family. Thirdly my son gets ONE big gift for either his bday or the holidays and the other is a small one. This year and last year he got the small one for his bday and the larger will be for the holidays. I am not certain what we will get him this year but the budget is $100 and I ask that NO ONE person spends more that that on him EVER! Now, if grandma is going to do so (as she often does) I ask her to consult me about it first so I can make sure she is not waisting her money. So, basically I agree with your hubby on this one.

Kids notice those things... at least al the ones I have met do!
My sis in law always goes by the amount she spent.. and sometimes that translated in to 2 presents for my boy and 4 for my girl or vice versa and someone always cried! (not just mine but the other kids too)

We have our own Christmas morning, just the 4 of us. For my kids I try to get them a 'together' present (game systems usually LOL) then they both get 2 to 5 presents each of the same type. Like if I get her a game for her DS he will get a game for the PSP, she gets a book he gets a book, she gets craft he gets a craft, she gets a ring he gets a necklace etc etc. It's gotten harder over the years. I try to keep things relativly even on price, type of gift and number of gifts. I also try to make sure I really think about what they would like/want.

We then go to my inlaws for Christmas there and dinner, (my family has always been in another state, everyone too broke to visit each other) For people there the adults used to get 1-2 presents and kids 3-4. Now we are broke so kids get 1-2 and adults draw names.

I give about 6-7 gifts each. One is big ($100 or more) and then smaller gifts. Then there's the whole stocking stuffing where I give candies and whatnot.

I sincerely wish that long ago I'd known about the "Gifts of Three"....honoring the Three Wise Men! What an awesome way to tie in the real reason for the season!

But we set a dollar amount & try to equalize in "like" gifts:
Thru childhood...
one big item
one board/card game
a book or two
a model or activity....legos, etc
a sweatshirt or other fun piece of clothing
a keepsake ornament commemorating current interests
new bottle of aftershave (boys love being like their dads :)
a stocking full of cool stuff
& sometimes a few other things....depending on the cost of the big item.

Now that they're older (15 & 24), the cost of gifts has shifted into high gear. Hate those game systems, games, etc! But they love them. Last year, I actually said NO more electronics!

But this year, we are planning on buying a stereo for our younger son's 1st car. Our older son is heading back to college & he needs tires. It may be an automotive kind of Christmas!

My favorite year was when we bought both sons bicycles....it was our older son's last bike & our younger son's 1st big boy bike! Special photo ops!

Updated

I sincerely wish that long ago I'd known about the "Gifts of Three"....honoring the Three Wise Men! What an awesome way to tie in the real reason for the season!

But we set a dollar amount & try to equalize in "like" gifts:
Thru childhood...
one big item
one board/card game
a book or two
a model or activity....legos, etc
a sweatshirt or other fun piece of clothing
a keepsake ornament commemorating current interests
new bottle of aftershave (boys love being like their dads :)
a stocking full of cool stuff
& sometimes a few other things....depending on the cost of the big item.

Now that they're older (15 & 24), the cost of gifts has shifted into high gear. Hate those game systems, games, etc! But they love them. Last year, I actually said NO more electronics!

But this year, we are planning on buying a stereo for our younger son's 1st car. Our older son is heading back to college & he needs tires. It may be an automotive kind of Christmas!

My favorite year was when we bought both sons bicycles....it was our older son's last bike & our younger son's 1st big boy bike! Special photo ops!

We have 5 kids and give them about 5 gifts each and then they have their stockings. We don't do the santa thing.

There is never a number. As close as we get to making things even is say if one gets a new sweatshirt they all get one. If one gets a new set of dishes they all do. But little after that is totally even because my 3 have different personal likes. Only Santa brings gifts on Xmas and only for the kids, not the grownups, though he'll sometimes bring something bigger for the whole family (last year is was a telescope) and he'll bring bigger items that the kids are to share such as a Thomas the Train set. We buy the kids gifts and the things they need all year round so Santa brings them the extra special things or things to add special to their collections or things to organize/display said collections. Santa here believes in spending a little more on say 5 quality items than filling a stocking with 20 little bits of junk that get thrown out within a month of getting them. Instead of stockngs they leave out Thomas the Tank giftbags-we couldn't find the box with stockings the year we moved a couple weeks before Xmas when my first was really little so we put out the giftbag we happened to have and now they won't use anything else. The only candy that goes in their stockings is a Pez machine to add to their collections, a tradition that started with our first child, and maybe a special sucker.
We don't have any problem with s/he got 1 more thing than I did because things are picked carefully to make sure just the right things are given. They all know it's the quality and not the quantity.
I had a couple cousins that were very into the "how many did you get" and it never bothered me because I wasn't raised that way and Santa always knew exactly what special things to get me that I was always over the moon with. We are bringing up our kids the same way.
I hate that it becomes a competition of I got one more box than you did!
One thing you can do it wrap parts of the same thing separate so they have the same amount of packages if need be. I have heard of it being done. So the system and game in separate packages, batteries in another if you get desparate.

2-3 gifts. And no 'big gifts'. We really can't afford any more. But they boys are so thrilled with what they get and digging through their modestly filled stockings. They get a few more gifts from extended family, but not overloaded with too much. We also adopt an angel form the angel tree every year, because it helps us stay focused on the season.

I grew up in a family that was very poor, but my mom wanted us to have big Christmases. We usually got like 10-20 gifts a piece, but they were all really cheap things we didn't really want or need. A lot of our gifts came from garage sales and thrift stores. She could have spent that money on getting us one thing we really wanted, but that rarely happened. Every now and then we would get something really cool if it was a good year, but not every year. For her, it was quantity over quality. We still had fun opening everything, but I would have rather gotten a few small items than a huge load of stuff I didn't know what to do with. One year, we didn't even have a Christmas, someone turned our name into a local charity and the charity provided us with Christmas gifts and even Christmas dinner. It was really special.

This year my children are receiving one larger present under the tree (about $30-$40 each, but I got some great bargains including a new bike for my 3 year old), and their stockings. The stockings will contain a few books, smaller toys, and candy.

This is a fairly frugal Christmas, but I remember a Christmas or two ago, my then five year-old was receiving so many presents at once at my MIL's place that he became overwhelmed and upset. His older cousin who had been put in charge of gift distribution was practically throwing present after present at him, and it ended up not a nice time for him. I want to avoid that. Also, I have seen that when children receive so many gifts, they lose their gratitude and wonder.

we spend about 2 gifts each from Santa and the stocking of coarse...and about 4 gifts from us as they get so much from everyone else.

We have no set number. My husband was in a poor family in England, and they just don't celebrate the way we do. Their idea was "Here's an apple, orange, and hot wheel. Let's all go to the pub together until mom finishes the goose". He had a little stocking with edible stuff (nuts, apple, orange, candy) and then a couple gifts. His birthday is on 12/22 and one year he got a bicycle with no tires for his birthday and tires for Christmas. Are you kidding me??? I'm not celebrating Christmas like that, even though I also like to think I don't "spoil" my kids or it's not "all about gifts", that's still too dang lame for me!!! My brother and I on the other hand, growing up in the 80s and early 90s, were recipients of a $200/child budget. We were NEVER greedy and we really DID NOT take that stuff for granted. Mom did a good job of teaching us the Christian views of Christmas, charity, etc. But we did love our Christmases! (Again, no amount of gifts, but a budget.....but if I had 1 expensive gift and my brother, being younger, had less expensive gifts, I think mom probably balanced it out with smaller simpler things for me too). We don't have that kind of budget, but my husband and I compromise. I buy things here and there throughout the year so that our normal budget does not take a big hit. Jeremy likes the fact that the kids are thrilled with Christmas but he doesn't feel an end of the year "sting" so he's fine with that. And we don't go stupid with it. Seems like Joseph and Victor always need a few more pairs of pants or whatever. Everything depends on the budget, what they could use, what they're interested in, and what else we're buying, but it is basically like this: we will have a couple clothing items, one musical item (a CD, a harmonica, a children's instrument set, a cheap toy bongo, an mp3 player, whatever), one outdoor/sports/rec gift (bocce, croquet, a soccer ball, a tent, whatever), at least one book, one arts/craft thing (an easel or a box of crayons), at least one age appropriate educational thing (a puzzle, globe, telescope, science kit, whatever), then some random toy(s) that they are interested in. The stocking will have an apple, orange, nuts, a special candy, and a couple small little gifts (glow in the dark stars for their room, silly puddy, a harmonica, refills for his capgun, whatever).
I wouldn't like it if my children got 2 gifts and were finished opening in 5 minutes and the other kids were opening 20 gifts and finished in 15. Just....I wouldn't like that. But you don't have the right to tell them how to do Santa for their own kids! I would suggest this, as it's what we did growing up, even though we traveled: suggest that Santa come to everyone's homes early since you'll be traveling (sell it like it'll provide things for them to do on the trip), and then either on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning you celebrate as a family and open up a gift from the family or whatever. I love Riley's idea of Santa coming "whenever" because MY Santa does! Every year we have a letter come from Santa (where we send off a little form thing to the local community center and they send back a GREAT personalized letter). My youngest son was born 11/29 and my family actually came into town! That N E V E R happens so we had Christmas several weeks early. In the form we sent for the Santa letter, which comes just a week or so before Christmas, I wrote what was up: that Santa was visiting 3 weeks early for out of town grandparents and uncles/aunts, and what the "special" gifts would be. It just made it more "magical" to Joseph when he got a letter from Santa saying "I hope you liked the ___ and are having fun with the ___, and I know you'll be an awesome big brother".

Our family's rule : Three wise men - 3 gifts

We have 3 (under 18) and it's not really the number of presents but the $$ worth. My son always wants 1 big thing and the girls seem to want a bunch of boxes under the tree. Anyway its $75.00 from Santa and $30.00 from us. This year all the kids want somethings in our retail store so husband made a deal with them (ages 6,16,17) that after all the shoppers are done on christmas eve, if the items they wanted are there they can have 2 of them each but they each had to agree to reduce there "christmas budget" from $30.00 to $25.00 from us, they agreed so fast it was funny. They do not get to pick Santa but give input but the stuff from us they pick out and we wrap, never has been a surprise even the youngest picks hers out. We figure they get the things from grandparents & Santa as a surprise why not let them pick out there items as we shop for others and it really saves me from them begging for something as I look at something for grandma, bc I say your budget is $30.00 and that items $20 so you will only have $10 more to spend and they almost always get still and think it thought.

We usually just give our kids one gift, one book, and small stocking stuffers (like crayons, etc). Our kids get gifts from other family members, too, though (grandparents, aunts). I kind of wish they didn't get so much from the other family because the kids get overwhelmed. Kids appreciate their gifts more and are more grateful when they don't get too much. I do understand the problem with cousins getting a lot more though ... I wonder if there would be tactful way of suggesting that everyone cut back a little on Santa gifts???