Two Kid Christmas Gift Questions

NicoleWI

First, how many items do you aim to have for each kid to open? We have gifts from Santa and from us, and I think I had like 8-ish last year each. 

Second, what do your families do about buying for kids? We always bought for all the nieces and nephews, but one of my brothers doesn't have any kids and now would have to buy for my three (soon to be four) plus other bro's 2. That seems crazy. On DH's side, we just went last year to buying for godchildren only. They still get gifts from Grandma & Grandpa.

JENandJEH

I don't have a number I shoot for.  I set a budget and work within that budget for each kid.  DS2 isn't old enough to understand DS1 got more but DS1 started to notice last year so I try to keep it even.  Sometimes that means wrapping not fun stuff for DS2 but all he cares about is ripping it open.  We tend to only do Santa from us and then each boy picks out a present for their brother and DH and I give to each other.  Then they get presents from grandparents/aunts/uncles.   

As for nieces and nephews, there are only 3 on DH's side of the family and my 2 on my side (no aunts/uncles on my side either).  DH's siblings (4) buy for all of the nieces and nephews but it's nothing extravagant.  I tend to spend a bit more on my niece since they're buying for 2 and I'm just buying for 1.  In my extended family, the kids draw names.  There are 11 kids so each kid gets the 1 present from whoever drew their name and that's it.  

DaisyZH

We have a budget for each kid but we don't pay attention to keeping the number of presents equal.  I believe they are each getting 5 or 6 gifts from us, 1 shared gift from Santa (DS is freaked out by Santa so we definitely downplay it for now) plus their stockings that we fill with crayons, candy, etc.

I only have one niece but this year her parents requested that we buy for kids only instead of exchanging with them too.  I think this works really well, I also buy for my younger brother who had no kids.

chickaboo1974

I think that the boys typically get 5-6 gifts from us and one big gift from Santa each.

I have always just bought for my neices and nephews, and my parents. However when they get over 18 and graduated from high school then I stop... since we don't exchange gifts amoung adults in my family. I bought gifts for over 10 years for my neices amd nephews before I had kids of my own. Most years I had a large budget for them- now I have scaled back since I have kiddos of my own and I am a SAHM.

My husband's sisters have no kids and my inlaws have passed. So he buys for his one sister that he still talks to.

Spin313

I don't have an exact number...but my kids get a Santa gift, a stocking stuffer, books, and probably 2-4 smaller gifts.

I also buy gifts for my two nieces, and all the grandparents get holiday photos.

Disneygeek77

For our kids, they get stocking stuffers and one or two big presents from Santa and maybe 5-7 gifts from us

We also buy for my nieces and nephews for now, but I am the oldest of 7 so we will probably have to cut that back when my siblings start having more kids.  

I also buy a lot of the toys in July when Target has their 70% off toy clearance sale.  So giving that much to our kids and the nieces and nephews isn't hard right now.  

mandymack

We have a per person budget and I buy the gifts the kids really want within that budget. Dig gets more gifts because the items he wants are small and inexpensive. E gets less and, even though she's 8yr, she's never counted or compared... yet.

Our family is very small: just DH and I and our two kids, my sister and my mom. We all buy for each other within the budget we set.

Ilumine

We keep the gifts to four, three from Mama and Daddy and one from Santa.  We have a budget, but that number is what we cannot go over.  It does not mean that we strive to reach it. 

This year's budget was $150 and I got it all of her gifts for just at $100.  

We create different lists for the different families.  We do that because both grandmothers overstepped boundaries on DD's first Christmas.  

willowprincess

We follow the 4 gift rule for our kids (wear, read, want, need) and the "want" gift is from Santa.

We don't buy for anybody on my side unless we happen to find a gift that is just perfect for somebody. My grandparents and my mom always get 1 gift for each kid.

However, we have to buy for EVERYONE on dh's side, which I think is just ridiculous. It's more, you have to give a gift becuase it's what you do. Not because you have a gift they love or even because you want to. We usually get something inexpensive that we can get by with for each of them (ours are the only small children on that side).

My IL's also go crazy buying gifts for my kids. They seriously give them twice as many gifts as we do. I hate it, but his side is very much so "don't say anything ever that might possibly hurt someone's feelings or we will never speak to you". I freaking hate Christmas with them.