I am a member of a forum where there has been a lot of discussion about Christmas recently, with parents listing the items that they are buying for their children. One of the things that shocked me though is just how much money they seem to be willing to spend on children, some of whom are too young to even open them. I see lists of gifts worth hundreds, often more. Do you think you spend too much on your children? I know that a lot of people get into debt around Christmas time and then use the rest of the year to pay it back, is this something that you have done? Personally, I think that as long as each child has something to open, including something that they could play with on Christmas Day, that is more than enough. Otherwise, you're just teaching them that spending money equals love, and that's a rather dangerous message to be giving to them.
I think that as long as every child gets a present, and like you say, something they can play with, that's a good Christmas. I don't see the point of overspending at Christmas, if you're buying something they really need then it might be justified but if it's just to buy them another toy it's not worth it.
One thing I know about children is that they don't care much about the cost of a gift just as long as they get a gift like any other kid. I don't have kids of my own but I have nieces and nephews whom I buy gifts all the time. I always get something which I know the kid will appreciate regardless of how cheap it is. In fact since I buy them gifts all the time not just for Christmas, getting them cheap gifts saves me a lot of money.
My baby is going to be 11 months old around Christmas so this year especially I don't have to worry about how much I spend on gifts. She'd be fine with a box lol. But in general I think my goal is going to be get her one bigger thing she wants and a bunch of smaller stuff because who doesn't like to open presents. When I say bigger thing I also don't necessarily mean 100s of dollars worth of something but maybe if she doesn't have a bike yet get her that. Christmas was always a big deal in my family and it wasn't always the prices of the things we got that were the reason for that.
It's crazy how others are spending too much on gifts specially for very young children. I'm not sure who they are spending for, themselves (for the satisfaction of equating money for love), or the kids. Like was mentioned, children don't really care how expensive their toy actually costs. I would rather spend on them all through out the year than one time big time.
One house on my street always had a tag sale shortly after Christmas or the kids' birthdays. They would often sell toys that hadn't even been taken out of the box yet. My mom thought it was cruel, but my brother was friends with one of the kids and he said they never minded. They got way too many toys to actually play with them all, so they chose their favorites and sold the others. I'm guessing part of the problem is that it isn't just the parents who can tend to overspend, but aunts and uncles and grandparents as well. If you have a large family and not a lot of small kids, they will probably be overwhelmed with gifts. I don't have kids yet, but Christmas shopping is something I worry about. Christmas gifts were (and honestly still we) really big in both of our families growing up, but I just think it's too much. If I wanted more things I would buy them. I just want to spend time with everyone.
I don't think that kids care about how much you spend for their presents. What they care about, and we should too, is if the present they receive is usable or something they wanted. Sure, there are times when they wish for the most crazy and expensive things, those requests should not be honored Because let's not forget, kids learn a lot from our actions, what will happen if they see us spending plenty on things that they don't really need, what lesson will they learn?
I buy my teen gifts that are worth money, but I don't pay full price for them. I use eBay ,Amazon marketplace and trade in programs to get marked down video games for my daughter. She's in high school so she likes nice electronics and games, but I don't pay top dollar for them because there are a lot of discount, bargain and cash back sites out there.
