I just found out that apparently 49% of parents go into debt getting gifts for Christmas and that it’s expected that you spend $461 per child! There’s no way that my family is going to spend almost $2000 on gifts for our children. In our family the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. My kids know this. We don’t do the “Santa” thing, my kids know that mom and dad buy their presents. We don’t do stockings. We are kind of minimalists (especially with toys). So here is what we got for our kids for Christmas for the past 5 years.
Related: How to stop having too many toys
2025
Silks– $44.80
Nail set- $58.13
For my son, a Lamy pen– $29.99
My girls will share the nail set and the silks are for all my kids. My son made a wish list for the first time this year and it included a pen and 3 other items that were all very practical. My one year old doesn’t need a gift and will be happy playing with the silks with her siblings.
Total-$132.92
2024
Silks – $32.20
For my son, Underwear, socks, a colored pencil case, and a iPad pen -$ 29.97
A Barbie house -free
A doll – $29.99
The silks were for all of our kids. My son is hard to buy for, and my first daughter asked for a Barbie house. My second daughter loves babies so I thought a doll would be greatly loved (but it wasn’t).
Total-$92.16
2023
We gave our kids a huge collection of Barbie things that were mine when I was little, but it caused huge problems and I had to take the set back and distribute it out slowly over the year and I ended up separating it out into smaller sets.
Total: Free
2022
We got our kids a metal tea set and that was their only Christmas present. My kids love it and still play with it all the time. (the set we bought isn’t available but it’s similar to this one)
Total: $24.99
2021
We got a huge Duplo Lego set for my kids. They still play with it as do their little sisters.
Total: $99.99
So over the past 5 years we spent a total of $350.06 for Christmas gifts for our 4 kids. And these are gifts that will last. It’s not a bunch of junk toys that they’ll play with for a year and then get rid of. (By the way the Barbie house has not been asked for since we got back from our trip and I don’t think I plan to keep it longer. The doll also wasn’t a huge hit and I’m considering giving it to my youngest, but all the other items are used regularly and still loved.)
