Guys!!! Hope you all had a super merry Christmas! We are in the veg-out stage where you feel the super-hype slow down and everyone sort of goes into hibernation mode. We spread out the christmas presents this year because we knew the kids would appreciate the little mountain top experiences a little more and play with the smaller presents (like the ones from their brothers) a little longer if we spread out the ‘openings’. That meant that on Christmas eve’s eve, we did a gift exchange with cousins and Nana & Pappap. On Christmas eve, the boys exchanged their gifts. On Christmas morning, they opened Santa’s presents and Gramps & Grammy gifts. And on Christmas evening, we gave the boys their big presents from Mommy & Daddy. Thankfully we didn’t have any real breakdowns (there was one incident with taking turns that was a little exhausting though!) and the boys still got everything on their list.
I don’t know about anyone else out there, but I know I always feel like Christmas can be a balancing act…even as a parent, the feeling of “Did I do enough?” or “Did I give them too much?” or “Was that a waste?” can pop up. I try to figure out how we can get them excited without making them adopt the attitude of entitlement. How to balance the natural inclination of children and their desire for receiving with the idea that giving is just as fun and generous serving is what Christmas is all about.
So in the spirit of “parents unite!”, I thought it would be super helpful to share what exactly we bought the kids this year as Christmas presents and their prices. We know that every family is different and every family’s budget is different but this can kind of give you a general idea of what we do. Basically, we LOVE spoiling our kids on this special holiday…and we do believe that all kids deserve to be spoiled because they are kids. This might not be helpful right now…it might be one of those things that you need to bookmark for next Christmas or for birthday gift ideas. Just keep that in mind. Before we get to the breakdown of exactly how much we spent on the kiddos and what they got from us, here are some answers to basic questions.
So how do we decide? Well, along with getting them stuff on their Santa’s wish list (We tell them that they should narrow it down to a top three on their wish list!), we also try really hard to abide by that whole “something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read” mantra. We figure that between 5-10 gifts to open is pretty darn exciting. Also, it gives us a chance to write that 3 of the gifts are from Santa and some are from mommy/daddy. Thankfully our kids are of the age that they are asking for things that don’t need to be top of the line or brand specific…that means we can save a lot 🙂
Do we buy a family gift? Yes. On top of individual gifts, we also try to get a family gift or gifts. In the past, we have done a bouncy house, a trampoline, etc. This year, Jeremy got to decide that our big gift was an xbox. That’s right folks. We are entering gaming territory! My reaction as a parent is “Darn it!” and my reaction as a person who actually loves video games is “Finally!” (it’s true. We hosted a Halo tournament before kids and as an adult homeowner, I painted a giant Halo symbol on our wall! ha!) so I am thinking that we will be needing lots of advice on how the boys can earn screen time 🙂 That being said – this was the #1 gift that Will wanted. BUT we decided to make it a family gift so that no single kid thinks they get to call the shots on it. #foresight
So where do we shop? Well, we like certain brands…they are a good fit for the boys and us as a family. All the boys love the same kind of toys….vehicles, superhero stuff, sports stuff, and so we do take into account that the toys will be passed around the house and everyone will play with everything. Our shopping is generally done during sales with coupon codes at stores that cost more (especially for clothing and shoes) and at stores like Five Below (anything listed below as $5 was bought there this year) or the Dollar Tree and then we do spend more for Green Toys and books. We like TJMaxx for clothing or ThredUp but we also shop the sales at our favorite sports stores and clothing retailers. Every year the boys also get costumes….I snag those during the after-Halloween sales and they generally are 90% off. Also Will always has something random that he REALLY wants. This year it is bags of rocks. Last year it was a reindeer bell from Santa’s sleigh. It’s hilarious and fun and we always try really hard to make it happen 🙂
Is there something we don’t buy? Well, it seems like every year we have a friend who gives us something we had on the list. This year, our friend Betsey gave us a TON of clothing and shoes from her son that literally looked brand spanking new. That means that Weston, LJ & Max all had Christmas a little early. It also means we didn’t buy them as many clothes this year and so we did grab one shirt for each of them that we knew they would wear. We also don’t buy the boys anything expensive for their stocking. Our goal with the stocking is generally candy, toiletries, socks/underwear, or dollar items like those grow washcloths, glow sticks or gag gifts 🙂
Lastly – I know that ANY time I talk about money, it comes with lots of judgement. Jeremy asked me why I’m even sharing this. Because sharing this info will come with criticism. Dude….I know that. Some of you are already probably ready to throw me into the fire for even buying presents. THE SHAME 🙂 Some will say I spend too much, some will say I don’t spend enough. Some will criticize the types of toys, or the number of toys or the fact that the toys are plastic vs ethically sourced recycled wood from non endangered species. So with all that judgement, why would I share this? The answer is….I like it when other people share this kind of thing with me. Plain and simple. I always get something out of it. And I hope you do too. Also – it is very clear that we don’t do gifts based on a budget for each person. We also don’t do it so that every gets the same number of presents. We just end up going with our gut on it…and we fully realize that they will probably get presents from Grandparents and each other too!
Now let’s get to that breakdown…(the items that were on the Christmas list are in bold. I tried hard to find and link similar items…obviously the prices might be different as we got them on sale/deals but the item is similar!)….
Family Gifts –
- 2 Basketballs and 2 four square balls – $20
- xbox & Fifa – $190 + $20
- Marble Run – $38
- Wiggle Car – $29
Will –
- Fishing pliers – $8
- 3 bags of rocks – $36
- Sperry Boots – $40
- Drone – $5
- Braves Sweatshirt – $18
- Harry Potter book – $19
- Boxing Gloves – $5
- Virtual Reality headset – $5
- Gorilla costume – $4
- Comic books – saved from me!
Weston –
- RC Boxing men – $20
- Dinosaur sound book – $12
- Zooming motorcycle – $5
- Drone – $5
- Boxing Gloves – $5
- Paw Patrol puzzle – $5
- Spiderman shirt – $7
- Star Wars costume – $2
LJ –
- Zooming motorcycle – $5
- Green Toys airplane – $9
- Tennessee Shirt – $4
- Fishing pole – $18
- Paw Patrol book – $5
- Nerf gun – $18
- Bath toys – $7
- Hulk costume – $2
Max –
- Green Toys Wagon – $14
- Green Toys airplane – $7
- Green Toys boat – $12
- RC Monster Truck – $5
- Bath Toys – $7
- Number book – $4
- Tennessee Shirt – $4
Ella –
- Restoration Hardware Unicorn – $20
- Bows – $22
- Clothing from Gymboree – $73
- High Chair – $141
- Building blocks – $13
- 2 pairs of shoes – $6
After all the Christmas was to be had, the boys ended up playing with Grammy, pulling out the Legos (yes they didn’t receive any for Christmas but this is a crowd favorite if an adult will sit with them!)….and I think in the end, we would say that the Xbox was a winner for everyone (namely because anything the big boys like, the little boys will sit in there and watch)….but then we would say that the other big family gifts (the marble run and the wiggle car) are both clear wins. ALL the boys love ALL of them. I would say that the fighting robots were fun until the head got lost from one. And the little boys were completely infatuated with the bath toys….they played with them for about an hour….not even in the bath tub. Lastly the costumes…always a big hit with the kids but that might be just because my kids are obsessed with dressing up. Who can blame them?!
Also my mom got LJ one of these water appearing books and it has been a HUGE hit. I already have a few more in my bag for Easter baskets!!! Bonus points…no paint, no mess!
So that is a round up of all the things we got the boys! I honestly felt great about the budgeting we did for this year. In the end, we spent $297 for the family gifts, $275 for Ella items, $53 on Max, $68 on LJ, $61 on Weston, and $140 on Will….for a grand total of $894. So I’d love to hear how you guys budget for Christmas or if you do a certain number or a certain kind of gift?! Also…was there anything Santa brought your kids that was a clear favorite? I need to know!!! Birthdays are right around the bend!
To be honest, I guessed you would have gotten them more and was happy to see a normal list of gifts!! And I agree, I enjoy seeing what others gift their kids! Thanks for sharing!
Were some of the gifts used? I’m curious about a $5 drone? $2 costumes? Even the Harry Potter book at $19 seems low.
I love that you shared this information! I agree; it’s so helpful to get insight into what others do.
My mom used to buy three Visa gift cards (one for each kid) throughout the course of the year to spread out the cost. She then used the money on each gift card as her budget for us for Christmas! She usually put about $150 on each gift card and knew that she was done with a kid if she ran out of money on the card. She just wrote out name on each one and kept a running total of the balance on each card. My mom’s love language is definitely gift giving, and this helped with the budget a lot.
A friend of mine has her direct deposit from work set up so a small portion of each paycheck goes into a special account specifically for Christmas and birthdays. She doesn’t ever get the money in her regular checking account, so she doesn’t even miss it, and then she has a healthy budget when the season rolls around without having to even think about it. She does she same thing with a vacation fund. So smart!
We got water appearing books from a friend at church for Christmas and I LOVE it as a parent. I keep it in the diaper bag now and use it when we need a distraction out and about. Saved me during a recent doctor appointment with my 2.5 yr old.
Thanks for sharing! I’m always at such a loss of what to buy.
Thanks for the ideas!
My 6-year-old son received a couple sets of Fort Boards from various relatives this year. Super fun to build all kinds of forts, houses, castles, etc. And they are plastic, so they can go outside too! I’m imagining Nerf wars between a few Fort Board bunkers this summer. And snow ball fights if we ever get above zero here in Minnesota!
I think your Christmas budget is amazing! I won’t even tell you what we spend (it’s crazy- with 7 children ages 19 to 3….I haven’t even added up the total–partly because I don’t want to know! And as kids get bigger, watch out–gifts definitely get more expensive!). So, great job! Sounds like everyone enjoyed everything. Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Just wanted to say I really appreciate this post. I love reading ‘What I got for Christmas’ posts and how other families budget. Awesome stuff!
Thank you for the information and ideas. Since I have nephews that live in other cities, this is very helpful. I am sorry again for people who have to put others down in order to feel good about themselves. Again, thank you!
Your hopes were correct with me – I love reading this stuff, too! My husband’s love language is gifts, so for Christmas (and birthdays) he tends to go a little nuts in my opinion. It was really helpful for my mental well-being to see that we were pretty in line with your family in terms of budgeting, family gifts, etc so THANK YOU!
Happy New Year! I saw on Instagram you got Jeremy an Apple Watch. What did he get you?
Thank you for sharing! I think it’s the voyeuristic side of me but I always love to know details like this!
Thanks for sharing! I am single with no kids, but even like these posts 🙂 Figure once I have a family of my own I will have lots of ideas or I can use them for my nieces and nephews ha. Anyways I think you’re awesome and thanks for sharing your life and kiddos!
Love it! Merry Christmas! And nice deals mama. (3 boys- 4, 8, 10) Our clear kid winners were monster and shark slippers from J. Crew for all and new stuffed puppies- always their most prized gift; for the 4yr old: Melissa and Doug cleaning kits and Learning Resources cash register; for the 8yr old: Roller Derby roller blades and several science kits from Amazon- crystals and geodes; for the 10yr old: Anki Cozmo and a tabletop foosball table from Academy Sports. The Hugglepod Hangout from HearthSong was a huge hit and now they each want one. My 8yr old has slept in it every night since Christmas Day Our 3 boys felt very loved but their most favorite gifts are the ones they gave each other so we must be doing something right…right?! Thanks for posting your ideas too! I don’t think the pricing was necessary but I always appreciate your transparency
I hope you get a lot of positive comments —all families set different priorities and manage gifts differently. While the holiday can be used as an opportunity to be earth friendly, teach a lesson, or whatever, I think it is more than ok if you are priotize joy, memories or whatever your family values.
I love that you shared your budget and some tips! The boys’ gifts look more expensive than your total. Nice shopping! How do you manage extended family gifts?
I have no idea what we spent but we did make a list for the first time this year and we bought most of it over Black Friday weekend. Such a relief to do it in a short amount of time.
I’m impressed. We do t spend the same amount of money on our girls, but we always make sure they each have the same amount of gifts.
I am so glad you shared this! As a mom of 3 boys (older than yours: 14, 11 and 6) I have always found it challenging to find new and creative gifts/ toys for my youngest son as we already have SO MUCH STUFF. All of which is in really good condition as I bought high quality items for my boys through the years (Playmobil and Legos have been a favorite). So I’ve always been curious as to how people who have even more kids of the same sex do it. Now that I have a teen and tween we buy less but it gets wayyyyy more expensive (laptops, iPad, etc.)
On another note where did you find those Sperry boots for Weston for $40?!? I’ve been wanting to get some for my youngest but can’t spend $65 on them when I bought him Uggs this year too. But living in Seattle I know he would wear the Sperrys a ton!
Aw your babes look very sweet opening their gifts. Mine are teens and they get 1 big present (around £100) and a few little bits. I try to spend about the same on both (think they would notice if I didn’t) and their stockings are always fun/treat items they wouldn’t buy themselves.
I love planing and buying everyone’s presents (we have a big extended family) and we always get a new family game to play at Christmas. tis the season to be jolly afterall
Our big family gift was a Nintendo Switch (LOOOOOVE it), so my six year old was pretty excited! We only give one present from Santa and the rest are from us (usually no more than 4 extra presents). Since we have two boys, they usually play with each others toys anyways.
My six year old loved this – keeps his little brother from bothering his special toys…
https://www.amazon.com/Brainy-Bucks-Voice-Activated-Safe/dp/B06XKN8799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515069907&sr=8-1&keywords=voice+activated+safe
I love that you share your budgeting breakdown – my boys are much older (14 and 12) so we’re in totally different stages of life. The gifts here are fewer… and bigger/more expensive. We don’t set a budget per person either, just go with what we know they’d like/want. You spent much less than we did, and got a whole lot more!
Thank you for sharing! xoxo
Do you do stockings as well? 🙂
Happy New year and thank you for sharing the list and the breakdown! Where did you find costumes that were so reasonably priced?!
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always struggled with having the same budget per kid thing. I’m happy to see that you aren’t thinking in terms of “being fair” in that regard.
We didn’t do gifts this year for the simple fact that we’d in the middle of renovating our house we moved into in August + we hosted my family which is huge (I’m one of 11 kids) and didn’t want anyone to feel an unnecessary financial burden.
But with that said, I told my mom and husband that next year, I want to do gifts and that we should all start looking/buying NOW so we can find deals throughout the year.
I only have three kids but our budget is similar. I always start taking an extra shift of work here and there starting in October (I’m a nurse so it’s easy to pick up OT). Whatever extra is put away for Christmas. This year my son who is 6 said “Mom, I’d rather you work less and not get as much stuff” which broke my heart a little. So I decided to pair back a little this year with gifts and honestly it was just as fun and nobody missed out on all the little filler stuff I guess I used to buy.
We ventured into the world of gaming this year too with an Xbox being our family gift. Curious what games you bought that they are loving?
You will not regret that high chair. It is the best!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Bowers! 🙂
Sadly, I don’t budget. (Please Dave Ramsey don’t be reading Bower Power on this day.) I agree with the spoiling — Christmas is the only time of the year we really do — and try to get the girls everything they want. Fortunately, they’re young (6 and 4) so their lists are fairly easy and short. They wanted Barbies this year, and luckily for us Barbie dolls and accessories can be pretty inexpensive and are usually on sale.
I think what you spent for 5 kids is great! Thank you for sharing this post!
We are still trying to figure out the right amount of gifts for Christmas for our 2 year old. This year was just too much on Christmas morning and he quickly lost interest after opening about 5 gifts – that might be a sign of the right amount:) The clear fan favorite this year was the Step 2 Thomas the Tank Roller Coaster that we got a great deal on during Prime Day. Thanks for the gift ideas – loved reading this post!
That was really interesting and helpful ! Thanks for be willing to share it. 🙂
The gifts look spectacular! I love that you made a comment on how each kiddo’s budget may look a little different – I related to this as well, kids have different needs/wants so naturally that will equate to different dollar amounts! Your kiddos look like they had a wonderful Christmas, which I feel is the best thing any parent could wish for. Happy holidays from my family to yours.
Thanks for this breakdown, Katie, and for being so candid. Sounds like you did a great job getting a good mix of gifts, and I think that between $800-$900 is actually a really reasonable budget for a family of 7!!
I like your breakdown. I keep a spreadsheet that I start in mid-summerish when I hear them talk about things they want. Then we try to start finding things in the fall to break up the costs at Christmas time. We’ve had great luck finding new-to-us things on fb moms sites. We have 2, so we try to spend around the same amount and give around the same amount of gifts. We always do a book, a piece of clothing, necessities (gloves/hats), toys, and a family gift. Ours was the Xbox this year too! We have said no Xbox in the morning before school and not until after dinner and homework at night. Happy New Year!
You found some great deals on a lot of this! Thanks so much for sharing – this is helpful with Jackson’s birthday coming up in a few weeks. The big winner at our house this year was a bunch of ImagiNext superhero toys – it’s what he asked Santa for and he’s played with them for HOURS every day since Christmas. My sister also got him an adorable Batman fleece blanket that you can slide your arms into like a cape, and he’s just a little bit obsessed. 🙂
Love this post, thank you for sharing! We are similar in how we purchase gifts! i have 2 boys, ages 7 and 9, we entered the gaming world last year and the way we decided the screen time is that for every book they read, they get 10 minutes of time (either on the ipod or the Nintendo Switch)–it has been a huge perk into keeping them balanced and not turning into gaming zombies! As usual, love the Blog!!!!
I’m always interested in anything budget related from anyone, so thanks for sharing. For us, we really try to focus on quality over quantity even if it means less presents. We have really tried to simplify and get rid of “stuff” and we’ve found that Christmas can throw us back 20 steps before we even know what happened if we aren’t really careful. I don’t worry about amount spent per kid, obviously those amounts would vary quite a bit as I have 4 kids ranging in age from 13-4. But I do make the amount of wrapped packages equal per child because we take turns opening on Christmas morning (in an attempt to SLOW DOWN, appreciate the gift, and say THANK YOU ). And I’ll “split” gifts into 2 or more packages where I can so there are more packages to be opened (i.e.: instead of wrapping an outfit together, wrap the pants and shirt separately). This year my kids got kayaks and life jackets from Santa. Huge hit—we’ve already had them out on the water! Some fan favorites were: a new cell phone (duh—she’s 13). LEGOs the city series, my son (he’s 10) got the police station and that thing is AWESOME. He’s played with it a ton since Christmas. Although those kits are pricey. His LEGOs cost more than his sister’s cell phone . My 7 year old daughter loves her mermaid tail (complete with flipper, she looks and moves like a real mermaid in the water, much better quality than I was expecting). And my 4 year old’s favorite was her dollhouse . The grandparents also knocked it out of the park this year. I try to give them a “bigger” suggestion to help with the quality over quantity thing. They got new PJs, handmade by grandma quilts , and my girls got mermaid tail BLANKETS which my 13 year old loves as much as my 4 year old for getting cozy to watch TV. They were really high quality, not the fleece kind. (My son got a remote control car that can spin up on one wheel in place of the mermaid tail blankets). We spent around $1600 grand total and that includes Santa, stockings, parent presents, sibling gift (my kids rotate names), the gifts we gave to family (my parents, in laws—2 sets of them!—and the gifts we gave to my sister’s family, my husband’s brother’s family), and the gifts we gave to each other. Not too shabby I don’t think. I’m sure some would think I way over spent and others spent 5x that much, but it’s a good balance for my family and I say to each their own! We’re all just trying to be good parents and raise good contributing members of society, and there’s more than 1 way to skin a cat! Happy New Year!
That picture of Ella – OMG! #allthehearteyeemojis
People are so silly. I applaud you for sharing everything you do and get a ton out of it beyond enjoyment of “knowing” your family. So thank you KB!
My son (also named Weston – thanks for the inspiration) will turn four in April, his favorite present(s) are his transformers from Santa that were under the tree at both my house and his dads house. Even though he has SO MANY, more are always “needed” lol!
Happy New Year to you and your family! Excited to follow along for 2018!
Less than $1000 for 5 kiddos! Amazing and wonderful!! It goes to show that it’s not about money, it’s about the sweet experience. Keep up the awesome mommy-ing!
Love the idea of costumes, lots of creative play time with those. Genius to purchase after Halloween. As an educator, watch that Xbox time. Make sure everybody is reading! As far as people giving you negative comment, OMG get a grip people.
Thanks for sharing!
Wow, I think you did an excellent job on type, number, and amount spent on gifts! Little girl clothes killing the budget though, huh?! 😉 haha! I know the feeling (mom of 2 girls age 2 and 4 months)! But they are sooooo cute!
I love this post! I only have 2 kids but the struggle is still there every year – balance/fun/price/spirit of the season/etc. I think you did a GREAT job at staying under $1000 with the brood you have! And I love the way you spread it out….great idea for when you have such a big family.
Those wiggle cars are so fun! We got one for each kid 2 years ago (12 yr old daughter and 6 yr old son at the time) the year we moved into our new house right before Christmas. Our basement wasn’t finished yet (still isn’t!) and we thought they’d be fun to ride on the cement down there. We were right! They spent all winter doing race courses on those things in the basement 🙂
And the costume idea is BRILLIANT! Why haven’t I thought of that ever???
I love seeing how other people do Christmas with their kids! We spend the same set amount on each kid. I try to do like you and get a little clothes and some books and a couple of useful things. The rest is just toys and things I think they will love or that they put on their Santa lists. We don’t wrap Santa’s gifts so I try to keep it where both of their piles look about even with the number of large vs small items. Some may think we spend too much on our kids but all combined (front Santa and just from us) we spent $350 per child (2 kids). I justify this because we don’t buy toys for them other than at Easter (1 toy) and their birthdays which are in the summer. I think the family gift idea is great too!
Thank you for sharing! I feel the same way, I like hearing how many families do things differently. It reinforces that there is no RIGHT way to do things, as long as the kids are safe. I will judge you all day if you drive with your kid on top of the car. But other than that, YOU DO YOU!!!
I think it’s fun to see how other people do Christmas. I don’t think any two families do the same and that is great! (As long as kids are taught to respect differences and not ruin it for others – like ratting out Santa). Also, what Star Wars costume? Isn’t that Master Chief from Halo? 😉
I think your budget for a big family was totally appropriate! Plus that marble run. My son had one & we loved it!
Memories…………………
Happy New Year!
Following your gut is always a good way to decide and I think you did a great job! 😉 That Ella is cute, cute cute!!! Happy New Year.
Can you share where you found the gorilla costume? My son was obsessed with the adult one from Target, but he’s only 3.5 so it was huge on him. We had to visit Target so many times so he could wear it around in the cart.
I love reading stuff like this, so thank you for sharing. I have a friend who spends 500 per kid, and I have friends who spend 100 per kid. Our budget is generally 150 for our kiddo but we only have one. I’m told he is spoiled by default because he is our only one and we shouldn’t buy presents at all (insert eye roll). This year we spent more than our original budget because we purchased skis and boots. He had two ski lessons last year and it was all he talked about for months. As soon as it started getting cold again it was all he could talk about so my MIL told us she bought 8 weeks of lessons this year for him. We bought the skis and boots so we wouldn’t have to rent. Was it more than we planned on spending? Yup. Was it also the biggest hit? YES! He also asked for felt food and I ended up making 40 pieces or so and that was also a HUGE hit. And we also got a family pass to a local museum which the kiddo has already used twice. Our kid is pretty basic and he saves his money to buy the toys he wants so Christmas gets hard to buy for. One other thing we do is a 25$ card to kiva.org which is a microlending site. He gets to choose which projects he funds, and when the loan is repaid he gets to fund another project. All his past funds keep rolling into his one account.I love that he is learning about business cases and projects around the world. He loves that the account has over 100$ so he can start funding bigger projects.
It was from Target 🙁 This one was a teen one but we made it work!
xo – kb
Oh sorry – it was Max that got a Star Wars costume but I saved it for his birthday! Ha! Got Star Wars on the brain 🙂
xo – kb
hahahaha! I mean!!!!!
xo – kb
Love that idea. I will have to get that Weston reading!
xo – kb
Yes we do but those are usually dollar store items and candy!
xo – kb
After Halloween I hit up Walmart and Target – usually they are 50-90% off!
xo – kb
FIFA is the one we bought and then the console came with a race car game inside the package and then because it was a black friday deal, the console purchase came with a separate game – it’s like these zooming cars that hit a ball 🙂
xo – kb
Well, with our extended family, we buy gifts for the cousins (between $10 and $20 a pop) and then we buy gifts for the parents (I do spend more on my parents and Jeremy’s parents because they do so much for us!)….in all, I think I spend about $150 on 8 cousin gifts and about $500 on parent gifts.
xo – kb
Yes I have a feeling our list and budget will definitely change with time!
xo – kb
Wow I think you did great! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to your beautiful family!
We save monthly automatically and then we just divide by what we’re going to do! For example, we are in debt-payoff mode (Baby Step #2 – any other Baby Steppers out there? HOLLAH BACK!) so last year we saved $25 per month for Christmas, or $300 for the year. We got each of our kids just one special thing. For our son, a bow. (a wooden kids one,) for our daughter, my husband embellished a beautiful wooden box from Hobby Lobby for her treasures, and the kids got presents from grandparents on each side. We just made Christmas about movies and hot cocoa and Christmas lights (we watched Elf… 20 bazillion times? Good thing I like it!) and of course we bought a tree (OF COURSE!) I got hubby a sweater and he got me a drum I’d been wanting. We used our Christmas savings and about $100 more, meaning we probably spent about $400 on Christmas. I am not allowed to go into Hobby Lobby. I ruined our budget year before last LOL! This year was so nice. It was simple and modest (and to be honest I am looking forward to the year when we can go a little “crazy”) but it was perfect. It was pretty funny because my normally math-inclined self thought $25 a month would yield $400 at the end of the year. Well, only in a year with 16 months! LOL! WHOOPS!)
That Ella. She is SO BEAUTIFUL.
Thanks for sharing. You did a great job on budget and gift quality – I am impressed. I don’t have a monetary breakdown for our girls this year. Next year I think i need to be better about that!
Also – just needed to say that I need to eat up that little baby girl~ Your boys are so handsome, but as a momma of 2 princesses, I have a soft spot for baby girls! She is just the cutest~
Nice job Momma! Looks like it was a great Christmas!
When Sperry had a sale, I got them for super cheap!
xo – kb
Slippers, sneakers, a robe and a Gorilla cart! 🙂
xo – kb
So like I said in the post, lots of the stuff was from sales – like Black Friday or after Halloween (when costumes at Target and Walmart are 50-90% off!) or Five Below (all the things $5 were from there)…and it always helps to stack codes. When I saw a good sale, I posted about it on Instastories if you follow me there. A lot of people got great gifts for really low prices! And yes, so far, most everything has been used and played with….we have four little guys that all their interests overlap so they even play with their brothers toys 🙂
xo – kb
I haven’t ever heard of those! COOOOLLLLL!!!!
xo – kb
Our 4 year old was gifted the Nintendo Switch and have been so happy. They are so many ways to play it. Mario Kart is for sure a favorite even 2 year old baby brother can play. We’ve also been really impressed with how easily our 4 year old has been able to figure out the controls for other games
The other hit with my boys has been the Super Ultimate Hot Wheels Garage. It’s massive but both of my boys have been playing with it a ton.
Love this post! I have four boys. THis year we did the Nintendo switch as a big gift and we love it.
We do magnatiles, legos, puzzles, costumes etc for gifts. They got a bag of books each. (I load up on books from the scholastic sales through the year ) and a new shirt. We save and coupon and search for lots of sales the last half of the year to make Christmas happen.
LOVE the Visa gift card idea to keep you on budget! Brilliant!
I would guess she bought them other places than amazon. It would’ve been helpful to point it out in the post. Maybe she bought the items used through a Facebook yard sale site? You can track price changes on amazon and the cheapest the drone has been is ten dollars and this was last June.
Love this posts and how much of a deal hunter you are. We do green toys too and the B. Toys or Battat toys at target and amazon-they hold up well. Your Ella might like the Praise Baby DVDs. It is just praise and worship music with pictures and movies playing while the music is on that babies seem to love. We got one for our 15 month old and she loves the praise music with babies and animals on the TV as it plays. Bonus-it seems that my 7 and 5 year old calm down some and relax when we have it on for her. Glad you guys had a Merry Christmas and hope you are all well soon!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
I love seeing what others buy/do too!
I’m a mama to 5 boys (15,13,7,6& almost 3)
We do 1 gift & stocking from Santa and the rest from us… we also use the want, wear , need , read as a guideline but honestly I go over that every year, They’re only little & believe for so long!
I think everything you selected is great!!
Some of our favorites this year were: handheld fishing and Pac-Man game, ripstick, rollerblades, Melissa and Doug tabletop easel, Zoomer Marshall, lightsabers , mini pool table, chronobomb game ( great obstacle course perfect for cold/rainy days) mr mic singing microphone… I’m sure I’m forgetting something but these are the ones they’ve been playing with most!!
Oops almost forgot we all get new Christmas pjs and we do “ secret sibling “ they draw names and buy a gift for the sibling they drew… we exchange those on Christmas Eve
We exchange with my in laws Christmas afternoon and my family on New Years weekend
It definitely is nicer to have things more spread out
Thank you for sharing. I was a little surprised with how little you spent myself but maybe it’s cause we spend $750 total on our 3 kids (12, 15, 16). My husband is a big spender that time of year. I have trouble reining him in. Kudos to you on getting Christmas done so economically. Now that marble race we bought for our son when he was 5 and he still pulls it out and plays with it so hold onto it!!!
I love reading posts like this & I love the costume idea! I’d love to hear more about the boys exchanging gifts…were there guidelines? One gift for everyone from everyone? And most importantly how do you find time to shop one on one??? 😉
I like this kind of post too – it’s interesting and helpful for generating ideas! I have a boy (6) and girl (2) and I would say the top gifts over the years have been:
Boy: marble run, fort kit, hot wheels track set, Lego, Snap Circuits and this year we got him a digital camera and that has been a HUGE hit. He also received a few science kits (crystal growing, build a volcano, circuit clay) that he’s really excited about.
Girl: She’s just 2 but the best gift – and basically the only thing she ever plays with – is her baby doll that she got last year. We spent about $100CDN on a really high quality doll and it really paid off – she loves that thing and it’s still like new. Doll accessories/clothes are a big hit now, as well as art & craft supplies/kits. This year she got a dollhouse that so far seems like a winner too.
We find that family board games, card games and puzzles are also really great gifts too, as well as sports items (here in Canada in winter that generally means sleds, skates, hockey stick, snowshoes, snowman building kits, etc. For birthdays the kids usually get a summer activity (bike, water table, swing set, balls, something for camping, etc.)
We don’t worry too much about cost, though this year I made a conscious effort to reduce the cost of the extended family gifts and try to get something meaningful instead (e.g. I made photo books with pics of the kids for grandparents). I also feel like our house is drowning in toys (girl stuff + boy stuff = UGH) so I tried to reduce the quantity of gifts this year and went for one larger/higher quality item per kid instead of several small things. Santa also brings each kid one gift plus a stocking (toiletries, candy, clothing and maybe a small toy or two).
Thanks for sharing!
Katie, just F… all those who critisize your Christmas gifts! They sound likd losers. You do a great job with all you have going on.
I really appreciate you sharing this post. People can be so judgemental when it comes to money so I know it must have been hard for you but I love hearing what others do.
Santa brings our children each a book, a pair of fun socks (normally fuzzy), a few toiletry items, an orange, a candy cane, nuts to crack, a chocolate, and 1 item from their list. My husband and I give 2 or 3 gifts to each child with a budget of $80 per child. We plan ahead and shop carefully so we frequently and gratefully come in under budget. My husband and I compete between ourselves to see who can give the best gift for each other for the least amount of money. It’s created some absolute treasures like when he assembled our childrens’ birth pictures into a video. He won again this year with the gift of a whole Saturday devoted to doing anything and everything I ask around the house! The childrens’ gifts to each other are homemade. We do like to give a family gift as well but it is usually the gift of an activity like a planned trip to the coast.
Thanks to everyone for sharing!
My daughter had a gorilla one from Target (online) for Halloween this year. She’s 2, but I know it came in all the toddler sizes!
I’m not a big comment-er, but to make sure you get enough positivity from this—thank you for posting 🙂
There’s nothing more calming to me than to scroll through blogs at the end of a day (I have 2 boys) and see glimpses of the happy moments of some that I follow! When I saw this post’s theme my initial reaction was “oh jeez, Internet, keep a “you do you” mentality and keep it light!!” (Followed of course by “yipee, what did those sweet boys get, I hope there’s lots of pictures!” <—and there were! 🙂
So anyway, thanks for being internet-brave and sharing your family 🙂
What about the furry member of the family?? =) Did Bear get anything special for Christmas this year?
Great list and great post! And everything is affordable, which is a huge bonus – most blogs have super expensive and unrealistic stuff. Now I have ideas for birthdays this year and next Christmas!
I did the costume thing this year, as well. I found a muscular, Michelangelo TMNT costume at Walmart for $2! Definitely doing the same next year because it was a hit.
I think you did awesome! I don’t know how much we spend (3 kids, 2 adults), but I keep a spreadsheet and a new tab for each year to make notes for each child. This year, I do think I maybe bought 2 gifts too many for each child, because towards the end they weren’t super excited.
Toy suggestion: my 8 year old LOVES this present —
the Fujifil Instax Mini-camera.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9C2696/ref=twister_B06XWLPCBW?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Oh, how I long for the days when my grandchildren were little and shopping for Christmas was easy – the older two at 19 & 16 now just want money 🙁 The little one (9) still likes games and toys so that was fun shopping for her. I try to spend the same amount and the same number for my kids and grandkids. My struggle is coming up with fun ways to give/wrap up the money – if any one has any ideas, I’d love to hear them! Love your blog!
Random side note- I love your new (or maybe not so new?) website format with the search bar and other items on the left-hand side! As someone who works in the digital design space, I really appreciate the user-friendliness. I come here all the time to search for old DIY posts, and this search is way easier than it was before. Kudos to you for a great site!
Oh yeah – he got a stocking with things…a new antler to chew and ball toy and chew toys 🙂
xo – kb
The big boys save their money and we go to the Dollar Tree and they buy for everyone (so it costs $6 total). They earn the money by doing extra chores and things to help out around the house. The little boys also buy for everyone but it’s sponsored by mom and dad! They exchanged their gifts on Christmas eve and it was the sweetest thing ever!!!! Oh and we take turns….one parent in the car, one parent in the store 🙂
xo – kb
Yes – little kids cost a whole lot less! I mean…just the jammies for Will jumped this year from $8 to $16!!!
xo – kb
Why have I never heard of the “something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read” mantra?! I love this!
My youngest is 21 so I pretty much have a routine down after all these years. It includes money from each pay check going directly into a “club” savings account and that sets the budget. And I use a spreadsheet to record purchases and keep track of the dollar amount I spend on each of my 3 kids. I try to keep the dollars amounts close and I also make sure they have the same amount of presents to open even if it means wrapping common things together. They confessed to counting! They are not allow to open their presents until everyone gets out of bed so this is when the early risers count.
Loved hearing how you handle it all! And your pictures are always beautiful. Also, I got my daughter a pair of Sperry duck boots after you posted the sale on instagram! I had to convince her that she needed them for commuting and she gave in and picked out a pair (she doesn’t normally do trendy). She told me the other day that I was right (what mother doesn’t love to hear that?) they are warm, keep her feet dry, and she has gotten tons of compliments on them! So thanks for sharing!
Agh! I said “boys” and totally left out little miss Ella!! Sorry, baby girl!!
I did say in the post – all the five dollar items are from Five Below. The items listed are similar items…not necessarily the same price 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions!
xo – kb
I love the Kiva idea! How old is your son?
So if you didn’t buy that drone why link it to one on amazon? Is that the one you bought at the from the five dollar store? This is why affiliate links are getting such a bad reputation and a causing such a backlash on social media and blogging.
Another question, (I know that I am not an American and Christmas is very different where I am from so this very well be a culture difference) but why buy such cheap toys, shirts etc that are just going to go to break the first go? This goes back to Americans being very different from most of the rest of the world but this past Christmas American bloggers and their gift guides just seem so outrageous and unnecessary. It is probably because we don’t have cheap redundant department box stores here becaus the idea seems so indulgent.
For my son back in the day, we did 20 min reading=20 min video game time. It worked for a long time!
Thanks! My girls have generous hearts but not so generous budgets. 😉 I love the idea of them earning the money!
Also, our favorite family gift this year was a climbing dome! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004K0Q8LG/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1515223669&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=climbing+dome&dpPl=1&dpID=51ykKyl0sqL&ref=plSrch
Glad you shared. This was a great post. The costume idea is wonderful! Never thought of that.
I loved seeing your budget and breakdown! Definitely the lists get more expensive as they get older. My girls are 13 and 18, and although they don’t get the same number of gifts to open, we do the same value. As they get older, they know what things cost! Having a small family, we are able to spoil our girls. Everyone budgets differently, but it doesn’t make it wrong or right to spend more or less. I love the family gifts too! Thanks for sharing! Your family is beautiful!
Hey Katie!
I love that you shared your way of doing Christmas, but I continue to be disappointed that people who disagree spend the time telling you so. We are all different and have various reasons for spending the way we spend. You seem to have a smart and positive way of looking at the needs of your growing family and approach the holiday appropriately. I wanted to share a couple of things that we have incorporated to make the day go well without breaking the budget. Here in Richmond, VA the Goodwill stores sell kids books for $.50-$1.00, so I try to collect ones they like or a series and wrap those as a set. Of course, there are tons of clothes and other toy bargains there as well- like one year the kids got a big wheel and much wanted scooter for less than $10.00. It sounds like your stockings are very similar to ours, but I read some advice on another blog and it has been great for us. To put one of those individual boxes/bowls of cereal in each stocking to help you get through the morning before you are pressed to make a big meal. Also, BANDAIDS! I don’t know about your kids, but mine used them like stickers when they were little. So, I put fun ones in their stockings. One last thing, games as family gifts. That gets easier as they get older and can do more games together. Thanks again for sharing what your family does. It helps to know how other people make the holidays work for them.
Erika
So, I loved reading this post. I am not a big spender. I also try to follow the rule of 1 present from Santa with 3 items from mom and dad (toy, book, and clothing item). There were quite a few years though when I was a stay at home mom and I didn’t have much money. So I made most of the gifts and our budget was $200-300 for everyone. Usually my husband and I don’t buy gifts for each other. At least not during those years….now we might give something small. He bought me three dresses (we live in Thailand right now and they were $3 each!) and I bought him the taco t-shirt that you recommended from Amazon! As for our kids this year, our budgets went up, but we are making a lot more money now. I realize that is all part of the perspective. It just makes me realize I was doing pretty good when all the gifts were in the $200 -300 range (and that included gifts for extended family). I sort of miss making all those items too. I mean, it was so special when I made something for someone. Now that I am back to work though, it just isn’t happening. Plus we live overseas and amazon was our friend when sending gifts to the nieces and nephews. My kids got less because the toys are so much more expensive here. However, we did get a family trip to feed and bathe elephants. I could not do that at home.
Thanks for sharing…it gives us all ideas and helps us to think about our own habits. I appreciate that!
Because I know that if I don’t link to a similar one, I’ll get lots of questions. The one linked is an affordable option for people looking for gift ideas and it is almost identical to the one that we got in size and function. I’m not trying to be tricky or anything like that…just know what questions I will get ahead of time. And I buy $5 toys because I don’t correlate cheap with value. I buy t-shirts because that is what my kids like to wear. Hope this helps!
xo – kb
Wahoo! I love sharing the sales when I see that y’all get something for a great price (and get told that you were right!!). So glad that you were able to score that deal!
xo – kb
You are always so kind when people seem critical. I love that about you 🙂
Thank you, thank you for sharing this! So helpful to have the perspective and especially the $ amount. It was particularly reassuring to me to see that you spent different amounts on each kid AND IT WAS TOTALLY FINE. I am always way too worried about spending more on one twin than another. I think you did great!
I also really like the idea of spreading out the gifts a little bit.
Thanks for sharing!
We budget $200 for each kid. We don’t get a family gift but I like that idea.
I like seeing what other parents buy for their children. 🙂 We like giving family gifts as well so this year we bought a metal climbing dome for the back yard. Huge hit!!! Even Daddy enjoys climbing on it (and I will too after baby is born!). 🙂 We also always purchase a board game or two for the family and this year it was Operation. I tell you, its my 2.5 year old’s favorite game, although he needs help playing it! We also do a sibling gift exchange which the kids opened for the first time on Christmas Eve this year. I think we’re going to keep doing it then. I think they were able to concentrate on giving their gift instead of wondering what they were going to open next. Other than that each child got two more gifts (one of which was a book). My 7.5 year old daughter got a sewing box with supplies, my 5.5 year old son got a Lego Duplo set, and my 2.5 year old son got a kickball and baby doll. My kids don’t get gifts from relatives so its just us every Christmas. This year was a good one. 🙂
The on sale Halloween costume idea is brilliant! So stealing that next year!
This was our first “Santa” experience, which we did on Saint Nicholas Day in early December, so we could spend the rest of the month focused on Jesus and other traditions. It was nice to spread out the gift opening that way, too. Our 3 year old was delighted with a red matchbox car, because she wanted a “new red race car” for Christmas. So sweet to see the innocent joy of little ones!
Haha! Only a few comments in before the complaints.
Unfortunately in America, a good portion of our goods come from China. Hopefully one day that will change. Yes, we have so many big box stores. But our economy/money has been great for other countries. I haven’t heard any of them complaining about the billions of $$ we import out to help others. Consumerism is a big thing in America. We are a capitalistic country after all. But I have felt a shift over the last 10 years or so. Myself and people I know are really paying more attention to what we buy and how much we buy. When you have a successful society, excess becomes the norm. Eventually this will taper off. Other countries will do the same. Like China. Their middle class and upper class are growing tremendously. They are also starting to go through this.
Katie, I think you guys did so great saving so much money and still getting the kids stuff they are interested in. I don’t buy my kids a lot of things throughout the year. So at Christmas, I do spend a little more. My girls are a bit older and everything they are interested in is expensive. Namely electronics. We also do a big gift for each and then a few smaller items, clothes.
We spent $900 on four people and half of it was on ourselves after a hard few years of lean christmases lol. Sorry not sorry!!! The kids had great christmases and so did we haha! I think you did great, mama.
great ideas! i found lego guys on amazon. there were 30 lego guys that you assemble yourself and all were different. they were perfect for adding to my boys’ growing lego collection. it also cam with extras like the guns and the radios and handcuffs, hammers and etc for all the different guys. it was the best $20 ever and has renewed the lego mania around here i must say haha.
I have a budget of $650 for all of Christmas. That is $150 for my daughter (she’s an only child) and $500 for 20 other family members. Some gifts we do exchanges and there is a $10 or $15 limit. My husband and I sometimes do gifts for each other, but it would be under $50.
I don’t have a problem staying within the budget, there are always so many sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales worked well this year.
I think what you got the kids is reasonable and so is the budget. Love all the ideas. Also got my little guy some costumes, loved the after Halloween sales. I might have to start doing that every year. I don’t know why I never thought to do it for my girls. Lots of good gift ideas, another toy my kids have liked is magnets, like Magnatiles. Even as young as 1 like to play with them and as they get older and you get more sets, because one is never quite enough to make stuff out of, they can make more complicated structures. My 3 year old got a set with gears and loves it. My 7 year old daughter also got a set to add to her existing set and they both have been playing with them. Great for shared play or playing alone. Thanks for sharing your Christmas!
Play kitchen from Costco and Minnie sunglasses were the big wins here!
He is seven. He has gotten a Kiva card from us every Christmas for the past 4 years.
I really enjoyed seeing your happy and healthy family enjoying Christmas so much. I had always hoped my Christmases would look like yours but unfortunately my husband does not enjoy Christmas at all. He has no complaints about how much I spend but lacks any enjoyment in Christmas. He comes from a large family (7 kids) and they did celebrate Christmas. After 30 years of marriage it has not changed. My advice to young people before they get married is to go through holidays together to make sure they are on the same page. Not sure I would have married my husband if I had known how tough the holidays were going to be.
I’m so sorry to hear that. My obsession with Christmas Hallmark movies makes me want to turn into that character that forces him to fall in love with the holiday! Like christmas overdose! But the more practical approach would probably be one that would say….is there anything that your husband really loves that you can make happen during Christmastime?
xo – kb
Katie I like you and I like your blog!! You can never please everyone-so don’t try and don’t worry about trying! You and Jeremy are doing an awesome job at parenting, blogging and just being human. I’ve been reading your blog for forever. As a mom of 1 girl and 3 boys, who are all too grown up now-enjoy every second! Even the bad ones!! Ignore the people who drink too much haterade and just remember that there are lots of people like me who read your blog but never comment but love you and your cute family! I just wanted to give you a little pat on the back, a big high five and a set of noise canceling headphones for the haters. Keep up the good work! And thank you SO much for sharing!