What's on the List for Christmas?

We're too tied up with college applications right now.
I can't even start to think about this till about November.

I'm hoping to come up with some cool experience type gifts this year - skiing and snowboarding passes and gear for the kids, or the big gift be an upcoming trip or something.

We did tickets to hockey games, etc. the year before and it was so nice to go do things throughout the winter that were gifts from people at Christmas.

I haven't started even thinking about it. My kids' lists change right up till December, so for me, better to wait.

Oh my goodness, we won't even think about it until November. And I have no idea what we are getting them.

I don't even have the presents bought for the 2 birthday parties my kids are going to this weekend.

Mmm...I'm still trying to figure out dinner for tonight.😉

We are thinking of getting out of town and to do that I need to get on it ASAP!!

Since our son got big enough for us to stop worrying about him flinging himself into the hotel pool cause he thought he saw Nemo...we've been traveling for the holidays. He wants to go to St. Louis, where his best buddy from camp is. We're hoping we can persuade him that London looks a whole lot like St. Louis....!

The only holiday shopping I do is in January for the 25 or so gifts our family gives out to the other people in our lives: mailperson, teachers, family members in the area, drycleaner, gym locker room attendant.

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I actually started in January during the sales. I have boxes for each of my boys, Tyler, my parents and mother in law. I just start filling them up during the year.

I listen carefully when they are talking with their friends while playing games "I wish I had...." and I make a note of it.

I usually ask for their lists at Halloween, check my boxes and go from there.

I have a true disdain for the Christmas rush and rude shoppers. I also have 4 boys and an extended family that we shop for.

Well, I'm a tad bit of a freak. I shop throughout the year. Especially for clothes when they are on sale! My boys (as you saw in the pictures from first day of school!!) are growing like weeds!! Youngest LOVES shorts - so I pick them up when I see them. Especially when they have the "long" cargo shorts!!

For "big" presents this year? I don't know. I usually ask them what they want around October. My dad sends cash. My sister sends gift cards.Which is fine with my boys! Saves on shipping too!

Last year they got the XBOX1. Not sure what we will do this year. They haven't really wanted much. I'm sure there will be an expensive XBOX game coming out in November that they will want!! LOL!!

Planning to purchase for my dad? Not sure. Depends upon what happens with his eyes. If he's blind by the end of the year? Who knows!!

My sister? A new luggage set in polka dots....the one I bought her a few years ago has been beat to death and needs replacing!!

Husband? There isn't much he needs. I always over-buy for him so this year I'm being VERY conscientious of what he "needs" (gray socks - thick gray socks, underwear, shirts) you know - the boring stuff.

It's summer! I refuse to think about Christmas before December. I actually prefer to actually be out of the country for Christmas where it is understated. I don't feel the "holiday season" should last four months.

we are (again) committed to not spending too much on our now-grown kids.
maybe i'll actually stick to it.
i'm thinking of getting them each a certificate to InnBoonsboro, the local nora roberts-owned B&B. we sent my younger there for graduating college, and he and his gf loved it.
but we'll see what, if anything, they ask for.
i miss the santa claus lists..........
khairete
S.

We are so old fashioned here. On Christmas morning my girls have stockings full of candy and other small treats, one biggie gift from Santa and other small fun gifts like books, slippers and PJs.
My girls are older and do dance now so instead of dollhouses and swingsets they usually get new dance shoes, bags, leos, etc. One likes reading and computer games, the other likes crafts, cooking and sewing, I don't need a list to tell me that. I start shopping during the back to school clearance sales. I try to be done before Thanksgiving (I try!!!)
Our extended family doesn't really exchange gifts except at birthdays, it's too expensive to buy everyone a present and we prefer to focus on the meal and just being together, plus none of us has that kind of ready cash laying around. We have done a few trips together over the years which was WAY better than spending money on more stuff.

This is funny. I was just thinking about this the other day. My kids are older now and I have a new kid, future DIL. So... yeah I need ideas from them.

OMGee! I have a friend on FB who is already saying she's excited and wants to put up her tree already. LOL!!!!!

I have not even thought about it. My mom just had surgery, I have one kids bday the end of this month, a family cruise and our anniversary the beginning of Oct and the other kids bday the weekend we get back from the cruise. So xmas is the last thing on my mind.

I will say though that I have learned the hard way that it isn't a good idea to get "lists" from the kids, especially this early. If you get the items too soon, they can change their minds when they start to see all the commercials about all the great stuff that wasn't being shown in Aug/Sept. And I'm not about to start taking stuff back and doing more shopping.

Last year I did almost all of it online and it was awesome! I may do that again. But my kids are older now so they are more expensive (electronics, etc) but much easier IMO. Good luck!

When mine were little department stores had Christmas books of toys and thins. I would give each child a crayon (different color) and let them mark what they wanted in the books. After that dad and I would go through and find things that were in the budget and get them. So Christmas was really a big surprise because they got some of the things they wanted and were very happy with what they got.

Now days you can't do that as the gadgets have changed and so have the prices. We usually ordered the gifts in November and they were sent to us via snail mail as we were usually out of country.

the other S.

I don't think there will be any big gifts this year. We all have too much stuff, and the kids just got big birthday gifts. The kids will probably each get one video game, a book, pj's, socks, underwear, candy and gift cards for entertainment. Maybe new sneakers if their feet grow between now and Christmas. When family and friends ask what the kids want I always tell them gift cards or tickets for entertainment (movies, sporting events, concerts, amusement parks, water parks, trampoline house, mini-golf, go-carts, bowling, museums, paint ball, laser tag, fast food, magazine subscription etc). When they were younger I had them write a letter to Santa, and I sent that to family after Halloween.

I ask my kids what they want about a week before THanksgiving...but really? I just pay attention during the year to what they say they like and what they are interested in.
I haven't even thought about Christmas yet.

I'm already started thinking about Christmas. My husband gets paid biweekly, so Christmas is like 8 paychecks away. We usually get our son (4 years old) 1 big gift and then small gifts. I feel like we are constantly getting him toys and what he needs throughout the year, so I don't want to go crazy.

We don't do lists or make a big deal out of gifts over the holidays. Usually they get one main gift but this year that was their new mountain bikes and kayaks, which we gave to them in the summer so they could actually enjoy them. Next summer will be paddle boards. For Yuletide they will get some small gifts, at least one to open on each of the five days, but none will be high ticket items. Since we live so far from family my parents both decided long ago to just send money or gift cards and my husbands father's gift each year is coming to spend the holidays with us (even when we were over seas, he has never missed a year).

Oh my too early! Won't they change their minds ten times before then anyway? And even so I always thought Christmas "lists" were awful, so NOT the spirit of the holiday. I always knew what they were into and what they may have wanted or needed, whether it was video games or fancy boots or a snowboard, and I just planned accordingly. Kept it to a reasonable budget of course, and we drew names within the family so whichever aunt or uncle got my kids they just asked me and I would say, "oh he's really into the Captain Underpants books this year" or whatever.
Keep it simple.
You know your kids, don't you?
Give them what makes them smile.
And what you know they need and love.
ETA: I do keep a "list" of sorts in my calendar, because often I find little gifts throughout the year for people (not just my kids) and I like to keep track of what I've purchased, so I don't end up overspending. Nothing "merry" about ending up in debt, right?

I'm usually getting it altogether by October. I've started a list, I do it year-round as something pops in my head, but that's as far as I've gotten. My boys are almost grown so I've been thinking practical things they can take with them when they leave or things that involve their interests.

My daughter wants a new bike so I just put one in the layaway Sunday. She wants the fashion Barbie doll, and Wii and 3ds games. I decided I was going to start buying gift cards early for family members so that I'm not out buying a bunch the week of Christmas. I haven't bought any yet but it's still the plan. :)

my kids fail at keeping their stuff picked up and refuse to put things away so this year they are getting one book one toy one outfit and one thing thats needed.
the toy will be a simple one piece thing, the book (or books) will be age appropriate and the clothing will be something they love. they have asked for some stuff already but they usually look at it in the store and say "santa i would really like this for christmas so could you please add it to my list?" i take notes so i know what they want.
they want keychains, board games and playdough

I'm stumped for this year. Last year the kids had a pretty crappy and stressful year with my ex and his daughter moving out of the house at the start of the school year so it was one of those years where we decided to get them what they really wanted, which was a PS4. It was really from the grandparents (both sets chipped in for it and I paid for extra controllers, etc.) but it gave us a theme to work from where most of the rest of the gifts were either games or accessories like the Disney Infinity add-on. I'm trying to take note of the things that they ask for so that I have some ideas but there's nothing really big this year that I can think of. What they really want is electronics, and that's the last thing I want to give them because they have way too much screen time as it is. My 12-year-old wants a pair of sneakers that are $250. He is willing to pay for them himself (and has money in the bank to do so) but his feet haven't stopped growing yet and I think it's a total waste to spend that kind of money on shoes, especially ones that he'll outgrow in 6 months. The younger boys both want a hover-board/swegway thing but again, way too much money for something totally impractical. My 18-year-old will probably just want money towards something but I would like to get him something to open. He already has more than enough clothes, shoes and electronics so I'm not sure for him either.

We also have two hockey tournaments (on the same weekend, 2 hours apart) in early December that will cost us about $1000 to attend. So that crimps the budget too. Decisions, decisions...

Well, our fall schedule is nuts between competitive swim, ballet, Nutcracker rehearsals, homeschooling and virtual schooling, school events, etc - so I usually finish up by mid to late September. I just finished wrapping the last gift about a week ago, all I lack is candy for stockings... Kids are 7, 10, and 13. There are tons of Legos(makes me ill to realize I def went into 4 figures on just Legos), easy bake oven, books, puzzles, American Girl stuff, sports collectibles, snow skiing clothes/coats, and I think one video game. My kids are fairly predictable with what they want and don't really get into the must have/fad/character toys.

I guess I don't think about it as much as you. I start thinking about it in December. Maybe late November. I don't walk around in stores with the crowds...I only shop online so it's easy. We don't give our kids that many gifts. My son (age 12) really really wants a touch screen that you can draw/write on with a stylus for animating. I have not looked up what these cost yet so I am not sure if it's realistic. He's really into animating and is constantly practicing and getting really good using Adobe. Since I know this is something he will really use and appreciate I will look into getting this for him. They usually need some kind of new clothing. We usually get them both one really good book. It's easy enough to just place an order in December and then wrap and hide the gifts. My 6 year old will change her mind on what she wants at any given day...so I don't bother getting anything she is asking for earlier than that bc she will most likely wish for something different.

Honestly not sure yet. My daughter is asking for things for her American Girl doll. She loves playing with it! Doesn't have to be AG brand stuff thankfully.
My boys are impossible. I do not want any more Nerf anything in the house, we have too much. The Legos are everywhere and I'm sick of it, though they build with them non-stop.
They always get some new books. Thinking of getting the books on tape for one of mine who's struggling so he can listen and read along in the book to see if it helps him.
We like to get them a couple of fun science or craft kits to pull out during the following year.
It's harder and harder as they get older and don't really need anything.

Well, I have 3 teens and they are not at all picky. I usually get them clothes they ask for and some other item. My 8 and almost 5 yr olds have gotten very bad at picking things up and treating with respect. They will each get one thing they really want, come clothes, and books. I am kind of out of the "gimme gimme" aspect of things lately.