Gift Giving Ideas - Too Many Presents?

Advice on How Many Presents You Should Buy Your Child for the Holidays

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

As Christmas arrives each year I'm always shocked by how many presents some parents get their kids. Sometimes I wonder if it's necessary and if a kid would be just as happy with 3 or 4 presents as he is with 15 or 20, especially really young children. Do you have any advice on the appropriate number of presents to get children for the holidays?

Sincerely,

How Many Presents?

April Masini's advice:

Dear How Many Presents?,

In my opinion, the number of presents to get a child for the holidays depends completely on their age. So, I've set forward some guidelines of how many presents to get children in each age bracket.

Presents through the ages:

Children three and under: Less is more. Toddlers and babies will do just fine with one or two presents, period. In fact, if they get more than two presents at a time, they are very likely to be overwhelmed. A great idea for parents who's children are given lots of presents from relatives is to let the child open the presents from the relatives who are present at the time of the gift giving, but for presents received without the gift giver there, put the presents away, and open them one a day (or something like that) to prevent sensory overload. Think 12 Days of Christmas.

Children four to six: For some children of this age, the above rule applies, depending on their attention spans and ability to become overwhelmed. If your child can handle more, then limit the presents to one for each year that they are old. For instance, give a four year old four presents, a five year old five presents and a six year old, six presents. This rule helps ward off the "He got more than I did," sibling rivalry wars. It also helps children learn to count.

Children seven to ten: Depending on how you feel, parents can go with the one present for each year the child is old, or if it's beginning to feel like excess (the gifts don't have to be whoppers -- a deck of cards or some bubble bath, counts as a gift, for a child), limit gifts to either one, three or five. Make it your family tradition.

Tweens and teens 11-18: Kids at this age know how much you spent on their gifts -- or they think they do. They're more likely to compete with siblings about who got the better or bigger gift. To deal with that fray, spend about the same on each child, as a rule, and ask them for a list of what they want well in advance of the holidays. Use your judgment to give them a single gift or else three or five gifts that are equivalent in value to the one gift. Remember that the emphasis should not be on how much you spent, but you also want to keep things fair and avoid favoritism.