3 gift limit for Christmas

[Guest]

Christmas has always been big in our house.

But this year we are thinking of doing a 3 gift limit.

One big, two smaller, per kid.

The reason is I am just so sick of the mess.

They don't care about their things. I tell them to clean up, they shove crap under their dressers, beds, anywhere but in the totes we have for their toys.

My son's room is so covered in toys I cannot even vacuum in there because I would be sucking up Legos every 2 seconds.

And yes, they have designated totes/places for everything. They don't care enough to put things back properly.

Let's not even get started on broken things. They blame each other but point is they are broken.

I have warned them all year if they do not get their pigstys under control Christmas will be very small this year and still their rooms are disgusting.

They are 9, 8 and 6 so plenty old enough.

I'm not obsessive. I don't care if things are in the right spot. But I do care that the floors to their rooms are completely covered in toys and that they shove everything they are too lazy to clean up under beds, dressers, etc.

They have been taught how to be clean. They refuse.

Thoughts?

[Deleted User 670]

Just close their bedroom doors.

[Deleted User 172]

I tell my kids if they don't clean up their room I'm throwing everything away.
They never clean up their room, or play with any of their toys.
So it all goes in the trash.
Problem solved.

However I do agree with the 3 gift max.

[Guest]

My kids are much older than yours and I cut off the Christmas bonanzas years ago with absolutely no guilt about it at all. It had just gotten so old, having these huge blowouts every December. It's stressful, creates messes, creates pressure and we just decided that we weren't going to do it anymore.

These days, we go all out for Halloween. That's the holiday we like the most and it's so much more fun for us. We have a themed haunted house outside every year and our house is pretty much known for it in the neighborhood. So, so much fun.

We also put more into other holidays like Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, etc. We don't ignore Christmas; it just isn't the insane nonsense it is for some other people.

[mcginnisc]

We basically do 5 gifts and a stocking... PJs on CE, want, need, wear, read.
We implemented it several years ago as we were over the insanity that we had made Christmas. We were just going overboard so we sat the kids down and told them what we were going to do. Of course, we have never done the whole Santa thing so that was not an issue for us.
I will say that if our kids did not respect their things, they would not have them. I've been known to clean out bedrooms before with trash bags.

[Sassy762]

I would give them a certain amount of time to pick up their toys. After that I would go into their rooms with a huge contractor bag and pick up anything that's on the floor or not in its proper place. If anything is broken its automatically thrown in the garbage. The "toy gremlin" then takes the bags and puts them in the garage and locks the door. They can earn their toys back slowly

[CherryTreez]

We basically do 5 gifts and a stocking... PJs on CE, want, need, wear, read.
We implemented it several years ago as we were over the insanity that we had made Christmas. We were just going overboard so we sat the kids down and told them what we were going to do. Of course, we have never done the whole Santa thing so that was not an issue for us.
I will say that if our kids did not respect their things, they would not have them. I've been known to clean out bedrooms before with trash bags.

I like this. I want to talk to dh about doing something like this.

[Mammagoose]

We are big on getting things we need for activities for Christmas. So for example dd got a competition bag for dance last year. Ds is getting into archery so he will get his bow and Jersey for Christmas. Dd will probably get leotards. We are getting into backpacking as a family so we will upgrade some of their gear at that point as well.
I'm so over toys.

[Pinkiepie2010]

What about a gift for each toy they donate?

Usually works for my kids ages 15, 14 , and 8.

[Inmybizz]

Sounds good. I don't have a set limit of gifts. I do a massive giveaway 2 x times a yr for unwanted/unused toys/clothing.
When my daughter was younger she wanted a lot of stuff..now that she is 14 her tastes have changed to less stuff but more expensive.