We don't "do" Santa. Each kid gets four gifts. Price is irrelevant.

Santa gives one big gift, unwrapped, and stockings that are full of little things and candy. The “big” thing is something with wow factor that is likely to be played with right away so we can make breakfast and drink coffee. This year it’s some pj mask robot thing and a dollhouse. Then the rest of the gifts (6 each) are from mom, dad or sibling, and include books, a clothing item and the rest are toys. I don’t budget, but spent around $400 on one kid and $200 on the other.

OP, it sounds like you might be from somewhere else and/or a different cultural background and didn’t grow up with Santa or presents on Christmas. If that’s the case, that’s a fortunate thing and you can use this Christmas and the next few to slowly reset to match your own preferences.

I grew up in the US and my Christmas traditions were set by my mom’s side of the family. They grew up very poor so when Santa came to my house, he was pretty generous. But it was the 80s and things were still relatively expensive, so we got one “big” thing and everything else was small or practical.

My DH grew up in another western country but his parents are immigrants from Asia. They grew up celebrating Christmas as just a Christian religious holiday, and the big presents (money) and family time come at Lunar New Year.

We borrow from both of our family traditions. Santa doesn’t go too bonkers because he has to make sure he has room for things for other children. And anything Santa doesn’t bring can be bought with lai see (red envelope) money in January…but my kids usually have forgotten about it by then. We have a small extended family, though, so we don’t have to deal with lots of gifts or being overwhelmed.

Anyway: there is no rule about Santa or Christmas. Santa follows the traditions of each family. And you’re allowed to donate unneeded gifts to charity. Join a Facebook Buy Nothing group for your neighborhood right now and you can get those unused gifts to a family that could really use them before Christmas!

Op here. I don’t know if it is good or bad thing, but I get them clothing, pj, shoes, books and other stuffs/accessories throughout the year. So, their holiday or birthday gifts are mainly toys and things that they like to play with or to collect with. They normally do not ask me for anything because they don’t really lack anything. We have many toys, books and clothings etc at home. They tend to behave better around holiday to avoid a piece of charcoal.

Family normally do not have ideas what to get for them, and they often happen to gift them something they don’t care much. There are still gifts from last year that still sitting in the corner of basement opened but untouched. We appreciate them and thank them on behalf of my kids. I wish I could voice it out one day, but we remain silent to not to be rude. My oldest just wants Pokémon, squishmallow, squeeze balls and pop it. My youngest only wants squishmallow, pop it, stickers, chap stick, and pink accessories. They have a lot of squishmallow to collect dusts in their bedrooms.

In our family, everything is from Santa, and wrapped. There is no dollar or number limit, because it depends on everyone's interests at the time. Sometimes the most appreciated gift is small and cheap. It's definitely not a question of "filling" the bottom of the tree, but visually I do try to have a similar volume of things for each child. Over the years, we've had some really expensive Christmases, and some really cheap ones, so it all evens out in the end.

Santa brings one thing usually unwrapped because it’s usually something that can’t get wrapped easily (bike, skis, “vacation”) derived from their wish lists.

We don’t have a budget. I feel like our kids don’t get many things, but my husband pointed out that when we were kids we got things like PJs/socks/underwear, books, and sports equipment in our pile of presents. We just buy our kids those things, including bikes and scooters, and don’t tie those purchases to holidays.

Our kids get 1 present and a few stocking items from Santa. They get 1 “big” present from us and usually 1-2 smaller things. We try to round out their presents. My 8yr old asked Santa for a Newton’s Cradle - basically a desk toy you would see at Sharper Image. We also got him something he didn’t ask for so that he has a toy to play with on Christmas Day when his brother gets a Hot Wheels set.

Totally up to you on how to set traditions for your family.

I don't think budget per kid needs to match, but there should be an equivalence among "big" gifts (not necessarily on cost, but on what the kid wanted) and number of gifts doesn't have to be exact but should be really close.

In my house, Santa brings ~3 gifts and uses special wrapping paper. Other gifts are from mom and dad. I spend about $400 - $500.

It depends how you count. They get a bunch, but several are winter gear that they need (gloves, hats), some are clothes they need, and some are books (educational).

On Christmas morning, everything is from Santa. We give our kids a few smaller things on Christmas Eve, and they open it then.

10 gifts each? It's not a competition. It sort of depends on what they ask for and need. They're summer birthdays so around Christmas time they get winter type gear. I try to make the final costs similar, so one kid doesn't get $20 worth of toys and the other gets $200. A 7 year old still doesn't really know what things cost, just whether something is neat and if it's what they asked for.

We use separate wrapping paper for Santa gifts. At this point everything comes from Santa because I'm not into taking credit for giving kids presents. A friend kept correcting her 3 year old that his presents were from mom and dad and not santa and the kid kept saying "but I wanted santa to bring it!" When they're old enough to understand, they no longer believe in santa anyways.

I don't match budget, although I kind of try to match wow value. I think it's normal for the gifts to get more expensive as the kids get older. So, your difference in budget doesn't surprise me.

I do match number though, because we open one at a time, but usually with kids there is something where I can wrap either together or apart. So, I could open a box of hotwheels and wrap it as two sets, or as one, or I could wrap the markers and paper together or apart.

In our house the kids get pj's from parents the night before, and then the biggest present is under the tree from us. The rest are in or around the stocking and are from Santa. The ones from Santa are wrapped in solid color paper, the ones from us are in paper with a print. Then we go to Grandparents and open the rest there.

My kids get way too many presents, because we have a big family, but your numbers sound like what would be ideal for me.

Everyone does it their own way. It’s not like there’s a rule book. I’ve read threads on DCUM before about this topic, and was surprised to learn many people do unwrapped gifts. We strictly do wrapped gifts and I give my kids an equal number, plus a good stocking. I don’t think a 3 yo will notice though. If your 7 year old is a girl, she will 😂

It depends on how you want to organize things for your family. In my family, kids (currently 1 and 3) get exactly the same number of presents and in same genre (this year: 2 toys, 1 book, 1 pair of pjs each) and all presents are from actual people. Santa brings stockings, which have little things in them (fruit, candy, gloves, crayons, fidget toys, etc).

In my sister's family, Santa brings everyone 1-2 presents as well as presents from parents/other family. Santa has special wrapping paper but their gifts appear under the tree whenever they're wrapped.

I think I've seen people post on that everything is from Santa and Santa doesn't wrap.

Just do what works for you.

Is the budget or number of gifts same for children of different ages? I have prepared 7 things ( costs around $150) for 7 year old, and I have prepared 6 things (costs around $60) for 3 year old. Should bigger items or smaller items belong to parents or Santa? Should I wrap them in all different wrappers? They both each have extra 4 gifts from other people.