How does one change their attitude about gifts

[vonfirmath]

I can't seem to get away from the "give your kid lots of little things" wrapped up way of gift giving. Even though we are overrun with toys and he doesn't need a lot

There's a part of me, afraid, if I spend our entire budget on one toy, it will not be a good toy for him and he'll end up bored until August because he's mostly grown out of many of the toys we have already

[ha98ed14]

Well, if you don't buy toys at other times of the year, then I think your concern is valid. Is your DC one who will play with one thing for a prolonged period of time? If yes, then a big gift (play kitchen, or similar) might be worth it because he would get sustained use out of it for several years. But if he is a go-from-one-thing-to-another player, then I would stick with your current arrangement. If you do buy something big and it is a dud, you can always resell on Craigslist. Also you can always pick up some smaller items at some of the mid year toy sales. I think the "change in thinking" needed is that any one toy will have a lot of staying power for any prolonged period of time. So that's why there's CL. FWIW, I found a whole set of Lego Duplos at Goodwill. You might try there for some smaller things.

[JTsMom]

We do a lot of gifts for Christmas. When we were little, my parents totally went nuts buying for us, and Christmas was such a huge deal. Holidays are some of the happiest memories from my childhood, so I just can't get away from tradition. It was extremely rare for us to get any toys or gifts during the year, and birthdays were more of a one gift holiday, so it's not like we were horribly spoiled though.

I do think there is a difference between buying a lot of little junky things, and buying several nicer things though. We do buy some "filler" things- little inexpensive things that are still useful, like puzzles, inexpensive books, Play-doh, etc. For the most part though, I put a lot of thought into what types of toys will give DS a wide variety of things to play with, and what things he will really use. I'm also not above breaking things apart and wrapping them individually. ;)

As far as toy overload, before Christmas comes, I start putting toys into storage. Before anything is unwrapped, I mentally know where the stuff will go.

[Tondi G]

I have the same problem. My childhood Christmas was always HUGE and we got spoiled rotten. Always a pile of gifts under the tree and usually something BIG and impressive (my Mom and Dad loved seeing our eyes light up I guess!) The tradition has spilled over for my kids too. My Mom and Sister go nuts and we buy them a few nice things and before we know it we have SOO many toys to try to find space for again.

I wish I could follow that suggestion of

something you want
something you need
something to wear
something to read

I know it just won't happen and we go hog wild again! I have super fond memories about Christmas growing up and I am assuming my boys will too. Traditions die hard I guess!