With the adults in my life we've always kept it pretty low key, but present exchanges are fun. I try to get people to buy me stuff I need anyway, I haven't bought my own socks or T-shirts in years, I just get them for Christmas. There are socks and T-shirts for all budgets.

I don't buy for people outside parents, siblings, wife, and kids - and I just ask people what they want.

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh, there absolutely is a middle ground but as a society we aren't anywhere near it under the guise of "its for the kids" or tradition. The kids don't need 20 more toys from the warehouse and 2$ shop that will be played with once then added to the pile.

Absolutely show your love and appreciation with something - but gifts are meant to be a small part of what the holiday should be.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh man the kids toys. I'd almost forgotten. We never did work out how to avoid relatives buying cheap fragile toys. Close relatives we screen ideas and so don't do too badly.

My family gets together a lot during the year anyway, so gifts and Christmas crackers are the only thing that makes Christmas special 😆

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The best response I have makes people irrationally angry - "please do no buy the kids more toys they need for nothing. We plan on buying one good gift for them if you are interested in contributing". Otherwise x kid would be more than happy with a giant bowl of pasta, y kid would love a slab of salmon, and Z kid wants to go tidy a beach.

New trampoline, Xbox, holiday to raro will be remembered and used much more than a bigger pile of toys.

[–] Dave 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

My go-to is lego. We have a pile of lego (I bought about 9kg off trademe), so any lego anyone buys isn't going to greatly increase storage requirements. The kids can have a set they play with and when they get bored the set will get tipped into the main pile. You can get $10 sets of lego and $1,000 sets of lego so there is one for any budget (unfortunately no one has gone with the Millennium Falcon option yet).

And the best thing about lego is I know it will still be getting used in 5 years time.

Unfortunately for extended relatives they tend to just buy stuff and not ask, but since we have immediate family under control I think we don't do too badly in terms of not filling the house with crap. There's only a small handful of inconsistent extended relatives that buy for the kids.

We also have some other kids to give hand-me-down toys to so have a path to get them out of the house too.

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Ooo, lego is a great idea.