Three children, one gift!!!!!

23-11-2019 12:01am #1

Hello everyone! I need some help please. We have 6 nieces and nephews (actually we have 7 but one isn't an issue!) So two families of 3. Each family has a 15 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. One family also has a 5 year old boy and the other has a 13 year old boy.

Usually we buy for each child individually and spend roughly 30euro on each. Can be a bit stressy trying to think of stuff although the girls and the little lad are always easy and overall I love buying for them all! They are the most amazing kids and they're always so sweet and grateful.

However, this year the family as a whole has decided that all the various aunts and uncles are spending too much money and have recommended we buy one gift for each family of children. Now I have to say I find this ten times more stressful!!!

What in the heck can we get that a 15 year old and a 5 year old will both like?!? Or even the 15 year old boy and the super SUPER girly 11 year old??

The first thing that came to mind was a cinema voucher. But one of the other aunts often does that because she lives abroad so it's easier for her and I'm not about to sneak in and steal that. A voucher for a family meal out in some kid friendly place is out too as they live very rural.

Please help oh wonderful christmas forum elves!!! I'm totally lost. The budget is 50 to 60 max as anymore and we'll barely be making a saving which is the whole point!

Many, MANY thanks in advance!

matchthis · 23-11-2019 12:07am

A selection of board games? We got pop up pirate last Christmas and we all played it and got taken out over the year too. Gonna get a few different ones this year myself

jellybear · 23-11-2019 12:08am

Could you cheat a bit and do a hamper for a "Family Night"...board games, cards, dominos...sweets, popcorn...pair of pjs from Penneys and sachets of hot chocolate. Could do any kind of hamper but something like that could be nice

amor3 · 23-11-2019 12:09am

Family voucher for tayto park. All ages covered!

gmisk · 23-11-2019 12:09am

matchthis wrote: »

A selection of board games? We got pop up pirate last Christmas and we all played it and got taken out over the year too. Gonna get a few different ones this year myself

Board games are a good call.
I got my niece and nephews gamer Monopoly (they are all super Mario fans) last year it was a massive hit 9-14 years old.

Oh and another fun one is called quick draw, the lads especially liked that one.

23-11-2019 12:10am

Family fortunes is a good one

tscul32 · 23-11-2019 12:29am

Family version of trivial pursuit, suits all ages.
Tayto park would be great but would be way over the budget specified, unless families got together and pooled.

Blaizes · 23-11-2019 12:33am

jellybear wrote: »

Could you cheat a bit and do a hamper for a "Family Night"...board games, cards, dominos...sweets, popcorn...pair of pjs from Penneys and sachets of hot chocolate. Could do any kind of hamper but something like that could be nice

Good idea could add some socks as well and thrown in a family dvd maybe Shrek plus a jigsaw have a look at an Argos catalogue think they have a family section or novelty stuff

Pixied · 23-11-2019 12:41am

A Ticketmaster voucher. Covers concerts, family events etc..it doesn’t have to cover the full event price.

A family tickets to visit somewhere like a castle or heritage pass.

Dial Hard · 23-11-2019 12:42am

Rather than buying one gift per family would you not all pool a set amount of money per adult, split it evenly amongst the kids and each child gets one gift to that value that's from everyone? That's what we do in our family (also huge) and it works great.

Purple Mountain · 23-11-2019 12:46am

Can the godparents take care of their godchildren?
Or do a Kris Kindle?

23-11-2019 1:56pm

Thanks so much for all the ideas everyone! I had thought maybe board games. I'd love to get them tayto passes but definitely too expensive. I love the hamper idea!! Definitely cheating

and I could well lose the run of myself so I'd have to be very careful! But I could include the other ideas, board games, socks etc. Will definitely try pricing a few bits!

23-11-2019 1:58pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Rather than buying one gift per family would you not all pool a set amount of money per adult, split it evenly amongst the kids and each child gets one gift to that value that's from everyone? That's what we do in our family (also huge) and it works great.

I like this idea but I think it could be hassle and I love giving just from us! We are the cool aunt and uncle after all!

23-11-2019 2:01pm

Purple Mountain wrote: »

Can the godparents take care of their godchildren?
Or do a Kris Kindle?

This idea was floated as well but one set of aunt and uncle don't buy Christmas presents for the kids as they're trying to save money so I don't think it would be very fair of us to save money while expecting them to start spending money.

And more importantly we want to buy for all the kids. We just love them so much!

DJIMI TRARORE · 23-11-2019 2:21pm

Ice skating voucher go down well here, aged 21 down to 6, plus 5 16in pizzas when they get homeðŸ˜Š

Purple Mountain · 23-11-2019 2:22pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This idea was floated as well but one set of aunt and uncle don't buy Christmas presents for the kids as they're trying to save money so I don't think it would be very fair of us to save money while expecting them to start spending money.

And more importantly we want to buy for all the kids. We just love them so much!

Ahhhh that's so sweet.

shelly22 · 23-11-2019 8:26pm

Cinema vouchers

23-11-2019 9:16pm

shelly22 wrote: »

Cinema vouchers

Thanks but as I said in the OP I think one of the other aunts will be doing that. Definitely the perfect gift in this scenario though!

Day Lewin · 23-11-2019 9:20pm

Jigsaw puzzles! A large one, of a simple colourful picture, preferably a drawing. They can each work on a piece.

You can promise to take them out to a café for tea and buns, if they send you a photo of it when finally completed.

Blaizes · 23-11-2019 9:47pm

Thought of something else karaoke machine but would probably be out of budget.

Jude13 · 25-11-2019 5:19am

A puppy.

JoseJones · 25-11-2019 6:06am

If you have time off over Xmas could you take them on a day out to the cinema or ice skating or bowling or something and then for food afterwards? You might have to split them up and do 2 days out though, could get expensive I suppose!

adrian92 · 25-11-2019 7:16am

Cleudo - all could share and may have nice memories of sharing

spurious · 25-11-2019 8:42am

Seeds to plant for next summer.

25-11-2019 11:57am

Jude13 wrote: »

A puppy.

25-11-2019 12:06pm

JoseJones wrote: »

If you have time off over Xmas could you take them on a day out to the cinema or ice skating or bowling or something and then for food afterwards? You might have to split them up and do 2 days out though, could get expensive I suppose!

We did this one year and it was such great fun! It was the year frozen came out. We went to that, then into the Christmas festival, then home to our place.

My mum had made them a chocolate cake in the shape of a Christmas house which we collected from her on the way home. We ordered pizzas and played Wii and then they slept over and watched a Christmas movie on the laptop in bed. Fell asleep with my dog lying across the bed with them.

Aaahh it was so much fun. We live even further away from them now though (not same county) so more hassle and definitely have to split them up into two different weekends. Don't think we have enough free time. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to do for their nieces/nephews though. We had the best time and I know they did too.

Hannibal_Smith · 25-11-2019 12:07pm

I'd definitely go with board games. We got Headbandz a couple of years ago and we play It all the time. When the family come over we have great craic with it. Adults and kids a like.

We also got 30 Seconds. Theres a kid and an adults version. Sometimes we bend the rules and allow 60 depending on the ages, giving the youngest a little extra time to read the clues. But its good fun.

Some times in Smyths they have deals on board games too, so you might fit a couple into your budget.

25-11-2019 12:10pm

spurious wrote: »

Seeds to plant for next summer.

Would definitely include seeds in a hamper. One family in particular grows plenty of veg and they're very conscious of their carbon footprint. And the little girl in the other family is gas, she was showing her Granny how to grow some herb or other and it's doing so well in her grans house, she looks after it. I couldn't believe it cause I've tried to grow it myself and it always dies. So quite green fingered!

25-11-2019 12:15pm

Hannibal_Smith wrote: »

I'd definitely go with board games. We got Headbandz a couple of years ago and we play It all the time. When the family come over we have great craic with it. Adults and kids a like.

We also got 30 Seconds. Theres a kid and an adults version. Sometimes we bend the rules and allow 60 depending on the ages, giving the youngest a little extra time to read the clues. But its good fun.

Some times in Smyths they have deals on board games too, so you might fit a couple into your budget.

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't a clue what board games are out there these days. I'll be seeing the mum's soon and I'll ask them what they already have and then use the recommendations here to pick new ones.

I think we'll go with the 'games' night hamper. Or a least family fun hamper. So a board game, DVD, popcorn, other treat, cosy socks and maybe some quirky little things like the seeds etc. I'll have to price it all.

Three children, one gift!!!!!

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