In 2023, winter holiday sales in the U.S. hit an all-time high of $957 billion. With more than 90 percent of Americans reporting participation in Christmas, a huge amount of gift-giving happens around this holiday alone, making over-consumption a valid concern. However, gift-giving is a tradition that crosses religions and winter celebrations, with families choosing to shop around and partake in gift-giving for Hanukkah, Diwali, Eid, and Kwanzaa. For parents of young children, it’s common to wonder, “Is this enough?” or, “Is this too much?”
Social media can also promote comparison. You may scroll your feeds during the holiday season only to find a peek into how other families celebrate, noticing some opt for an intentionally minimal exchange. On the other hand, others may share stacks of presents!
Parenting pages may be filled with conflicting threads of opinions. So, is there an “ideal” amount of gifts when it comes to gift-giving with children? In short, no. It’s important not to get caught up in the number of presents and remember the intent behind gift-giving traditions, which is more about presence and sharing in light, love, and community.
How much “magic” and joy your children will retain has less to do with the stuff they get and so much more to do with how they will remember feeling during this time of year.
A couple more things to help counter unproductive parent guilt with gift-giving:
Gift-giving alone does not spoil children, nor is it the only way to add feelings of joy and magic to holiday celebrations.
This means:
You can provide zero presents, and your children will feel the love and joy.
You can provide some presents, and your children will feel the love and joy.
You can provide extra presents, and your children will feel the love and joy.
It makes it easier to focus on presence for some. Fewer gifts means less shopping, less wrapping – more time to just connect or go on experiences together.
Less material stuff can also align with the values of more sustainable and eco-friendly shopping habits.
Fewer items can foster deeper play. Too many play options at once (more than 4-6) have been shown to stifle play. Kids don’t need more things to spark more play, so a ton of gifts is truly not a prerequisite where the goal is supporting play.
They find financial deals on toys or activity sets that may be significantly discounted as part of holiday sales and promotions, allowing them to purchase toys once for the whole year.
Gift-giving is their love language, and they feel more joy by participating in it – not stress.