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When Should You Stop Getting Gifts for Your Kids?

Photo from Pixabay via Pexels

When Should You Stop Getting Gifts for Your Kids?

By Movieguide® Contributor

TODAY is exploring when parents should stop buying gifts for their adult children, and there’s no clear answer.

“I love to buy them things — but how long can I really continue to do this?” said Nikki Tomczak, mom of three adult kids.

Nikki and her husband Marty asked in a TikTok: “Parents of adult children: At what age did you guys start slowing down on Xmas gifts for them?” She added they have a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and a few grandkids.

Though they’re questioning whether to buy their kids Christmas gifts, they added they’ve helped pay for weddings, engagement parties, baby showers and even houses for their kids.

This year, the family is doing Secret Santa, where each person buys gifts for one person in the family that they’ve drawn the name of. The game was the kids’ idea.

“They were onto something — can I really be doing huge, giant Christmases forever?” she says.

“These are my kids for life and I will always have something for them,” says Nikki. “I just don’t know if it should be the same as it was when they were children…at what age do you find the balance?”

“But it still feels super weird to me to not be buying for each one of the kids and it makes me really happy to see them open 10 things each,” Nikki said.

The comment section had a wide range of responses.

One person said, “Just buy for the grandchildren.” Another said, “I will never not buy for my kids, no matter the age.” Someone else said, “One gift is enough.”

READ MORE: 25 MEANINGFUL WAYS TO PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS

“Experiences are better. Do something special. Make a memory,” someone suggested.

Nikki previously bought each of her kids 20 to 30 gifts. But after some discussion and “hundreds” of messages related to her video, she decided she would always buy her kids something each Christmas, in addition to filling their stockings.

One mom shared that she stopped getting her non-adult kids gifts in favor of a memorable experience together.

She said, “Don’t get me wrong. I still miss watching my kids tear into the perfect gift, and I still miss the look they get on their faces when they realize that we know them well enough to pick out something they didn’t even know they wanted until the second they pulled the wrapping away.”

“But, for us right now, the return on investment on an annual Christmas trip or a long weekend at the lake is higher,” she continued. “If you ask my daughter what gifts she’s received during Christmases past, she won’t be able to tell you, but sometimes when the house is quiet she’ll crawl into bed next to me with a dozen “remember whens” from our family adventures together.”

READ MORE: THE SURPRISING STORY BEHIND 4 CLASSIC CHRISTMAS SONGS


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