Santa vs. Generous Grandparents Parents Families.com

Who needs Santa when you’ve got grandparents?

There have been many times when I have seriously considered hiding some of the dozens of Christmas presents my parents have sent my daughter and attaching gift tags that read, “From: Santa Claus” and sticking them under the tree on December 25th.

My parent’s generosity is overwhelming… not that I’m complaining (my kid sure isn’t). It’s just that it’s getting harder and harder for me… I mean Santa… to compete with grandma and grandpa when it comes to holiday gift giving.

For the record I should note that my 4-year-old is very blessed to have two sets of generous grandparents in her life. It’s just that my daughter is one of only two grandkids on my side versus being one of 23 on the other. Therefore, the haul she rakes in from my parents is almost too embarrassing to divulge on the World Wide Web. I’ve already shared the one episode when my then 2-year-old refused to visit Santa at the mall. She reasoned that she didn’t need the big red guy to bring her presents because she already had a grandma that did the job.

Two years later we are still swimming in a sea of stuffed animals and colorful plastic everything. Donating to charity has done little to make a dent in the pile that requires a bulldozer and backhoe to clean up.

Believe me I’ve tried to make them stop. I have politely told my mom and dad that they need to cut back on showering their first and (so far) only granddaughter with everything her heart desires. But, take a look at the mountain of gifts sitting under our tree and you can tell how well that went over. It’s easy to limit your own shopping as a parent, but when it comes to curbing grandparents’ overspending, well, that’s an entirely different challenge.

I know I am not alone in dealing with this “dilemma” (I realize some would hardly categorize it such) because I have friends who are dealing with the same situation. Depending on your particular relationship with your parents or in-laws, broaching the subject of excessive gift giving may yield some bruised feelings.

So what do the experts suggest? Here are five tips:

1. Keep your mouth shut. Preserve the status quo and thank your generous relatives sincerely and often.

2. Allow for unlimited giving, but request that half the toys stay at grandma’s house. (That might be a challenge given the distance between the two homes.)

3. Make a list for the grandparents that only features items your child really needs, so at least their money is well spent.

4. Impose a one gift only rule and warn that all extra presents will be donated to charity. (Good luck with that one.)

5. Open a savings account and suggest relatives add to that instead of buying toys.

How do you deal with generous grandparents?

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