I tell you what me and my dh does. I shop for my kids and he shops for his kids. What ever we get is what we want to get for kids. If I want to pick somehting up for his kids I will and if he wants to pick something for my kids he will. We don't have to but normally we always pick up a little something for each others kids. however I have noticed that dh doesn't get as much for his kids as I do for mine. What I do is this before the big day i always take inventory and hold back a few things for my kids and give them that while skids are at their moms getting their gifts from her while mine are getting gifts for their mom. I look at it this way if skids are getting gifts form their mom why can;t my kids get gifts form their mom at the same time? Good luck

Yes I totally understand! Last year did it for me. I have my daughter every Christmas she is with her dad on Christmas Eve till 9pm. Well last year he got her a DSI..no I didn't agree with it because she already had a DS just like the my bf kids have but they also wanted DSI's but I said it was just to much money to go out and buy one just for the camera..get them cheap digital cameras...but my point wasnt my fault my ex got her one...I had no doing in it...he gets her what he wants...my bf went off.
So I said this year he can go get what he wants he said I talked him out of it because I knew my daughter was getting one...ummm HELLO grow up!
So what I try to do with his girl and mine because they are around the same age is buy things alike but kind of different. Yes I hate also the thought of buying his she-devil anything cause all she deserves is rocks and I think they are to good but I will do what I know I should as the adult in this and go out shopping for her as I would my own child. Because deep down under all the ugly she causes and brings forth there is a child!

I like the idea of sending Dad out to buy gifts for his own children. It sort of makes sense to me... especially if you are in a rut. I'm sort of lucky that we don't really go crazy at Christmas, so it's fairly easy. :)That's what grandparents are for

I dread christmas shopping. I could shop endlessly for my kids, they have interests, I know what they like, and they enjoy many different things. SD is a whole different story.

Every year it goes the same way. Around this time of year I ask DH to think what he wants to get SD. I throw around some ideas for my kids, usually by now they've given some suggestions since they know that bigger ticket items are more likely to become x-mas gifts. He has no idea what to get her. She doesn't have any real interests, hobbies.

If I buy her similar things to my DD she hates it. If I don't she is jealous. If I let DH shop for her and I shop for mine it becomes very unfair since his ideas of a nice christmas aren't as much as mine. I don't buy for my kids all year, christmas is a big thing for them. SD gets all year long.

Then a week before x-mas, SD will give us a list of very specific items, from what store they are at, how much they are, what color she wants. By then we are done shopping and she gets none of it.

It is all very stressful and I love christmastime in general. The whole shopping thing almost ruins it for me.

Well I would make sure that SD writes a list now...give her deadline and if she doesn't meet it buy her what ever the heck you guys want! I mean it would be hard to buy for someone who gets it all year long. I dont buy things all year long because I just dont have that kind of money....so when they make it list I always say just because its on this list doesnt mean your gonna get it but will try to get some of the things and the things that I want to get them
What happened to the real meaning of Christmas!

Well ya know what Spunki...even though she always probably expects her dad and mom to get her things....go get her just one that is just from you! I mean for me probably hard as hell to go get that little she-devil anything extra special but get her when she least expects it!

DH and I always get the kids all the same thing to be from "Santa". No...they don't still actually believe, but it's fun for everyone. The one from Santa is the "big" gift (ex. last year, they got new TV's for their rooms). When the kids are making their lists, they cut out pictures from newspapers, etc so that we can be sure we get the exact right thing. As they get older, it isn't as hard to figure out the lists, but it still helps with all the different video games they like. I generally do most of the shopping, but over the years, DH has realized that I hate shopping as much as he does, so he will join me once or twice to help me get it done. Like a few others here, I am generally done by now, but this year...I haven't even started, but probably will Friday while the kids are at school, since I am off work and DH is going out of town.

I love the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Years, but my favorite part is the week of Christmas, I am off work, the kids are out of school and I bake like a mad woman! I just love it. Something that my dad used to share with me, so now, even though dear, sweet daddy is no longer here...I continue our tradition.

I just give the SS - $125.00 and hide it somewhere in the house and make him go and look for it. If he doesn't find it I get to keep it - too bad every year he manages to find the money even though he can't find a glass to drink with or a plate to eat off of - lol

I'm with confused!! Like I said in my other post HE shops for his kids and I shop for mine!

This reminds me - I need to get lists from my SKs. I generally don't have a problem getting anything for my SKs. I have DH coordinate with the X's to make sure they don't get duplicate gifts but I usually make DH go with me at some point to get some of the gifts for his kids so we can honestly say the gifts are from both of us. I think this year i'm setting a dollar limit to make sure I don't go too crazy.

We go to MILS on x-mas eve. X-mas day we split between me and him, my mother's and his dad's. DH shops for his daughter. We always get a text from BM saying "SD 'needs' this this this this and this for Christmas." Thannnnnksssss bm, what would we do without you?

Poisonapples think of it this way if one year it is lo sided and they don;t get as much your dh will only have himself to blame so when the skids say something to him he just might step it up the next year.

I stopped (sorta) shopping for ss last year. Dh always bitched because he "felt" the other kids got more gifts-didnt matter if they actually did or not-it just "felt" that way to him. He has to have the same as the other kids even though he will also get gifts at bm's. So I told him-no more-if you don't like what I pick out u can handle it. This year dh got him a bike. One gift. That's it-compared to the 10 or so I usualy get him and that the other kids got. But I ended up feeling sorry for the little bugger so I went out and picked him up 3 or 4 other gifts. Dh never said a word.

Oh, also what I hate is that ss has to have gifts that he can take home to bm's. Like last year we got all the kids dvd players for their rooms. The two girls share and ss and bs share. So this is something that ss will use during his visits-but according to dh that doesn't count. It sorta irks me that we pay money for nice gifts that he takes up there and his younger sibling likely breaks or ss leaves outside because noone care to remind him to pick it up (it wasnt bought with their money after all).