Mum causes stir with plan to rewrap birthday presents to give her daughter this Christmas

A mum’s money-saving Christmas present hack hasn’t gone down well with other parents online.

Christmas is fast-approaching and feeling the money-pressure many parents will likely turn to cost-cutting efforts to try to save some pennies.

One mum decided to share her plans to save money and cut the clutter in her home this Christmas, but it has kickstarted a debate online about the methods parents should adopt to save on their kids Christmas presents.

Taking to the ‘Am I Being Unreasonable?’ section of parenting site Mumsnet the mum explained her plans, asking other parents to give their thoughts.

“We threw dd [Dear Daughter] a 3rd birthday party for 15 kids and she got a lot of toys, some of which I put upstairs in the attic (because I wanted to bring her out a new toy each week),” she wrote.

“Now Christmas is coming up and I am wondering AIBU to rewrap some of the toys she opened for her birthday to give them to her for Christmas? Will she remember unwrapping them the first time?”

And other users were quick to step in and offer their opinions on the mum’s present-recycling plans. Many thought the idea wasn’t fair on the child.

“Personally I think that’s really mean,” one user wrote.

“Were these presents from other people? If so then yes it’s mean….” another added. “I also would have thought a 3 year old would remember having received at least some of them. If you’re worried about present overload I would reduce my Christmas gifts or concentrate on other things rather than toys (books, experiences etc) but I wouldn’t re-gift someone else’s present.”

But others didn’t see any problem with re-wrapping old gifts.

“Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest,” one user wrote. “She’s 3 and won’t care or remember the gifts only the excitement of opening them.”

“I do this. I was caught out a couple of times. I told her I couldn’t find the other one so asked Santa to send a new one, or I sent it to Santa to rewrap it in Xmas paper so you could open it again.”

The original poster later added another comment clarifying that not wanting to add to the toy clutter in her home was the strongest reason for her planning to recycle presents.

“It’s not that I’m hard up, but I just can’t stand the clutter! I’m trying to keep control of how many toys we have in the house. I guess it just seems economical to me!” she said.

But users still disagreed with the mum’s decision to put the toys in the attic in the first place.

“I have no opinion about the rewrapping for Christmas but I think the putting her birthday presents in the attic because you wanted to bring one out each week is bizarrely over controlling,” one user commented.

“Sometimes, it’s good for a child to be able to make their own choices about what they play with, not to have that controlled by you. If you feel like there’s too much stuff out at once, a toy box or cupboard would be less drastic than the attic.”

And others pointed out that her present-recycling plan could backfire. “I did the same as you (with family presents only), and brought some of them again re-wrapped as Christmas presents. First one open was a doll,” one mum explained.

“She immediately turned to her cousin and said ‘I’ve got this one already. You may have this.’ And proceeded to do this with each of the hold backs.”

The mum isn’t the only parent who wants to cut back on their kids Christmas presents this year.

Last month Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher revealed that they have decided not to give their children, three-year-old Wyatt and ten-month-old Dimitri, any Christmas presents this year.

The down-to-earth couple are urging family to stick to giving their little ones just one present so they become more appreciative of each gift.

If it’s business as usual for your family in the present-buying stakes this year, you might want to take a look at our guide to this year’s most sought-after Christmas toys.

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