Parents are raving about the ‘four present rule’ for children to save on money and time this Christmas

11 December 2019, 11:36 | Updated: 19 December 2019, 11:15

By Alice Dear

This Christmas gift rule is the perfect way to make the festive period a lot easier.

With Christmas just around the corner, parents up and down the Country are frantically looking to fill their children’s stockings with plenty of toys and treats.

This can often cause stress to parents, not just because of money, but also because of the time it takes to put together a collection of gifts for their little ones.

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However, in order to bypass the stress and expense of the festive period, many parents turn to the ‘four present rule’ in order to simplify Christmas.

The four present rule consists of buying your children – or friend or partner - only four gifts; something they want, something they need, something they can wear, and something they can read.

By doing this, it means you can really pin down what is necessary over the Christmas period, and what will be used or played with once and then disposed of.

Parents have hailed the rule as an easy way to save both time and money over Christmas.

Over the years, mums and dads have started to adapt the rule, with more and more jumping on the trend.

Writing on a Mumsnet forum, one parent wrote: “We did it for the first time last year, really helped structure my shopping.

"Each DC (darling child) gets one present from parents and one from each of three siblings so 4 gifts in total, which means it worked well. Will be doing the same this year.”

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Another added: “It helps us manage expectations and also negates the brothers buying for sisters etc - we can't afford all the combinations of gift buying!”