my kids birthdays are feb, march and oct, so i usually start after i've finished the middle ones birthday shopping (the oct birthday) i save through the year though even though we dont spend a lot like i know some people do (though if we could spend more i could easily do it lol) but there were some real bargains on big lego sets which otherwise they would never get, so i couldnt turn down the offer lol my hubby is like a big kid when it comes to christmas and we spend quite a large portion of our xmas budget on food and making it a good long holiday