Parents,how much do you spend on christmas presents for your kids?

Lynn11

We spent about £50 on our daughter 1st christmas last year as she was not even 1 and would not know it. This year we have spent more than I would have liked £170 but we bought her christmas in August - plastic summer playhouse for the garden and a few cheap books, aqua draw and dvd for her stocking. It does not seem much for her stocking but not buying anything else as we have paid a lot for her main present, Hopefully next year we will spend £100-£150 max.

Lunar_Eclipse

Hush-Puppy wrote: »

We do get into debt for Christmas. Every November we get a 12 month bank loan and use that to pay for Christmas

I buy for another 20+ people (including a few children) and their budget ranges from £15 to £50 (£50 being my mum).

Does that mean you think it's worth it? Have you considered reducing your spend? Especially this year. It's only one day afterall.

I imagine you could easily halve what you spend on the kids and then doing a Secret Santa or children only with the rest of the people you buy for without it impacting your Christmas in the slightest. Just a thought.

At 23 months, your daughter really wouldn't notice if you bought her a few items from car boot sales for £10. Or do you feel she needs more toys to play with throughout the year?

I would be worried about the longer term, ie that you couldn't keep this borrowing situation going forever.

Hush-Puppy

Hi there,

Yes, we do think it's worth it! I could easily halve the number of 'other people' we buy for, but I really love buying gifts for friends/family at Christmas as we can't afford to do it regularly throughout the year.

I could spend less on the kids, it's true ... but I like the way we do it, lol! Birthdays are generally low-key gifts wise, Christmas is our time to really splash out on them.

The baby has now become a toddler (*sob*), so I have bought some key items to see her through the year. Her birthday is 3 weeks before Christmas so I've spread it between both.

In two years time I'll hopefully be starting a uni course to become a qualified Midwife which will then mean two wages coming in. Then we'll save towards Christmas and do away with the bank loan situation, but I can totally see where you're coming from and do appreciate the concern.

Sorry for waffling!

XX

cazpumpkin

hi i have 3 children , i give them each the following about £50

£20 cash,
£30 on 30 x poundland items in the stocking/santa sack wrapped up ( i look for good items in the run up to xmas)

so far in poundland in the last 3 months ive bought

1/a jackie wilson hardback book (rrp about 12 pounds i think)
2/ hat/scarf/glove set
3/legwarmers
4/ bubble bath
5/ make up
6/ childrens dvd
7/ singalong xmas cd
8/ plug in lava lamp for the computer
9/ colouring book
10/ felt tips
11/ mini selection box
12/playing cards
13/ texas hold em poker chips in a tin
14/ novelty xmas socks


ive still got another £15 to spend per child , i may buy a second hand games console & games bundle to share between the children

i never go into debt over xmas and i spread the cost and only buy stuff when ive got a few quid in my pocket, i also make a lot of stuff and visit frugal websites , kids may want a lot of " stuff" at xmas but its not worth going broke over chasing new technology or trying to impress people, my best friend and i have decided this year instead of buying each other presents for 20 pounds to buy ONE thing only in poundland for a joke , that is seriously my new shop i shop there so much i should move a mattress in lol

cherrycupcake

big_gay_kirk wrote: »

keeping the budget down is easy.. just use the word "no".... its difficult at first, but gets easier.... lets be honest, we live in a world where people are starting to think that if someone loves them they'll give them stuff.. lots of it.... and unless we stop the rot soon, we'll end up with a world full of spoilt brats.... when treats become the norm, there are no treats.... when i was young, getting a Matchbox car was a great treat... or even getting a bar of chocolate... people are just coming to expect too much...

I couldn't agree more! Whilst I'm not as behaved as some of you (I spend £51 - £100 on each of my two boys) I feel I've got the balance ok (ish!) - for now. I worry about what to do when my kids (7 & 3) get into DS, Xbox, PS Wii etc, etc etc! And not for financial reasons either. It never ends, and I personally think it's wrong that kids should have so much spent on them at all - irrelevant of household income.

My neighbour is stressing over what to get her 5 year old 'cos she's "only bought him 2 things so far" - A Wii with games and a Go-Kart! OMG!! If you're getting that at 5, what on earth could you get them as a teenager?

sarahs999

katiecoodle wrote: »

I think I spend about £50 - 65 ish on them but TBH they think its from Father Christmas & so it looks like I spend nothing on them....they get very very spoiled by other members of the family though so they're usually too distracted to realise that mummy & daddy don't get them anything at Christmas...

This is the tactic my parents had with me. I still can't believe I never noticed that they didn't give me anything, the mean old sods! :rotfl:

cazpumpkin

i advertised a toyswap at my local school for the school fund and 50 people turned up to the event at my house !!!!! it was standing space only lol

i charged a pound on the door which went to the school , then each person had to bring 3 small new presents , one for the schools xmas fair which went in the boot of my car to be taken up after school , one to swap lucky dip style and one went on the table till the end when one lucky person won the whole lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a huge sucess and the school was thrilled to get 50 items for the tombola and 50 quid, and one person took home 50 presents and the rest of us got to get something different and a chance to socialise to boot

gonna do this every year i think

queenpig

This has actually scared me.
I haven't added it all up till I came across this topic (kept all the recpets (sp)..).........I have spent about £800 - probably (but not much) more, this is for 3 children.
I think it is my eldest that has had more spent on him my second youngest bit less and my youngest a bit less again but saying that I think i have got more or less what they have asked for, not including the middle one who doesnt say but I do know what he wants.
Its going to be a racket here on Christmas morning but I am so excited :rotfl:

.

QP x

iskc85860506

I have 3 children B3 G2 G11 weeks and I spend the same amount on all of them. £200 Each, this has been the same since I had 1st child.

If I dont spend all of the money I have allocated for them then I put the rest in there bank acc. This year some of it has gone on credit card but will be paid off £300 per month so im happy with that.
This year ds has all his money spent on presents dd1 has all hers spent on presents and dd2 has 150 presents and 50 into acc. included in dd2 presents is a rainforest jumperoo £65 that she is way to small for now but will be perfect in about 3 months or so.
Alot of the presents I get are things that I would get them throughout the year anyway eg painting and drawings bits, clothes, shoes.

I dont buy them much thoughout the year and if I do its because they have been acceptionaly good. I say acceptionaly good because I expect them to be well behaved anyway so they would only get something if they go above and beond what I would expect of them eg tidy there toys before bed without me asking as they get older this will become something that is expected and not rewarded. They may have to start doing washing up or hoovering something like that.

If I earned more money then I would definatly give them more but I expect alot of that would go into acc rather than as presents. So that It will be there for them in the future for a house deposit or similar (not to be wasted on an expensive car etc) This is my choice.

Am I the only one that spends the same amount on all kids no matter what their age? I thought everyone did it this way untill I looked at this site!!!!

I then spend £5 each on brothers/sisters +partners (8 inc both sides))
£20 each on parents (4 inc bpoth sides)
£15 on neices/nephews (7 inc both sides)
£10 in grandparents (2 inc both sides)

I love seeing the different ways everyone does things, It so interesting. And everyone is right as its there children so its there choice.
Sorry post is so long.

RustyFlange

iskc I also spend the same amount on both of my children, one is 6 and the other is 18 months. I did that last year aswell, however also like you I buy things which may be no good for my youngest now but perfect for the next couple of months etc