Amount of money spent on christmas

kindofagilr

MrsE wrote: »

You are joking:mad:

My DD is 22 & gets more expensive every year. We got her a tan Roxanne Mulberry bag last year, this year she wants a black Mulberry.

Then dont get her it?

I dont understand these parents who give their children (I say the term loosly) everything they want?

lottylouj

in prevoius years ive easily spent £300 + each on my children ( i have 2) and i have sworn each year that i wont do it again!
This year im spending £120 each on stuff they achally want, instead of stuff ive seen that i think they will want.
On nephews and nieces and friends kids i give them up to £10 each.

Prevoius years ive given them everything they want (guilt!! as a parent) and they dont appreciate it cause they have too much, most of it has ended up under the bed played with once and not touched again.

Lynn11

Thanks for all the replies. I like all the items on my prepared list, so I may buy and put some of them away for her birthday in March. It certainly mounts up when you have several different items at £30 a piece. She is not getting a main present this year but different bits and pieces as unsure what she will play with.

Was going to get dolls house for her birthday but dad wants to buy for christmas as she was playing with a friends the other day - we will see what happens. I think that I will hold off and find out what granparents are buying and then decide if we buy the dolls house.

Very topical subject, as some of my friends spend approc £300+, so we will see what happens.

k_bagpuss

I would have thought the answer was quite simple - spend what you can afford to spend and no more. My parents put a limit on Christmas years ago - £20 maximum spend per person for the adults as things can get out of hand very easily. For the kids we explain we have to send money off to Santa - he doesn't just bring things for free and they accepted this no probem.

fernliebee

Personally I think buy what you can afford, if someone wants to spend £500 on a 1 yr old and they have the money fine. But I do think it is silly to get into ridiculous amounts of debt to cover christmas.

Last yr DD was 6 months and I planned to buy her nothing as she got lot's from other people but my DH wasn't happy with getting her nothing and suggested we got her a charm bracelet (its adult sized so she can collect charms for it and save it for when she is older.) I also picked up a few lovely wooden puzzles from the charity shop for £2 and got her a stocking (£10 in total inc PJ's) so in all it probably came to £45-£50.

This year I will prob spend over £100 as we have saved a bit, and I would rather buy her good quality toys that will last, rather than lot's of cheap tat. I am hoping to get her a trike and a few other bits.

When we were younger my mum would spend lot's on us (about £200 each and there are 3 of us.), but would save for the whole year, and buy stuff in the sales the year before etc. She grew up with her mother who was a jehovas witness (from age 6) so she had christmas for 6 years then it was all just stopped, so she would go a bit overboard. But she was sensible in her purchases and would buy us good quality toy's and games that would last, and we could pass on.

cross posted k-bagpuss!

faerie_girl

Its LO's first Christmas this year, 11 days later its his first Birthday!
For Christmas we are getting him a Little Tikes rocking horse which is just under £20. I'm also going to get him a stocking which we will be using every year. I'll get him a few stocking fillers probably coming to no more than £10.

As his 1st birthday is on the 4th Jan I'll be going to the sales to get a few bargains.

I'm hoping family don't go to mad with pressies this year. I've got a mental list of gifts for if people ask. My Mum and Dad are buying in a drum . I'm going to suggest that people give him money/vouchers for either, if they want. We'll save them for the summer to get him some summer toys.

At LO's age ATM theres no point in spending £100's and overloading him with gifts. When he's older we still hope to not spend too much. We want him to value what gifts he recieves and not to expect he'll be getting someone because he wants it. Not sure how if this ethos will last into his teens though!

SarahNeedle1872

MrsE wrote: »

You are joking:mad:

My DD is 22 & gets more expensive every year. We got her a tan Roxanne Mulberry bag last year, this year she wants a black Mulberry.

Buy her some TKMaxx vouchers instead.... she would get 3 x as much designer stuff for your money!

tessie_bear

i think u should spend what u can afford on christmas....id never go in to debt or take out a loan to pay for toys that kids might get bored with fairly quickly....i have just had my initial look at the argos book for ds aged 10 and it looks like being a pricy christmas

minerva_windsong

To the OP, I would say that much is plenty. My nephew turned 2 at the start of this month and has always been inundated with presents from relatives for birthdays and Christmas, so I think whoever suggested spending at least some of it on experiences - the zoo etc - has it right. Besides, you can get plenty of decent classic toys on the cheap; my nephew got one of those red and yellow Little Tykes cars for his birthday and that was just shy of £40.

I discovered recently that my parents budget £100 per child for birthdays and Christmas (I've got two sisters), plus slightly less for my BILs and about £20 for my boyfriend, and then the stocking fillers. I think that's plenty for us as my sisters and I never really want many presents. We do however have lists of stuff we would like to get for birthdays/Christmas, but that is not necessarily what we will get - relatives can choose to buy us anything they choose to from the list or something entirely different.

flippin36

Gosh - I am quite surprised at how much people on here spend on kids for Christmas. We have a £100 budget for 2 children. I have always thought it more than enough, we do however have a large family who buy for the kids so they end up with loads. My kids also get a new party outfit a few weeks before Christmas which isn't part of that budget. Both grandparents are very generous so they actually get quite a lot come Christmas day.

Does anyone elses kids only play with one thing Christmas day?

I also think they will have the benefit of not having stressed out parents come the new year when the credit card bills start coming in , but they may not appreciate that until they have kids of their own .