how much are we spending on our kids?

somethingsgottogive

Oh my..... please don't flame me but...
I have to say, some of you have actually left me speechless!
Nicolefrenzy - I just couldn't imagine buying an 8 year old an ipod touch, let alone all the other £375 worth of stuff for him. You must have a lot of faith in him looking after his gifts!

Our two girls, 5 and 2, will probably have the grand total of £40 spent between them - we buy a lot of great stuff from carboots, jumble sales and I'm making things like sockmonkeys and other stocking fillers

I really dislike the whole idea of 'having' to buy things for people at the end of December because of some Pagan/Christian ritual I don't even believe in, and I HATE some people's attitude of, 'Oh god, I suppose we'd better buy her something..that'll do'. (my OH's grandmother for example, who presents us with ANOTHER regifted vegetable slicer, when I've spent 2 weeks searching for a beautiful photo album that I know she'll love and filled it with pictures of the girls... I would honestly rather have nothing from her) We get the girls, and each other, treats and gifts throughout the year 'just because'.

I also don't really understand the concept of making your child's Christmas *extra special* just by buying them an expensive mountain of stuff - our eldest (5) remembers playing with her grandparents, helping bake mincepies and sitting with uncle, watching Wallace and Gromit more than the presents. Also, as has been mentioned a few times, any child under 2 years old just wants a HUGE box and some crackly paper!

jamsandwhich

Not a lot tbh! The twins are three now and they already have too much as we forget they have things - other people buy plenty for them and I don't want them to be spoiled so I will be filling their stockings and getting a couple of things each and then put some cash in their accounts instead.

We have just also had a clear out in anticipation of christmas coming and it is just madness the amount we have ebayed / given to charity which has barely been played with and is now outgrown!

Last year we took some stuff off them and put it in the loft to get out over a few months after christmas which ensured they had something new to play with but I find it all a bit obscene - the girls are just as happy playing in the sandpit with an old ice-cream tub or like last year, spent months playing with a house I made out of a huge cardboard box until it collapsed and had to be binned. They were not as happy with the replacement gaudy fabric thing I got from Tesco and is unplayed with!!!

I would rather save the money and give it to them or have some fun days out instead:) To me it's all about the experience and the lead up to the day itself.

themull1

i think its great if you can spend £40.00 or so between two kids and i love jumble sales and car boot sales, its when they get older that its harder to spend so little. Especially if they've asked Santa for something specific, i would rather pay a bit more for that one specific item than get them something else a bit cheaper that i know they won't like as much.

jollymummy

Hi Jamsandwich
We do that too. DS is our onesie and is 5. He'll get one big pressie, I'm talking big Lego set or similar and quite a few small bits, but I'll shop around for bargains. He gets nice pressies from Grandma, Grandad, Nana and aunties. What we do instead is pay for experiences that he'll always remember. This year we are using our Tesco vouchers to go to Thomasland near Christmas with his cousin. We are also taking him on the local light railway on a twilight trip to see Santa which he (and we:) love). He told me the thing he loved the most last Christmas was sledging on Christmas Day and building the gingerbread house that Nana bought us and getting an email from Santa - magic memories We'll spend time making Christmas decorations and gingerbread men and tracking santa on Norad, I love the build up to Christmas.

jamsandwhich

Hi jollymummy:wave:
that is exactly as us really! We will be taking the girls on the Grosmont to Pickering Santa's Steam Express - have chosen the late afternoon one so it will be dark when we get back and hopefully a bit more magical! We also have fish and chips on christmas eve and have a run around on the beach and a walk along the pier too to get them tired out. We try and make it all as exciting as possible for them - probably for my benefit as much as theirs:rotfl:

Thomasland is fantastic - our girls loved it and can't wait to go back - they keep asking if it is 'next year' yet !

We have had the girls slightly late on (both in mid 30's) so lots of In-laws, Grandparents and other family members haven't had kids to buy for for a few years! Two new babies in the family this christmas though - Niece and Nephew both due Nov and Dec so all very exciting!!!

Hope you all have a lovley christmas XX

jollymummy

Awww thanks Jamsandwich, we are in the same boat, I was mid thirties when I had our boy and my SIL had her daughter - her only child - 5 months later when my SIL was 41. So hubbys parents waited for a grandchild for years and then two arrived in the same year - they are besotted My sisters children are all grown up so ours are the only littlies in our family and as you say all the aunties and inlaws love spoiling them
I love the sound of your Christmas plans - can we come and stay , we plan on taking our steam train mad boy on the Grosmont to Pickering train at some point.
Have a magical time.

RoxieW

Would normally spend about £300 per child (8, 6 and 1, though the 1 year old gets less) but like a lot of families money is tighter this year. We had some bad news on that front about a month ago. I'd already bought a few bits per child - prob approx £100 each - and I vowed that I wasn't buying another thing. I have felt bad about it, but then I went to tidy there room yesterday and threw/gave away 2 bin liners full of unplayed with, not looked after, toys. Now I don't feel bad at all!
At the end of the day presents are lovely, and everyone wants to give their child what they ask for, but presents don't make Xmas. For us it is all about the build up to the day and I'll be using tesco vouchers for Thomas land also. Going to the Xmas lights switch on, buying and decorating a real tree, baking and making, the big roast turkey and a movie after - there's lots more to Xmas then just big piles of pressies.

sammy_kaye18

Well we normally try and spend about £200 on each of our boys.

However, we now have J (9), Ben (6) and our little newbie princess Holly who will be 5.5 months at Christmas so things are changing.

J my step sons mother seems to think that because we both work - partner full tiem and me part time although on maternity leave at the minute that we are made of money so the latest Kinect toy is his top present with her buying him an XBOX360 - why he needs it when he has a DS, Playstation 2, Xbox, Sky in his room and a Wii is beyond me but oh well but he will probably only get about £30 of stuff after that so totalling £150 from us anyway.

Ben will get about £200 although so far I have spent about £10 on him
--- anything in red was rehomed from very kind MSE friends offers! and anything in blue was charity shopped)

1.Ben 10 book
2.power rangers PC Game
3.wrestlers --- rey myseterio
4..wrestlers --- john cena
5..wrestlers --- batista (possibly randy orton)
6..wrestlers --- triple H
7..wrestlers --- christian
8..wrestlers --- undertaker
9. rey mysterio slippers
10. WWE file and bag
11.WWE annual 2010
12. WWE Annual 2011
13. John Cena Wallet (STOCKING)
14. Wrestling Calendar to make into posters
15. WWE Belt
16.beyblades dvd
17.WWE Elimination chamber with small wrestlign figures
18.WWE carry ring.
19.WWE Poncho Towel
20. card tin
21. finger wwe puppets -- mysterio + edge
22. Dragon and magic book
23. dino sticker pack
24. WWe monster truck
25. monster truck
26. monster truck
27. monster truck
28. monster truck
29. football mug

His grandma has brought him a portable dvd player with both the night at the museum dvds and his other grand parents have brought him a kiddizoom camera and sim card.

So hes not doing too badly at the minute! Still have a few things I would like to get him though which equates to about £80 but this includes stocking, Christmas eve hamper and a selection box treat.

Holly is only getting about £50 - £60 spent on her though as she will only be small and chances are she'll enjoy the lights and paper more this year. So far she has a help me crawl butterfly toy that was meant to be £14.99 but was 75% off in wilkinsons sale so I paid about £3 for it!

stiltwalker

Thanks to somethingsgottogive and jamsandwich, glad you guys posted, I was beginning to feel really tight here. So far I've done about 3/4 of my shopping for everyone we need to buy for (not a huge list admittedly) and I reckon I've spent about £40 or £50 and 2 of the presents left will be hampers of homemade chutneys etc which are already made and in cupboard just need the prettifying bits, also done about 1/2 of what we want for our DD who is 19 months and spent about £20 on her. I spend a huge amount of time hunting out bargains and things that my family and friends will enjoy rather than spending money which I would have to even more seriously scrimp to find.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

I think its all about creating memories for children and having lovely family christmas's. I shop all year around. Ds has too much so i am putting some towards his bday in March!
He has lots of aunties grans grandads etc (disjointed family),he does very well but he looks after his toys and i wont allow him to act spoilt he appreciates things.x I think that if you spend £5 or £505 its how christmas is spent as a family!x