how much are we spending on our kids?

uolypool

Hi I have 5 monsters (1 dd age 13 and 4 ds ages 14.16 and twins 17):eek:Usually I spend £50 each for their birthdays and about £150 each for Christmas but this year they all asked for things that were more than £50 each for birthdays so they are having £100 each for Christmas.They also get stockings full of chocs and sweets and they do a secret santa style thing where they pull a name out of a hat and it will have the name of one of their siblings on and they buy for just that sibling , this year they have a £20 limit on the present .We also get a game of some kind so we can all sit down together some stage over Christmas and play it.

Jami74

We are skint year round and my kids don't tend to get much new stuff so at Christmas they are spoilt. I think very hard about things that will get used or played with throughout the year and included in their stash are things like pyjamas, toothbrushes, underwear, socks etc. They are seven and five so don't have very expensive requests and often love the £2 toy more than the £20 one, however I do want to spoil them and I do want them to have some things in shiny packaging (shallow that I am) so have to shop hard to meet their requests without spending a fortune.

We don't have a budget, just a list of things that they'd really like that we try to find a way of affording. We try to match presents rather than how much we spend. Some years one of them desperately wants something that costs more than the thing that the other one wants, I'm sure over the course of time it will all balance out.

So far Christmas has cost us just over £100 for nearly £300 worth of stuff. I still have nephews to buy for, giftcards for an Aunt and a good friend and a couple of little bits for dh. We only buy each other a couple of token gifts from the kids. He'll be getting slippers, chocolates and undies/socks and I've asked for a new mug, some body spray and chocolates.

sharronloves2spend

This will be the first year that not a single item will be put onto a credit card:j I feel so liberated. 90% of my shopping is done and i am just glad to get the consumer bit out of the way, the rest of the festive period will be the traditions that we have put in place over the years. Each child gets 5 wrapped presents, 2 they have chosen, 3 surprises and a stocking. The pajama fairy comes on christmas eve too.

Spends look like this
ds1 15
£120 on Jd giftcard to spend in sales
Arsenal shirt (despite us being Liverpool fans, confused) £40
Army watch £20
Aftershave £20
Lynx set £4
Stocking, with bits picked up throughout the year from pound shops home bargains etc, no more that £10

Ds2 14
Lego train and train station £130
Lego torch £7.50 (half price)
Lfc rucksack £15
Lfc calender and annual £12
Lego Pirates £17 Book people half price
Stocking as above

Ds3 10
Psp go £130 from gamestation second hand
£50 game card
Army dress up £6
England Kit Total bargain sports soccer £17
Yo gabba gabba walkie talkies
Stocking as above

DD 7
Tv/dvd combi £110
Pile of dvds £25
Barbie doll £10
Cath kidston bag and teddy £18
Guess who £10
Stocking has a lot more than boys, girls are so easy to pick up for!!

In addition we have my 3 sisters to buy for @ £10 each, my mum and stepdad @£10 each and my good friends 3 kids @ £10 each. Teachers have a snowman soup and i alway buy 2 extra bottles or chocolates incase anybody turns up that we have forgotten!!

Christmas Eve we take the dogs on an extra long walk, come home and the pajama fairy has been, bath the kids, watch a film then settle the kids. Even though ds1 is nearly 16 he loves the traditions we have.He was asked if he wanted the pajama fairy this year as he sleeps in his boxers, to which he replied 'of course, she can bring me a new dressing gown!' lol. Christmas day is just us and i love it that way. Boxing day we do the visiting the rellies.

I love hearing about other people's christmases!!
Sharron x

Jami74

Sharron your Christmas sounds lovely, and so does your nearly 16 year old, lol.

We don't have any hard and fast traditions yet as every Christmas has been different. Last year they got pyjamas on Christmas eve so may do that again as they are due for a new pair.

Dd (7) has requested Polly Pocket stuff so has a couple of sets of that and as her and ds spend hours playing with the Barbies and she is really into babies I've got her the Barbie Baby doctor.

Ds (5) is a Ben10 fan so is getting the Alien Creation Chamber he's been asking for since August and some aliens which I got all half price and with a voucher ages ago. He's also seen Bakugans and I found a fantastic set half price and used Clubcard vouchers to pay for them.

redmel1621

Hi

I have enjoyed reading through, it just shows how different everyone is.

We do the same as mum26, in that we make xmas eve the start of a 'special' time...we have a party/buffet and then snuggle up and watch a film together before the kids go to bed:)

I don't have a set budget, but realistically we are trying to stay around £100 each for the older two...Before the two LO's came along we would go silly and spend anything up to £300-£400 each!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am done with the two small ones now
Baby (will be 6mths)
set of books - free with another order on books direct bargains
Pink Vtech lights and sounds thing - £2.70 eBay
Vtech walker - Kindly given to us by my vbf as she was bought 2 for her daughter
My Pal Violet - £13...discounted from £19 at Sainsbury

DS3 (will be 21mths)
Hammer ball thing - £4 Asda
Handy manny tool box - £27
ELC garage - £32, with 20% off voucher.
Thomas Tank engine colouring set - £10
I just need to get him a few colouring books/plain pads of paper.

The older two....well, here's where I fall down! They have been that spoilt over the last few years I am struggling to find anything for them! They have a PS3 each, and an Xbox and 2 26" flatscreen tv's in their room...a bookcase crammed with books, dvd cabinet crammed with films a cupboard crammed with board games. An unspeakable amount of console games. They also have PSP's and an Iphone each!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to get them things like dressing gowns, slippers, duvet sets...lol x The problem is dh thinks we should get them more games for the consles....but I disagree. He also thinks slippers etc is rubbish for a christmas present.

I wish we hadn't spoilt them so much in the past tbh....

sharronloves2spend

Redmel, i know what you mean, my elder 2 have had a lot more in the past, but when i sat them down a spoke to them, they understood. We are nearly out of debt completly and when i explained that no debt=more fun thing throughout the year, days out etc as we have less debt commitments to pay iyswim? I had a lightbulb moment 2 years ago when i realised that the more they get the more they expect, 'eyeballs and sockets' me mum calls it. You give them your eyeballs they come back for your sockets:D Each year we would try to do bigger and better than last, they expected it and as a result they appreciated nothing. It was hard but we've pulled it back!! However mine are older than yours.

Could you not take they games they don't play and trade them in?? That way they have new games for xmas and won't feel deprived, that would mean little or no money spent on your behalf!!

Sharron x

sharronloves2spend

Jami74 wrote: »

Sharron your Christmas sounds lovely, and so does your nearly 16 year old, lol.

We don't have any hard and fast traditions yet as every Christmas has been different. Last year they got pyjamas on Christmas eve so may do that again as they are due for a new pair.

Dd (7) has requested Polly Pocket stuff so has a couple of sets of that and as her and ds spend hours playing with the Barbies and she is really into babies I've got her the Barbie Baby doctor.

Ds (5) is a Ben10 fan so is getting the Alien Creation Chamber he's been asking for since August and some aliens which I got all half price and with a voucher ages ago. He's also seen Bakugans and I found a fantastic set half price and used Clubcard vouchers to pay for them.

Trust me he's hardly ever lovely:rotfl: that was a rare moment, he usually grunts and huffs!!

My dd loves barbies too, Homebargains had some a few weeks ago for £3 each. HTH

Sharron x

lolly1981

we usually buy very little for our boys as we have little money, we spend lots of time making things, baking, playing games etc. this year will be a little different (and the last time we do it lol) we dont tend to buy the kids a lot through the year so we will be spending a fair bit this year.
i also dont like buying lots of cheap stuff that lasts 5 minutes i would rather pay a little extra for something that will last longer.

this year DS1 will get
lego
bike
dvds
books
a leapfrog globe

DS2
train table
box of cars
leapfrog electronic learning thing
a handy manny rain coat
cup plate and bowl set.

thats about it really, we are going to the legoland shop to get the boys lego as if you spend over 85 pounds you get a free full annual pass, which will be another present and i know we will defo use it through the year and all he has really asked for is lego.

the train table is from toys r us and is 100 instead of 199 (which i most definatly couldt justify, 100 is bad enough but it is very good qulity with lots of bits.)

viclspence

We will have spent £200 each on my two by the time we have finished. Got some bargains in the Sainsburys sale, plus I upgraded my ipod a couple of months ago so my 8 year old is getting my old one. We split what we get them between the present being between us and santa claus and also try and make sure santa gets them similar things.

fuddle

well strictly speaking - nothing lol

I'm using cashback saved all year and Tesco Clubcard points (doubled up this month) on my two children. I've been getting bits and bobs since the summer for other family members so for once I can chill and not worry and best of all - no debt