how much are we spending on our kids?

nat21luv

i went to the sainsburys sale and grabbed loads. i had £100 saved and spent £113-bought for my son, my stepson, my daughter, my half brother, half sister, niece and step nephew. granted i do still have to buy my stepsons main present (a arsenal stadium tour with his dad) but even then thats only £15 for him and his dad for a 4 hour tour(yawn!) i try to get the best deal on anything and they've each got a nice pile. my son is nearly 7 and has a metal detector(he asked for it as we live next to a beach!) i wont buy him a DS, he's too young. my stepson has one and he has changed so much since having one for his birthday last year(not bought by me) he cant hold a conversation(he grunts or ignores you!), doing really bad at school and suffers from headaches. to be fair he plays on it for about 2 hrs before school and then a good few hours after and if he's not on that he's playing on the wii...did i mention he's only 8?! shame on his mum. im pretty sure he'll be getting an xbox this year complete with that new movement contraption that goes with it. bring back old school games i say!
ps-im 24 and old before my years!

ladyfalco

I think ive spent about 350-400 on my dd and about 200 on her birthday. the christmas items includes a ds and about 5 games and her birthday sylvanians

Lunar_Eclipse

I've never set a budget for Xmas and don't spend a set amount. I don't think money really comes into it, beyond ensuring you don't spend what you don't have, hence I can see the value of a budget.

What I would love to see is something like this: household income £25k, spending £300 per child; household income £80k, spending £100 per child, type scenario, because there should be some correlation and I'd find it fascinating!

Personally I think limiting the quantity is important, as it makes for happier and more appreciative children in the long run. I don't think we got this quite right last Xmas, despite no mega expensive presents. If I managed to get £300 worth of gifts for one child for £100, I would stop spending, regardless of my budget. Otherwise I think we risk Christmas becoming obscene and vulgar.

I have only just started shopping this week - very early for me this year! But I have bought my two children (10 & 9) their main gifts. We try to buy a main gift plus stocking from Santa and a main gift plus two other gifts from us. Main gifts typically cost in the region of £40, not £200 (although see this year's exception, that I am hoping doesn't become the rule!) I also bought Xmas Eve pj's last year, which they loved, and make them little memory boxes of the year's events in tiny cute boxes.

Eldest has a £100 Harry Potter Lego set. Her other main present is a box filled with jewellery making supplies that I actually bought for last year and kept back since she had more than enough! I can't recall what else she is having, but I'm going for fewer, better gifts. On top of the lego, I would guess that the other items will total a max of £50. She has asked for lego, some hot chocolate sachets and a Terry's orange.

Youngest has two Toy Story lego sets and a doll that total £50; these will be her two main presents. She also has a Science Museum robot toy, a Nerf gun, some audio CDs and the Beano Annual so far. Oh and the mandatory chocolate orange! She has asked for a Buzz Lightyear, the doll and a Terry's orange.

They will also get a main and a couple of smaller items from my parents, who we share Xmas Day with.

jcr16

spending more than planned. really having trouble finding stuff for our 7 yr old dd. but our toys boys are gonna be lego'd out. and we will be re-creating ponty pandy in our lounge.lol.

LJM

last trip to tesco tomorrow popped out there sunday after seeing santa and my youngest found the pink and purple zoom zoom hamsters that have a palace/track and carrige so she is now in love with this, she also spotted some barbie bits but im not too keen on this will have to see plus both my lo's saw a lot of books they wanted plus pj,s and duvet sets (my girls love the simple things in life lol) my eldest however who is 9 wants an ipod oh said fine but thats it apart from a few little bits and bobs. also i have lego stashed away some new that was on sale after xmas last year and a box of mixed bits ive won from ebay. also have my eldests bday on 20th december so im glad i saved up all year for it all i love seeing my xmas bank account grow, is that sad

jcr16

we bought those for t . i just love the colours. the purple zhu zhu is just stunning colour wise.

determined_new_ms

skintscotslass wrote: »

Hi there, can I ask how you managed to get the driving lessons so cheap? I've just paid for 10 lessons and they costs £200 (should have been £220) and the provisional was £50. Any advice gratefully recieved!!!

Hi I saw a local driving schol driving around with adverts on the car. 5 lessons for £56 (first lesson free) = 56/4= £14*9+£126

after I posted I found out the provisional is now £50 so it will be about £30 , more than I originally thought

hth x

Vaila

im spending around £20 for my immediate family, ie gran mum dad and brother, ive found some great discount codes etc on mse but as ive got older christmas has become less of an occasion, the best thing i like about christmas day is going for a walk around the local parks etc as they are EMPTY

BEAT_THE_DEBT

A lady told me today that she spend 1000 pound on all 4 of her kids and she had no money all year for herself why do we do it?x

RealButter

I am spening very little on my son because he'll only be 10 months at Christmas and really won't have a clue what's going on! I've got a couple of book sets for him, and a stacking rings pull along toy, but he would ahve had those anyway. They'll be wrapped up and I'm convinced he'll enjoy trying to eat the paper more than anything else.

He will be getting presents from my parents (including a Toy Story ride on toy that mum got in Asda's 1/2 price toy sale) and the wooden Ikea bead maze from my grandparents. I'm not sure what else but I have told everyone not to buy much, but he's the first grandchild on either side so we'll see if they go crazy or not (I am expecting MIL to go a bit mad as we are spending Christmas with her and she doesn't see any of us that often really).

All the presents I'm giving out to family and friends are hampers of home made goodies - Christmas cake, chutneys, jams, marmalade, hot chocolate on a stick, snowman soup etc I should really have added up all the money I've spent on ingredients but I haven't. Might work out at about £8ish per hamper.