For xmas how much to spend on a 4 year old

ben500

To a four year old the only thing that usually matters is LOTS to open, the contents are generally of little importance it's the FUN they want, the feeling special, the ALL this for me in one go feeling. it usually wears off before all the presents are opened and an equal amount of time playing with packages and contents, any four year old with the necessary vocabulary would tell you some of the packages are FAR more fun than the contents, in short the more you spend on a four year old at Christmas the more you WASTE.

At four Big boxes, cheap contents and money in a savings account for them.

Chocmonster7

I'd spend about £20 tops, no kid that age really understands what's going on anyway, they won't even remember what they got a week later and will go back to playing with their old toys. Go for basic stuff like colouring books, crayons, jigsaws, maybe things to make bathtime fun.

Go down to the supermarket and get loads of big boxes, put one item in each and wrap them up, you could fill a whole room, let the kid loose and he'll be occupied for the day ripping them open!

HopeElizzy

My two, 4yo daughter and 2yo son, will get one main present from us (about £60) and then some stocking fillers. We have plenty of family and friends that buy for them as they're the only littlies in our family. They have so much from everyone else they don't need alot from us. My Mum & Dad will buy them a small present as they've also offered to pay for passports for us all as xmas prezzies. I was very shocked to find that childrens passports are about £40 each and, as ours have run out, the adults ones are about £60 = £200 for the 4 of us. :eek:

lil_me

This is where everyone passes out. My boys are going to be 8 and 6 soon. Years gone by between £500 and £800, each, easily. Then they get a lot from family aswell. This year will be about £300 each, maybe more for the youngest as he is getting Moto X gear which he would have got anyway. Mainly becuase they have got most things they want. None of it will be on a credit card or catalogue, only get what I can pay for cash or have vouchers for. I will only spend what I have. They don't get a great deal through the year, only extravagance being the quad bikes we have bought through the year.

Sarahsaver

The_Governor wrote:

Too much truth be told.

last year we did well as we spent about £200 on our eldest plus about £150 on our youngest who was only 1 at the time.

I think this year we'll break the £250 barrier for our eldest because we have bought her a PS2. But she'll also be getting an XBOX 360 courtesy of Tesco R&R

Not that she'll be allowed to become a video-game drone mind you, more like I will

OMG! :eek:
When I was on benefits the kids had one 'big' thing at £20 approx each, and a tenner's worth of stuff from the poundshop as a stocking, or reduced things I had got from boots, sainsbury's etc like soaps, keyrings etc.
Now their 'main' present will not be any more than £40, if that. They get a couple of new pairs of pyjamas as well, maybe a new outfit, still the same for the stockings. I am so proud that my kids are not greedy at all. Littlest ds was asked last year what he wanted for xmas by a friend, he said 'a teddy bear and some new socks and pants' He was 4 at the time. Was making arrangements with DD's dad for xmas today as he already had to book his holidays, she said 'don't mind where I am as long as I have a roof over my head and some crisps!' I want them to value family, friends and time, life itself! I don't want them to see borrowing and credit cards as acceptable so I must lead by example. Even if I could afford flashy presents for my kids without borrowing, I would not buy them. They don't need anything that costs much!

Addicted_to_Saving_Money

My 9 and 7 year old both want a Nintendo DS for Christmas (about £100 each). I was tempted to get them one to share but that will cause untold problems and arguements so I will get them one each and they will have to share the games! We will probably spend about £50 on our daughter who is 1 next week. I think for a 4 year old, about £100 should be adequate to buy things for his age, ie. Sticklebricks, Lego, art stuff, puzzles and games.

jo_b_2

sassy1204 wrote:

Hi

I was wondering how much everybody would spend or has spent on Christams Present for a four year old boy.
In the past I think that we have gone over the top and I was to be sensible this year.

I've done my four year old son's xmas shopping already (mainly thanks to the Amazon toy sale.)

I've spent £15 on a Bubble game console and £5 on an extra game. That'll be his 'big' present.

I've also got him a couple of power rangers (the pink and yellow ones) that aren't available in shops, from www.bandai.co.uk They cost £12 together (inc P+P). I know already that he will love those far more than he will the Bubble console with a RRP of £50! :rolleyes:

The other little extras are a Light sabre (£6.99), Bounce Bounce Tigger game (£3.99) and a Crazy Frog toy (£1.99).

That's it - grand total = £45. (I thought that I'd gone overboard this year, to be honest, because of all the Amazon 'bargains' and am shocked at some of the amounts mentioned here!) :eek:

Four year olds have no idea 'how much' things cost. The best thing is seeing toys that you know the children will love opening and playing with.

Most children can expect to get little extras from extended family - so don't feel obliged to go overboard.

pavlovs_dog

i know when we were growing up, mum used to spend £200-£300 each on my brother and i, but we never had much throughout the year so she saw it as a chance to spoil us.

that said, we've never been 'spolit'..in fact, oh always moans about my lack of desire for material possessions because it makes me hard to buy for

at age 4 - its hard, because it depends on what they need at that age. i think ben raises a very valid point about children's attitudes to christmas. if you want to treat them to something special as their main gift (eg a bike, membership to local attraction etc) then i can see how it would be easy to spend up to £200. at that age though, i do question how much of that is justified?

personally, i think the most precious gift you can give your kids is time, especially if both parents have to work to keep a roof over the familys' heads.

julesangles

i used to spend 50 quid each on my kids at that age tops.
now i get 100 pounds worth of look alikes(ie with pigsback vouchers 40 quid|) 3 for 2 at boots. bought 18 presents between them cost me 12 quid in money and i recived 10 quid in points (with which i will buy more presents with)
do the same with my tesco vouchers and my sainsburys ones.
actuall spend will be less than 70 quid each. looks like i have spent 200 hundread. if you see what i mean.

ben500

pavlovs_dog wrote:

i know when we were growing up, mum used to spend £200-£300 each on my brother and i, but we never had much throughout the year so she saw it as a chance to spoil us.

that said, we've never been 'spolit'..in fact, oh always moans about my lack of desire for material possessions because it makes me hard to buy for

at age 4 - its hard, because it depends on what they need at that age. i think ben raises a very valid point about children's attitudes to christmas. if you want to treat them to something special as their main gift (eg a bike, membership to local attraction etc) then i can see how it would be easy to spend up to £200. at that age though, i do question how much of that is justified?

personally, i think the most precious gift you can give your kids is time, especially if both parents have to work to keep a roof over the familys' heads.[/quote]

Couldn't have put it better myself, the secret is to make everyone smile at the same time, the child smiles at the huge pile, and the parents smile because the child smiles, the whole family smiles together, something sadly too rare these days due to working commitments, let your kids see you smile together and you will have succeeded in fulfilling their Christmas and yours in one go. Any child will tell you the best Christmasses were when they were little, the magic goes when the money comes into the equation, big boxes, bright paper, wrap some chocolates and sweets too, one thing I did do with all my kids was to go to the bank and get a bagfull of shiny 1p pieces (the value of the coin was not important to the children, again a ten pound note was a piece of paper, ten shiny pennies TREASURE) I would tape a penny to everything I wrapped, sometimes stupid stuff like blackjack chews perfectly wrapped in wrapping paper with a shiny penny, the entire ground floor of the house would be awash with wrapping paper, packaging and whirring, squealing, whining and banging and crashing toys and four neat little piles of SHINY PENNIES"