How much should parents spend on a child for Christmas?

padd_bear

I understand you want to give your children everything they want, but flinging money around like water, which is what you are doing- rem this is MSE

toontron

padd_bear wrote: »

I understand you want to give your children everything they want, but flinging money around like water, which is what you are doing- rem this is MSE

Despite the amount I spend, I am a keen MSE'er. Believe me, I may spend, but I want what I am buying for the best possible price. When I was looking for the tvs I researched and researched for ages to make sure I got the best possible deal.

Tupperware_Queen

its all relative isn't it? I hope my kids will be happy with what they have got - they now its been a tough year.

padd_bear

So you brought TVs that your kids arent even likely to really watch? Nice to see your money saving!! Buying things your kids won't really use isnt practical even though you can afford to splash out maybe splasing out on things they need would be wiser.

padd_bear

Tupperware_Queen wrote: »

its all relative isn't it? I hope my kids will be happy with what they have got - they now its been a tough year.

As long as they have a loving family around them, a warm christmas meal inside their bellies and lots of laughs they will be happy!

mummyslittleboy

robpw2 wrote: »

great standard of living shut in their rooms glued to the goggle box thinking they can ask and get anything they wamt .
maybe its just me but i found that some dissapointment at christmas helps to understand how much things really cost and i always appreciated things more when i worked to pay for them

My children have tv's in there rooms but are not glued to them every minute of the day,and do not get everything they want. We all have our own way of doing christmas and how much we can/cannot spend on our kids, I used to have a very good standard of living but the last couple of years have had to be a bit more careful the kids arent disappointed at christmas and thats what matters to me.
If you can afford to spend £20 or £1000 what does it matter all that matters is that the kids have a good time and everyone enjoys the day and we all keep debt free

Loopylou90322

I think it really depends on what your children already have before you set budgets for them, My daughter is almost 12 & i find every year she is getting more & more expensive, This year shes really wanted a laptop so we did a deal she usually gets £200 from family members in cash so we dealt that she would give me that money towards the laptop & i would put the rest, So i would say this year i have spent on her £400 from me, To be honnest i have never spent so much on her at christmas its usually about £200.00 but this year i will make the exception.

toontron

padd_bear wrote: »

So you brought TVs that your kids arent even likely to really watch? Nice to see your money saving!! Buying things your kids won't really use isnt practical even though you can afford to splash out maybe splasing out on things they need would be wiser.

They don't need anything else, if they need something of course they get it. Nobody is going without anything for them to have these things, this is all budgetted for. They will use the televisions, the point I was trying to get across was that they will be highly unlikely to use them to actually watch television programmes! They work hard in and out of school, and need something to wind down with, DD goes for DVDs (usually ones that she appears in), DS enjoys his consoles, probably the same as millions of other children up and down the country. I am not arguing with you, nor justifying my lifestyle because I don't need to, in actual fact they don't always get what they want, DD has asked for a pony for the last three years but stands no chance of getting one because she is too busy to look after it, let alone ride it.

toontron

Loopylou90322 wrote: »

I think it really depends on what your children already have before you set budgets for them, My daughter is almost 12 & i find every year she is getting more & more expensive, This year shes really wanted a laptop so we did a deal she usually gets £200 from family members in cash so we dealt that she would give me that money towards the laptop & i would put the rest, So i would say this year i have spent on her £400 from me, To be honnest i have never spent so much on her at christmas its usually about £200.00 but this year i will make the exception.

I'm sure she will be thrilled! Laptops and computers are becoming more and more necessary for homework these days aren't they?

Becciboobah

I've spent about a £100 on each of our 3 (ds (3) and my 2 step-daughters (5 and 7)) and that's been perfectly adequate for them and I've got tons and tons of things I know they will really love and play with. My 3 year old is Toy Story obsessed so has Buzz, Woody and Jessie from the Disney Shop at £20 each and jigsaws/'play laptop' (a buzz lightyear one...bargain at £10 on offer)/walkie talkies etc. He'll be thrilled. And lots of girlie things for the girls. Dresses all bought in sales, dolls, craft stuff, a huge bead box, vtech digital camera and 7 year old wanted an MP3 player so got her an iPod Shuffle as an introduction and that was £39. I'm more than happy with that, all paid in cash and no debt. Most of it bought in half price toy sales from September to now. It's also 7 year old's birthday early January and we've decided on a DS as she never asks for anything and when OH was unemployed last year she got relatively little in comparison to her brother and sister who have birthdays in the summer.

I don't neccessarily think it's fair to chastise people for spending more or less, it's each to their own and their own wallets. I agree with whoever works in a school though but find in juniors they are all happy with a box of beads and random stocking fillers but in the Seniors it's ALL about iPods and Uggs :-)