How much should parents spend on a child for Christmas?

Takingcontrol_2

I think we have spent about £100 maybe on our 22mth old and maybe £150 on our DD who is 4............What has got to me this year is so many other people buying for my children!! And I dont mean family, I mean friends, and I've asked them not to as I cannot afford to return the gesture, but they do anyway! and then I feel bad if I dont buy for theirs! Next year I am certainly going to toughen up!!!! My children, nieces and nephews and thats it! Adults will have to go without!! lol! I'm a scrooge! Or defo will be fore 2011!!!!

LilacPixie

I had a budget of £300 for DD1 and 2 and I am well under that but have so much stuff I think some will be reserved in the loft for birthdays, special treat etc. The glitches board has been invaluble TBH.

george27uk

Me and my partner are in debt by 10,000 (down from 16,500) but we still have managed to get our 3 kids £200 each for xmas. we are not on well payed jobs. my gf works in a shop and im a cleaner 15hrs a week. its amazing when u put up mind to it (ebay) i never did like that stereo, or that exercise bike, oh and that tv we had in the attic. the moneys always there, you just need to look hard enough.

When i was younger, which isnt that long ago, kids still had about 100-200 pounds on them, and that was 15-20 years ago! what did a can of pop cost 20 years ago? 10p? now ur looking at 80p!! what im trying to say is, we cnt get much for our kids with 100 pounds. martin will hate me for saying all this, he thinks a box with baloons in is geat xmas present. i see where he is coming from but kids know what they want these days. and although im in big debt, my kids arent! and they will have what i can give them.

#sorry for the rant

stepharoo

I've spent about £30 on our daughter this year. She's 2 and a half so she doesn't have a clue about money (bodes well for us this year) and I've researched her presents and got her things she'll enjoy playing with that haven't cost us the earth. We've got her a train set from Ikea (compatible with Brio that her grandparents have at their house) that comes in a number of different packages, a couple of jigsaw puzzles and some small stocking fillers. So she'll have loads to unwrap.

pink_princess

We spend £300 each on them,they make a list upto £200 then we buy £100 worth of surprises .I ve just finished christmas shopping and its ridiculous how little they have .They are 15,13,11 and there presents are mobiles etc.Their piles are going to be soooo small. Think i ll give them £50 to go sale shopping with as well.When they were little we just didn t have the money for christmas so they didn t get any where near that spent on them.

laisbojar83

george27uk wrote: »

martin will hate me for saying all this, he thinks a box with baloons in is geat xmas present. i see where he is coming from but kids know what they want these days. and although im in big debt, my kids arent! and they will have what i can give them.

#sorry for the rant

I am going to disagree with that. Kids dont know what they want, kids are kids and they will never know the difference between a primark pair of jeans and GUCCI pair of jeans, for example. A couple of months ago, I watched a programme on tv.. a mother was in serious debt, something like 25k, because her 6yo daughter only wanted to wear designer clothes.. 250 a top!! But clearly, the kid was not born with the idea that designer clothes are a musst have. Her mother taught her that, and in the end had to pay the price.
More than expensive presents, a child wants their parents attention.. reading a book, colouring, painting, making crafts. A trip to the park, a bike ride.
So I dont buy that "Oh kids know what they want these days." Kids follow their parents steps, most of the time - with rare exceptions - and if you show them that xmas is all about a gazillion presents and expensive stuff, thats how they are going to grow up and when comes a time when you cant afford a flashy Christmas, they will not take it well.

pink_princess

george27uk wrote: »

Me and my partner are in debt by 10,000 (down from 16,500) but we still have managed to get our 3 kids £200 each for xmas. we are not on well payed jobs. my gf works in a shop and im a cleaner 15hrs a week. its amazing when u put up mind to it (ebay) i never did like that stereo, or that exercise bike, oh and that tv we had in the attic. the moneys always there, you just need to look hard enough.

When i was younger, which isnt that long ago, kids still had about 100-200 pounds on them, and that was 15-20 years ago! what did a can of pop cost 20 years ago? 10p? now ur looking at 80p!! what im trying to say is, we cnt get much for our kids with 100 pounds. martin will hate me for saying all this, he thinks a box with baloons in is geat xmas present. i see where he is coming from but kids know what they want these days. and although im in big debt, my kids arent! and they will have what i can give them.

#sorry for the rant

Id be worried what lessons this teaches your children .When mine were little I spent what I had on them .£50-£60 on each max ,they were happy content and grateful,now im in a position to spend more on them I do .I hope by doing that im teaching them good money habits,if you can t afford then don t buy.I believe that lesson is more important to teach them than they might be upset if they get less than their peers.My car has just gone and im going to have to get a new one ,so they see me tighten our spending etc .Packed lunches instead of spending etc.We really need to think of the way we teach children the value of money.

kezzygirl

We have spent about £100 on our 20mth old boy and about £200 on our 4yo girl. She has loads! Our son will know no different this year so thats why we havent spent much!

george27uk

i said nothing about designer wear. a few games, 1 large gift (karaoke machine) some stocking fillers ect and it mounts up. they dnt know how much it costs. besides they dnt think it all comes from us so there not learning about money at xmas at there ages. they think alot of it comes from santa. they learn about money when they ask for treats when were shopping or spending money when we are in town. its then when we say no and explain why.

laisbojar83

george27uk wrote: »

i said nothing about designer wear. a few games, 1 large gift (karaoke machine) some stocking fillers ect and it mounts up. they dnt know how much it costs. besides they dnt think it all comes from us so there not learning about money at xmas at there ages. they think alot of it comes from santa. they learn about money when they ask for treats when were shopping or spending money when we are in town. its then when we say no and explain why.

If they are young enough to think Santa brings their gifts, its more reason to agree that they dont understand the value of things yet and even more reason to agree that spending 50 or 300, would make no difference to them.
The designer clothes was just an exmaple.. but you can apply it to pretty much everything, kids dont know any different. 4 gifts or 40 would make no different to them, simply because by the end of Xmas Day everything will be forgotten and they will probably go back to playing with their old toys. Just to make it clear, we are talking about young ones, toddlers - 7/8yo, for example.
Older children, who can understand the value of things, have more reason to understand when a parent can not afford an expensive christmas.