Spill the beans..

rosalie-lavender

Moresby120 wrote: »

At Xmas me, my sister and brother in law and my mum all put in about £10 per person so we all have £50 to spend. Me and DH also get our kids something for £30-40 each. Then they get a stocking which is about another £20. In addition their other Grandma spends about £30 and their other aunt and uncle another £30-40. My niece (6yrs) gets about the same. They get little bits and bobs from some of my friends but we spend more on each others kids birthdays and just little £5 type presents at Xmas. I guess they have about £200 max spent on them from us, the extended family and friends.

I wouldn't judge anyone else for what they spend - none of my business. But what ours get certainly seems plenty enough to keep them very happy. My mum usually makes a remark about children today having so much more than they used to, sometimes implying our kids are a bit spoilt. I will show her this thread as it always makes me so cross when she implies they are spoilt - she has no idea!! I'm sure they have more than she had in wartime and post-war Britain but from what I remember me and my sister had about the same as our kids.

Your Mum should get together with my MIL. We have had the same comment every year for the last 20 years and will doubtless get it again. I work hard and budget hard all year to buy whatever I get for my children and don't appreciate her comments that are always timed so I can hear them.

My grandparents suffered real poverty as children and I am really thankful that we have more to offer our children.

Going back to the OP I think my spending per teenager is going to average out about £120 ish. It is difficult to compare spending between families without taking into account the variables like how much families spend at other times of year and whether Christmas includes clothes etc. I have never included clothes as a Christmas present unless it is something special/expensive. I consider clothes for my children to be a day to day expense not a Christmas present. Likewise computers, we buy our computers as a general household purchase and they are not tied to Christmas. Factor in the cost of clothes and computers then my figure per child would be much higher.

XRAT

I don't spend a penny on our kids! My wife buys the presssies, I'm too busy working...., trying to keep pace with her spending!

happylady_2

I have 4 children aged 11 - 17 and very little money coming in after bills. With this in mind they know father Christmas has a £50 budget for them. Letters are written with a selection of wishes FC can chose from. We all know who FC is but it is an unwritten rule in our house that once "the magic of Father Christmas is not believed in then Christmas will disapear". Family presents range from £5 - £20. I save £50 of saving stamps at Tesco's and the children use this to buy the Christmas Shopping. 4 children a calculator and I treat myself to a coffee whilst they shop. During the year my children have budgets for clothes and shoes. If they want something "special" they pay the difference. My two eldest have weekend jobs and my two youngest save their pocket money doing extra jobs around the house. Birthday budgets are £120. My children use this to orgainise parties and presents. Even at 11 my daughter found cheap bowling for her and her mates with food thrown in and had a pile of presents. at the end of the day my children are money savvy and I don't end up still paying for Christmas in July. :j

radz

We spend about £100 on both of them (they're 13 and 14) and then £10 on stocking fillers. I love how I'm not the only one who buys xmas pj's every year, my family thinks I'm mad! Unfortunately money is tight this year so we've told them the budget and they can then choose items up to that value. As somebody else said it makes them think about it and hopefully appreciate the value of money a bit more! We have a fairly large family so they get plenty from them so I think £100 is a sensible amount.

radz

p.s I am 21 and want still stocking and advent calendar! here's to hoping![/QUOTE]

Haha. I'm 35 and I still want those things too! I've made the OH go out and buy me stocking fillers (although he hates the thought!) I just can't sit there on xmas mornign and not have stocking presents to open! My sister is the same and she's 30 on Boxing Day!

ljjratcliffe

My 19 & 18 year old are getting slightly less this year, both because money is tighter, but also because they're both adults (in the loosest sense of the word). They are getting around £75/100 from me. They also will get from their Dad so it will end up over double that from parents. My littly (6 years old) will get around £100/130, but i'm doubling up on Tesco vouchers...so it might be slightly less in reality.

We will spend about £1000 in all at xmas i'd say. That's pressies, food and any decorations (it's my Birthday xmas eve too so it includes that). We normally would spend up to about £1500 i'd say, so we're cutting back a fair amount this year (mainly on myself and my hubby....we like/d more expensive toys for xmas!).

masonhv

I'm 23 and don't have kids- however my siblings, parents and grandparents see the benefit of this. I LOVE spending time to organise their presents and have found the last few years celebrations to be much more enjoyable. After the years of tat the parents must have recieved from us when we were kids it's nice to give something back after all the years of piles of presents for us! (I tend to club together with siblings to make larger purchases) I'd say that the present piles are pretty much even these days & everyone is in on the present opening enjoyment!

As for me asking for presents- I've tried over the years to explain to relatives that I don't really want for much- if I want or need something I tend to buy it, and so I would prefer stocking filler type things/ practical things.

I know that even to this day, now we are all adults, my mum still panics about whether she has spent the same on all of us and worries that one of us will feel hard done by if our pile is smaller. Saying that- I've never really though about it come the big day and certainly never felt either of my siblings were getting more or less than me.

loopylou2011

Just under 100!!! when I add everything up per child I think this is a lot!!!

jhmaria

not sure how much i spent in the past as I bought stocking (pillowcase) fillers from charity shops, and free gifts with tokens eg andrex, persil, etc. throughout the year.although much of the old stocking fillers never got used- need to sell on! Now teenagers, last year they had laptops but they were birthday pressie /Christmas combined, and didnt get a lot else.and they needed them for school. This year I will try to limit my buget to £50-£70 each in goods/ cards, and stocking fillers of essentials like underwear PJ.s toothbrush, calendar, and the must have - chocolate coins. and then a joint family game, and dvds. but we have never ever been big value spenders, has caused some awkward moments for kids though when their friends buy them more expensive presents though. Rule#1 no tech on Christmas day!

mrsbump

This year we have spent just over £200 on DD (6, 7 in february). But this amount includes little gifts to go in the lovely advent calender MIL made for her the other year (1st year she made and filled it and now it is upto us to fill... lovely idea but financially could do without it!) it also includes DD's pjs for christmas eve and 3 outfits (she just seems to be outgrowing all her clothes at the moment so would have had to have got her some new clothes anyway). Also included is all the bits for her stocking and a little table present and tree presents (a small pressie, she gets one a day from boxing day to new years day - DH's family tradition). This year was probably a little more expensive as all she has asked for is a dsi and some games for it but I have shopped round as much as I could to find the best deal on them but even so that still amounts to 3/4 of the christmas budget. Neices and nephews (6 of them) have about £10-15 spent on them and siblings, parents have between £5-20 spent on them (although the cheaper amounts tend to mean I have made something, ie jewellery or wine glass charms). We also buy for a couple of friends and their children but again nothing too overboard and always look for the best deals (or again make them something). We try to make christmas as special as possible, with the gift of pjs (from the elves) then deliver next doors christmas pressie (biscuits or fudge we've made earlier in the day), sprinkle the reindeer food outside then hot chocolate and cookies on the sofa, snuggled under a duvet whilst we watch a christmas movie before DD goes to bed. DD loves christmas and obviously is excited at the prospect of santa bringing pressies but all she has been going on about all year is watching the movie on the sofa with mummy and daddy (last few years we've either had guests over or been at my parents so haven't been able to do it... this year its just us at home again.)