Spill the beans..

Always_after_a_bargin

I have spent a good 200 quid on my youngest, but there is at least a good 500 quids worth. My oldest has had around 150 quids worth of stocking fillers but her main present is a i pad so she aint had as much stocking fillers this year. Her stocking has been made up of books,cds, clothes, smellies,ps3 games etc. So sounds alot but i have had some massive bargins and glitches and good offers. Years ago i would go mad and it would mostly be on credit and i got into alot of debt. This was before i discovered martin lewis and hot deals, Now i can still buy my kids as much as i always have but i can honestly say not one thing has been on credit, I have looked for deals and codes for each individual present and i have saved hundreds. I have spent about 700 quid on the kids in total. It is alot and i have always been like it with the kids. They dont tend then to get alot through the year apart from their birthdays etc. I always go mad with presents, food, decs etc. I save through the year aswell with park, tesco top up, clubcard, quidco etc. Also plan in jan next year to put money away too in a saving account every month so i will be alot more organised next year!

BettiePage

Always_after_a_bargin wrote: »

Years ago i would go mad and it would mostly be on credit and i got into alot of debt. This was before i discovered martin lewis and hot deals, Now i can still buy my kids as much as i always have but i can honestly say not one thing has been on credit, I have looked for deals and codes for each individual present and i have saved hundreds.

And that is the main thing. It doesn't matter whether we spend £20 or £2,000 on our kids as long as we can afford to do it without getting into debt.

Sprog will have £100 cash and a few small stocking fillers. Plus a(nother) driving test fee paid for him.

Tuttifruitty_Theresa

actually_2006 wrote: »

Sorry, doesn't seem to let me quote (or maybe I just haven't worked it out yet)

Anyway, Kippers said

"I wish we could spend more on them, but if they moan about not having more expensive things for xmas or birthdays, i give them the choice of me going out to work (coming home to an empty house after school, going to childcare in hols and no more friends round or hockey clubs after school, homemade cakes breads biscuits etc etc) or a limited budget on presents and me at home for them...they always choose the way we are lol

(My dd's are 11 & 13 yrs old)"

This made me so mad I had to register and post!

I cannot see how 11 and 13 year old children are a reason not to work. You don't want to work. Fine, each to their own. But to tell your daughters such a pack of lies. I work full time as does my husband. My daughter has never had a ready meal in her life, she loves after school club, she has never missed out on seeing friends or doing activities, we also make cakes and bread.

My daughter is being brought up to believe that she be anything she wants when she grows up. (she's unsure at the moment whether she wants to be a police officer, prime minister or the tooth fairy). You are telling your daughters that they have to choose between working and bringing children up properly. Shame on you.

You even think what you are doing is funny with your "lol". You really should be ashamed of yourself.

Anyway, rant over and back to the question.

My daughter is probably getting about £100-£150 spent on her this christmas. I thought this was quite a lot until I read this thread! She is only 5 and also gets quite a bit spent on her by grandparents.

I remember two years ago when the big wooden dolls house was ignored and all she wanted to do was sit in the box and pretend it was a racing car. She has played with it loads since but it was rather annoying on the day. We also had lots of fun making the box into a racing car - wow us working parents even do art stuff with our children!

Actually it's shame on you for being so rude!

When we were that age my brother said the same to my mum, she gave us the same answer as kippers and my brother chose my mum staying at home and looking after us. I will be doing the same with my children, staying at home to look after them as I cannot for the life of me understand why people have children and stick them in before and after clubs for 10 hours a day or more. But this is my own personal opinion which we are all entitle to, what we're not entitled to is being rude to other members!

As for the question I spend as much as I can afford without going overboard, which will be about £50.

Valli

Fascinating thread.

My ex husband (when he was still here) used to say (on xmas eve usually) that he hoped the kids had a good pile of presents to open. Well, thanks to me and my family they usually did.
After he left he'd stick £20 in a card each for them and write on the card 'I hope you get lots of presents for xmas' - this annoyed me no end since he didn't even buy 1 gift. Eventually I told him that if he wanted the kids to have lots of presents he ought to buy some.

Result?

He stopped writing that on the cards!

Incidentally my son told me a couple of years back that the best thing about xmas is the family get-togethers we have and he wouldn't mind NOT having gifts at all!

actually_2006

"Actually it's shame on you for being so rude!

When we were that age my brother said the same to my mum, she gave us the same answer as kippers and my brother chose my mum staying at home and looking after us. I will be doing the same with my children, staying at home to look after them as I cannot for the life of me understand why people have children and stick them in before and after clubs for 10 hours a day or more. But this is my own personal opinion which we are all entitle to, what we're not entitled to is being rude to other members!

As for the question I spend as much as I can afford without going overboard, which will be about £50."


I am not getting in to a working/stay at home debate. As I said, each to their own.

My problem clearly wasn't with people not working, it was with someone who tells their children a load of old rubbish about how terrible it will be for them if their mother works. Also, the fact that impressionable children are being told they have to choose between being a good mother and working.

pinklipy

Totally agree with you 'actually2006' :-)

silaren

I have a budget of approximately £10 per child. Don't have children of my own but do have children I buy for. My nephew is going to get a smaller budget of around £5 because he's only a toddler, I've already given him a present recently after a trip away and he'll be getting lots of presents from other people - I don't want to get into feeling like I'm having to compete. He and his parents will also be moving house shortly so I'd imagine they'd rather not have another expensive bulky gift to deal with.

I'm trying to get most of my presents by redeeming Amazon gift certificates and other vouchers, which I've collected via surveys.

lovecrafting

I havr three kids (8,7 and 4) plus my husband has three so six in total to buy for plus family etc.

this year i have asked all adults not to buy for myself or hubby as we canot afford to buy them gifts (i have however got mother in law and my mum a few bits and turned them into hampers) i have selection boxes (mr t glitch) for each of the kids, a doll for dd3 and a little purse for each of them, i do intend to go and spend around 20 each on a toy or some books plus they will each get pyjamas thats all we can afford, last year they had more toys than you can shake a stick at but we can only do what we can do, were struggling to eat nevermind buy presents for the sake of it, if i can make gifts i will.

tigger66_3

I have 5 children and have had to put a limit on how much I spend, I spend £100 on each (but always go over) 2 of the kids also have partners and I also have a grand daughter so this time of the year is always expensive but apart from the amount christmas costs the most importnat thing to all my family is to all be together and we would sacrifice all the present for this to happen !

masterlumps

my spend this year on main pressies - for the 10 year old 130, 8 year old 160 and 1 year old 22 quid

then other presents which add up to about 120 for each one of them, although little one not so much he is happy with paper lol


can honestly say i am in shock that in this thread i read someone includes their sons school uniform as part of their christmas