How much do you spend on your adult children at Christmas?

oldtractor

We have a maximum £25 per person. We only buy max 5 presents,the grown up children and young grandchild, each other. This year its come in way under budget.:j We are low waged. I dont expect the £25 to increase ever,it will stay the same and inflation will decrease its value.

Flibsey

me and hubby get £40 between us from my parents. mum wanted to make it £60 but I wouldn't let her. this year she combined my birthday fund (£30-£40 ish) with mine and hubby's combined xmas fund to get us a second hand Kenwood Chef. we're both in awe and so pleased!

lizimuffin

booklover wrote: »

Hello

I am interested in how much people spend on Christmas presents for their grown up children.

I have two sons aged 26 and 20 and will probably spend about £130 on each of them.

I know its different for every family but I think there comes a time when smaller more reasonably priced gifts (£30? ) should be acceptable. I feel that as adults they shouldnt be making demands from me for presents of such costs... :mad:

Looking forward to reading your replies.

Fiona :A

I always tell my mum not to bother as she does not have much money, but she always does anyway! I know that she usually spends about £20 on both of us.

purple.sarah

I don't have an adult child but I am one and I think my mum spends about £50 each on me and my brother.

You're making a rod for your own back. You brought them up and you're spending £260 :eek: on Christmas presents for them. They can't make you spend that much, if you don't want to then stop. Tell them they're grown up and you can't afford to keep spending so much. They're old enough to know that Santa doesn't bring the presents and that you have to make sacrifices for them, they should respect that. Then look at all the nice ideas on this forum for thoughtful gifts that don't cost lots.

lauroar

I think my mum and dad usually spend £75 - £150 on me and my brother (24 and 20) which includes our 'main' present and a stocking. However, this year my Dad has bought us both laptops (we are both studying and both our computers are knackered-- we had both been saving and will give our Dad what we had saved up). To be honest I felt uncomfortable about it when my Dad told me, as I felt that was a ridiculous present to get for grown-up children, I had asked for a nice set of hairbrushes for xmas which I would have been more than happy with. He was however insistent, so I felt it would have been ruder to reject the offer.

I think you should be spending what YOU feel comfortable with, not what they 'demand' from you!!

jackieb

I have 3 sons, 27, 23 and 19yo and a 16yo daughter. I try to spend the same on them all - about £130-£150. Sometimes they might get less, sometimes more. My eldest son has a girlfriend and her parents always give my son such good presents - maybe about £500 between them at Christmas (they live together) - or £100 in a card for his birthday. I can't stretch to this but I have spent about £100 on my son's g/f's present.

No-one demands anything. In fact I have to practically force it out of them so I have some kind of idea what they might like. I asked my eldest what he wanted and he told me there was a game he was thinking of buying, season 5 of Dexter, or another couple of dvd's. He said just to get one as it was too much but I got them all - and a drill and M&S pants.

ceebeeby

My mum has told me she's not even sending me a card because they're too expensive.

(It might be a bit difficult for her however, as she's on holiday over Xmas ... I am pleased however, that she managed to receive my gift - I was a bit worried as I sent it to one of her three homes)!

I've spent a fortune on all my adult / teen kids (whoops) - I refuse to even tell my DH how much I've spent because he'll go nuts!

Philippa36

I have spent about £250 each on both my adult children - 19 and 22. DD is at university and DS going through the process of applying to Sandhurst and working part time in a bar.

When they are both working then I will spend less but at the moment I can afford it and they don't ask for much but really appreciate their gifts. They do tend to be a mix of useful items, with a couple of luxuries thrown in.

katyboo123

My Mam spends about £100 each on my Sister (24) and I (27), and my Dad (they are divorced) spends about the same again, maybe a little more as he doens't have a partner to buy for. I've spent the last 3 or 4 years asking them not to spend so much on me, but we have an agreement that none of us gets in to debt for Xmas, so if one year they couldn't afford that, then they simply (I hope!) wouldn't spend it.

I think I was aware of my parents financial status when I was very young, I was never 'allowed' a pair of Nike trainers (I had awful sensible ones from Clarks - which probably cost more!!!!) so then, when I was 13 I got a special work permit from the Town Hall and started a little Saturday job. Within 4 weeks, I'd saved enough to buy my Nike trainers. Then I bought my own school uniform, regardless of their protests and have been very self-sufficient ever since.

But I think that my parents partly do it because they get pleasure out of it. Since my sister had her little boy, they've cut back slightly as they have one more head to buy for.

I think whatever you can afford and what makes you happy and never gets you in to debt is what you SHOULD spend. You'll need to pitch it to them and sit them down and explain the cut backs though - or they will continue to ask for stuff (keeping in mind what you've USUALLY spent on them!). If they are 'adult' as you say, then they should understand.

Good luck and Merry Christmas x

jemb

In turn though, how much do we all spend on the long suffering parentals? We've gone a bit silly this year as they have been far too good with us, helping pay the biggest chunk of wedding, lending us money for half our house deposit, so we've prob spent £350 between them. We usually spend around £100 for them both.