How much do you spend at Xmas on kids?

monty-doggy

My post was merely to see how other people do Xmas with kids. I personally feel that £200 or more which we usually spend doesn't go far but then I'm fuming how much stuff just sits in their bedrooms untouched and I don't want to waste money that we don't really have. I'd much rather scale back and have a family holiday.
At the same time I still want them to have a nice Xmas.

skintchick

We have lovely Christmases. You don;t have to spend lots of money. A few nice gifts are enough for any child. And time with people they love is the best present of all.

tazzyb

FBaby wrote: »

Not judging, we are all different, but £350 on a 2yo? That does leave me speechless. What will they expect when they are in their teens?

I may spend a lot in other peoples eyes. Each of us have very different ideas and budgets and no one is more right then anyone else.

I know I am lucky that I do these mystery visits which results in me getting paid to buy toys. I do at least two a month. I have made the personal decision to keep these toys for Xmas and Birthdays rather then dish the toys out every time I get them.

This year like last, I will be putting over half of his presents away to be brought out over the year. Toys that he stops playing with like this year will be sold on and the money added back to his Christmas and birthday present fund like this year. I will also be asking for clothes from family and friends for his birthday.

What will he expect in his teens? What he will get is what myself and my husband have decided we can afford. What kind of person he is will be controlled by how he is raised, not because we spend what is a lot in some peoples eyes at Christmas.


I got far more that my budget spent on me year after year at Christmas by parents who would get in the debt to do so. Two important points to mention. A) this did not make me an ungrateful brat, a £1 present means as much to me as a £100 one. it has not made me repeat the pattern and get into debt buying for my son. If anything its made me only spend what I can afford.

This topic is always going to be controversial. Spend what you can afford and no more is the only 'right' way to do it in my eyes.

freyasmum

CH27 wrote: »

I just feel that this is a money saving website & people bragging about spending stupid amounts of money can make people who are on their uppers feel very inadequate & may make them slide from their MSE intentions.

But what IS MSE?

Is it spending the absolute bare minimum or everything, or is it saving where you can without detriment to your lifestyle - for example, insurances, food, car payments, card payments (0% cards and stoozing), broadband packages, phone contracts, and so on and so forth. Doing this maximises the money that I have leftover to spend on whatever I want.

Certainly no one was bragging or showing off; they were answering a question. As has been said so many times before, you do not need to spend an absolute fortune to have a fantastic Christmas.

Everyone has different priorities - the world would be a boring place if everyone were the same!

mum2one

Dumbe wrote: »

Sorry but you bought a laptop, blackberry ds and 3d ds for a one year old? Seriously

I have one child, shes nearly 12..........

I wouldnt be that daft to get a 1 yr old that list, the lsit has been brought over a few bdays/xmas x

Shelldean

mum2one wrote: »

I have one child, shes nearly 12..........

I wouldnt be that daft to get a 1 yr old that list, the lsit has been brought over a few bdays/xmas x

But in your original post you said 1 year old....obviously a typo not you've explained.

But it caused confusion lol lol

moomoomama27

skintchick wrote: »

We have lovely Christmases. You don;t have to spend lots of money. A few nice gifts are enough for any child. And time with people they love is the best present of all.

Ditto the same, and we do spend a lot!

The day is about spending quality time and having a lovely time doing so! Having a larger budget to spend doesn't mean that people don't value time as a family!!

Spendless

My kids have had wildly varying amounts spent on them by us as Christmas presents as I explained in a previous post. They haven't even noticed! They've never asked for an expensive present 'just because' the other years were more extravagant. I might ask them for ideas, if I'm unsure what to get them, if it was out of budget then that'd be told it was out of the question. Probably the only year eldest knew how much our present to him cost, was the year he had the trip because he knew how much I'd told his friends parents it would cost if they wanted to go and how much individual tickets were. He's not asked for it replicating since and he's a teen, not an oblivious tot to how much things cost.

I also think it makes a difference if they are receiving presents from other people. I worked out yesterday that 9 different households buy presents for my kids at Christmastime. For several years we reduced the quantity of presents we bought them for this reason.

FBaby

What will he expect in his teens? What he will get is what myself and my husband have decided we can afford. What kind of person he is will be controlled by how he is raised, not because we spend what is a lot in some peoples eyes at Christmas.

I think all what you described makes perfect sense from an economical point of view and I agree that as long as you don't get into debts (or do with less of essential things to make up for it), there are no issues from that perspective. But I can't help think that children only know what they get and see and that ultimately builds a sense of expectation that they consider to be normal as they have never known any different.

Grateful and appreciative children become in selfish, demanding and totally ungrateful teenagers (as I am discovering), but I think that this is even more apparent with teenagers who were spoilt as children. It is human nature to always want more, so when they had much more to start with already, why wouldn't consider that they are entitled to yet more as they years go by?

I do agree that everyone is different, and not all spoilt children (as materialistically spoilt) will grow into spoilt teenagers (as in, acting like brats) and vice versa but I think that the chances are much higher that they will become so.

1DayAAT

It really depends on what they ask for / need in terms of a big present, and then a few smaller things just to open. Last DS (16) really did need a new laptop, so we managed to get him that for joint Christmas & birthday (his birthday on december 17) and this was a bit more than we'd usually spend so DS (13) had roughly £200 of presents, bits and pieces she'd asked for, makeup, clothes, vouchers - just to make it fair. This year we have a 3rd little person in the equation but he's still young enough not to be too BOVVERED.

Thankfully our kids are very grateful and don't expect a lot so we like to treat them if possible but they would understand that it's not a 'given'.