How much do you spend on each of your kids at Yule/Xmas.

ashli_2

£50 + stocking fillers at Christmas, less at birthdays. In fact this birthday we have only spent about £20, but still got him a present that he will get a lot out of. I shop around and buy second hand where I can, so I get a lot for my money. He is only almost three...that's plenty, I think!!!


For each other, me and OH spend very little- £10, £20 max. But we buy nice food and drink for Christmas and spend the holidays doing nice things together...a much better way to spend the money, I think.

wehttam

I spend 200 on both of my boys 4 & 6.

redmel1621

I have been reading this thread with tears in my eyes as this year I am so skint, my boys birthdays are in Oct & Nov (mine and Dh also Oct & Nov) with birthdays and christmas quite close I do struggle but this year has been really bad in one way or another. I will have barely £20-£30 for each of their birthdays and nothing aside yet for christmas I am hoping to have £80ish between them (although this is probably a bit optimistic). Normally I would only manage about £70-£80 each anyway But things are so expensive for kids now and I really feel like I am letting them down this year. I know a few of their friends come from well off families and will probably be spending (like some of the other posters here) huge amounts of money.
Mel x

Alikay

redmel1621 wrote: »

I have been reading this thread with tears in my eyes as this year I am so skint, my boys birthdays are in Oct & Nov (mine and Dh also Oct & Nov) with birthdays and christmas quite close I do struggle but this year has been really bad in one way or another. I will have barely £20-£30 for each of their birthdays and nothing aside yet for christmas I am hoping to have £80ish between them (although this is probably a bit optimistic). Normally I would only manage about £70-£80 each anyway But things are so expensive for kids now and I really feel like I am letting them down this year. I know a few of their friends come from well off families and will probably be spending (like some of the other posters here) huge amounts of money.
Mel x

Awww, don't worry! You can still have a great christmas on that amount! Just enjoy all the simple stuff...watching the films on TV together, playing board games, going for a night-time walk past all the christmassy lit-up houses..etc etc. When your boys go back to school in January, once the first couple of hours of "what did you get for christmas" are over, they'll not care at all!

CharlieandAlice

my hubby likes to set a £100 budget for each of our 4 kids and i always blow it lol, so this year when he was having a moan i suggested we set a budget of £150 and i'ved promised not to exceed it which he is happy with.

Have to say i will be going by actual value of the goods rather than the price i actually paid though, for example 2 of the kids want mobile phones costing £99 and £109 but i've managed to get both for £54 and £57 using the offer codes for littlewoods and great universal. So i save money rather than the kids will get more. 15 yr old son wants ghds, so i'm trying to find an offer code for them now.

I'm also cutting back on the food and alcohol this year as well. I always buy way to much and most doesnt' even get opened till the new year, in fact i still have a large luxury christmas pudding in the pantry which cost 12quid so won't need to buy one this year (good job they have a long date).

sarah*a

I guess we spend about £100 on DD - but 90% of it is with vouchers from pigsback, consumer pulse etc - and we then have an 'outing' - usually the theatre. I start buying in Jan and get bits through the year.

Birthday - about £20 - and we have a family tradition that at least one pressie will be a 2nd hand book - and only the 'main' pressie gets wrapped in nice paper - the rest are in newspaper. Having said that - she's 13 this year and we have agreed to a party - which is adding up!!

nieces/nephews etc get no more than a tenner - usually less

brothers/sisters with kids - upto a fiver per couple - haven't beaten last years bargain of £1.26 tho!!

brother/sisters without kids - no more than £15 - equals out that way

Parents - varies - I try to keep it reasonable but OH can go over the top on his parents - I've beaten him to it this year and have already bought his mothers gift - £7.99 in WHSmith sale :rotfl:

We are quite lucky really - OH gets 'points' at work throughout the year which we use to buy things with - one year we got all our xmas pressies with his points - this year we've changed them into debenham vouchers which we will do the rest of parents with and some bits for DD. He also gets incentive prizes such as perfume/dvd's which we put away for xmas and birthdays. So someone might get a gift that would cost £30/40 - but cost us nothing.

I love christmas - especially as it hardly costs me anything these days

:cool:

moneysavingmumofone

johnswife wrote: »

i am 1 of 6 children and I never felt growing up hard done by at Christmas.
We would have 1 main present e.g. a dolly then colouring book & crayone/paints and my dad's sock at the end of the bed with orange, apple & choc.
When I think back to my childhood every Christmas was wonderful.
We never expected anything big or asked and was never disappointed.

My OH is terrible at Christmas and completely spoils our 3 daughters (now 14,16,17). i am always the one saying thats it, we have bought enough now and the week before /Christmas he will keep coming home with presents he has bought as extras.

I am one of 7 and never felt hard done by either. My mum was on benefits but we always had great presents and most importantly a lovely family atmosphere

lucrecia_595

I was one of three, and my parents were also on benefits. Even though we probably had no more than £50 spent on each of us, Christmas was the very highlight of my year and I enjoyed every second of. It never even crossed my mind that I had gone without.

As I only have one young daughter and not alot of family, I tend to spend around £200 in the run up to Christmas on her. I think it's more for my enjoyment rather than hers! Me and my bf only spend about £30 on each other because we spend more on the shopping and stuff for that Christmassy atmosphere.

For those of you that feel you are letting yourselves down this Christmas, don't think for one second that it will affect your childrens Christmas experience. I completely agree with what Alikay has said.

Just remember, Christmas is what you make of it

Joto_2

Too much!!!
We don't have a budget and each year depends on what they want or we think they need.
But, I do think the more you earn the less you actually spend. A couple of years ago a couple of my friends were very wealthy and lived in houses worth over a million pounds but they only spent about £50, one large pressie about £30/£40 and stocking fillers. There was also a TV programme a couple of years ago looking at the same thing and why some people go into debt. The general thought was people on a low income feel guilty because they can't spend more and so over compensate so their children don't feel deprived and they don't feel guilty. The more wealthy didn't have that guilt complex because they could if they wanted buy anything and didn't have anything to prove and consequently didn't feel the need to buy lots and lots of expensive things.
But, I still can't help myself. I love Christmas and can and do spend far too much. I've also learnt that the earlier I start the more I buy so this year I'm not starting until the beginning of December unless...........

milkydrink

redmel1621 wrote: »

I have been reading this thread with tears in my eyes as this year I am so skint, my boys birthdays are in Oct & Nov (mine and Dh also Oct & Nov) with birthdays and christmas quite close I do struggle but this year has been really bad in one way or another. I will have barely £20-£30 for each of their birthdays and nothing aside yet for christmas I am hoping to have £80ish between them (although this is probably a bit optimistic). Normally I would only manage about £70-£80 each anyway But things are so expensive for kids now and I really feel like I am letting them down this year. I know a few of their friends come from well off families and will probably be spending (like some of the other posters here) huge amounts of money.
Mel x

I know I do spend a lot, but I have only got the one (fertility problems). That's why I spoil her.

I think you are really lucky to have two children.

I would rather have to spread my cash over two, than spoil one. But we weren't that lucky.

You will have a great Christmas, they present opening is just a little part of Xmas morning. Theirs a lot more to a good family Xmas than the half hour opening presents.
The actual Christmas Lunch is my faviourite bit.

Happy Christmas:grouphug: