*sigh* this may take a while

savingholmes

I adjust our xmas spend to the budget available. I tend to aim for £100 for our two kids and get to around £130 in practice and then aim for £20 or less for most people with the exception of DH and parents. As time has gone on and kids grown up - dropped off list. Don't buy for parents of the kids... I still usually have 20+ people to buy for

ohdearhowdidthathappen

savingholmes wrote: »

I adjust our xmas spend to the budget available. I tend to aim for £100 for our two kids and get to around £130 in practice and then aim for £20 or less for most people with the exception of DH and parents. As time has gone on and kids grown up - dropped off list. Don't buy for parents of the kids... I still usually have 20+ people to buy for

OH and I don't buy for each other... so we buy for 8, our 5 children and the 3 grandparents, I think I've got the recipients as low as I can :rotfl: I'm impressed you can buy your childrens' gifts for £130, I struggle at £200, I can think of endless things they'd like and really have to rein in. I know we're budgeting, but Christmas is an area I struggle with budgeting.
I could probably spend less on the 3 grandparents, but because they're buying for the children, I don't like to scrimp too much.

Mega whinge alert,,,, the grandparents are all mega lazy with gifts and I do all their shopping for my kids for them. grrrr, !!!!es me off every year! That's an extra 15 presents I have to think of and order! FIL expects them wrapped too, he always looks interested when kids are opening as he has NO CLUE what he's bought them. My MIL always finds something to criticise.... ie oh, child 1 has one gift, whereas the others have got 2 or oh, child 3's gift has a bigger box than the others. My favourite is when she searches a few weeks later and comments that x store has a present for £5 cheaper than I've told her I got it!! Arrrrgggghhhh. I actually told her last year that I wasn't going to do it anymore as I found it insulting that she went around after price matching. She properly grovelled and tried to back track. I'm debating this year, leaving them to do it. Just send them links to suggestions. They're all perfectly tech savvy.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

That turned into a proper rant there :rotfl:

clearmydebts

ohshithowdidthathappen wrote: »

That turned into a proper rant there :rotfl:

I'm not surprised that's a lot of presents to get!

Drawingaline

Lol, don't blame you! I often end up buying things and giving them to my sister and mum to wrap up, and sister does the same. Mainly because my mum has a habit of buying the thing I have asked for, bilut just slightly different. Which with the wierd one does not go down well.

I aim at around £100 per child, but this year te girl will get quite a bit more and the smaller two a bit less. I am not the sort of person who has to make it equal, the wierd one reallnever wants much, or it's often really cheap stuff and I am not buying things for the sake of it. I can't buy clothes as he gets very upset about that (apparently they are rubbish presents!) which can make it all a bit harder too. He doesn't read books, and atm his interest is just roblox. I am sure he will ask for something completely random at the beginning of December. Last year I ended up buying a plush snake toy for £20 and then paying £30 to ship it from America :rotfl: but he loves it so its worth it.

Honeysucklelou2

Christmas gets expensive here (8 children) but I tend to spend more on birthdays and less at Christmas which they know. £50 per child has been the average figure...one year they had all got into Dad's Army, so I got the full set of DVDs and various memorabilia ! That was an easy year!!

[Deleted User]

8 children :eek:

XSpender

I have one DS on whom we spend about £250. Last year was more like £350 but he got a sw1tch and rugby kit and not much else. The kit I would have had to buy anyway.;) When DH was a boy his parents were on a very low income and he hardly got anything for Christmas. He always remembers the year he and his significantly younger brother got a gift to share which wasn't a sharing kind of gift and not really suitable for DH. He always wants DS to have a lot at Christmas. DS gets a lot less spent on him at his birthday, £100 tops.

We only buy token gifts for my mum, step dad and 1 set of friends, gifts for their 2 kids and a larger gift, about £40 each, for DH parents. We do have a bigger family but don't buy for siblings, Dad and step mum, grown up nieces and nephews. We buy a gift for each other, usually something for me I need like boots or perfume with a couple of small surprises for me but DH likes to get presents at Christmas, again going back to when he was little.

[Deleted User]

We tend to spend around £150 on our son, £30-50ish on each other, and around £15-20 each for parents and nieces and nephews. We have 5 nieces and nephews so it still adds up!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Christmas gets expensive here (8 children) but I tend to spend more on birthdays and less at Christmas which they know. £50 per child has been the average figure...one year they had all got into Dad's Army, so I got the full set of DVDs and various memorabilia ! That was an easy year!!

Wow, 8! I feel like a slacker now :rotfl: that must take some coordination!

XSpender wrote: »

I have one DS on whom we spend about £250. Last year was more like £350 but he got a sw1tch and rugby kit and not much else. The kit I would have had to buy anyway.;) When DH was a boy his parents were on a very low income and he hardly got anything for Christmas. He always remembers the year he and his significantly younger brother got a gift to share which wasn't a sharing kind of gift and not really suitable for DH. He always wants DS to have a lot at Christmas. DS gets a lot less spent on him at his birthday, £100 tops.

We only buy token gifts for my mum, step dad and 1 set of friends, gifts for their 2 kids and a larger gift, about £40 each, for DH parents. We do have a bigger family but don't buy for siblings, Dad and step mum, grown up nieces and nephews. We buy a gift for each other, usually something for me I need like boots or perfume with a couple of small surprises for me but DH likes to get presents at Christmas, again going back to when he was little.

Haha, I find myself collecting things I would have bought them anyway and adding them to the Christmas pile. I totally get the compensating for lack of presents as children, not to the same extent as your DH though. My parents always tried their best to make Christmas special and try to do the same for mine, but my OH parents divorced when he was young.
He always says his mum went for quantity over quality, so he'd ask for a game he desperately wanted and instead she'd spend the same amount of money on 20 little gifts so they had more gifts to open, but he'd end up sad that he didn't get the 1 gift he actually was hoping for. His Dad was indifferent and would leave gift buying to his new wife who didn't really know what OH would like. Sad what lingers in little boys memory

Moguline wrote: »

We tend to spend around £150 on our son, £30-50ish on each other, and around £15-20 each for parents and nieces and nephews. We have 5 nieces and nephews so it still adds up!

Yes, all those 'little' amounts add up

Next Christmas, my mission is to have Christmas present fund ready and waiting for November/December!!