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Ipad mini and nothing else?

37 replies

Dontletthemgetyoudown · 23/10/2013 12:27

DD1 is 7 (march birthday) and has been asking for an ipad mini for months now. I have explained to her that if she wants it for Christmas that she can but that will be it. MY budget per child is maximum of £250 (I have 4 dc). I can get this in budget as have JL discount so would leave about £15 to buy a couple of extra bits.

My question is does that seem really mean?

She would get the stocking which we say is rom father Christmas for the younger ones and mummy and daddy buy the other presents and fc delivers them. The stocking contains small items such as xmas socks, stickers, chocolate lollipop, pens pencils, maybe a magazine or small book.

She will also get lots of presents from relatives and friends.

My main concern is that it wont look much when her older brothers and younger sister are opening probably twice as many presents. the boys will have 5 or 6 presents, ps3 games, Hollister/superdry etc hoodie as they are teens and her sister is younger and so has a dolls pram baby annabell, garage with cars.

Is she old enough to understand or should I break the budget and spend £30-40 on other stuff she loves such as a handbag, purse, monster high doll.

The budget is there for fairness not for affordability, also I am not comfortable with spending thousands on each child for no reason other than its Christmas.

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busylizzie76 · 23/10/2013 12:30

This is exactly what is happening in my house too. My 7 year old wants ipad mini. I've said well it's that and nothing else OR you sell some of your toys and contribute towards the ipad.....he has agreed to sell his DS3d and his old bike.....that should cover about 60-70 quid of it so that he'll get some other gifts too. Would that work for you?

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wonderingsoul · 23/10/2013 12:31

it its absolutly fine as long as she realizes that is all she will get..and im sure most 7 year old will be able to get that, mine would.

how ever, if you did want to get something else. i would just get a a doll..or even buy a board game for the family but get her to unwrap it?

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ouryve · 23/10/2013 12:32

Does it have to be an iPad? A good android tablet would come in under £200 and many of the same games and apps are available.

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Gemsky1234 · 23/10/2013 12:33

I think she is at the age where she will (or will have to start) realising that certain things cost a lot of pennies in comparison to other things so if that's what she wants fine she can have it but that will be it bar her stocking! I'd have a chat with her once more (maybe show her the price, not so she knows how much it is but to compare the price against other things) and if she accepts this then get it her and wrap it nicely, maybe with a bow etc so it takes longer?! Or have it set up so she can play it right away whilst the others continue to open presents! My girls are 5yrs apart do you can imagine the present size difference from the toddler to the 7yr old! Hth x

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 23/10/2013 12:33

ah yes the virtually unused 3ds and games could be sold! although have just seen the new ipad mini is out on the 1st November and is £319 eeek, so with JL discount is £279 Sad The boys both have ipads latest version, well until 1st November and she is always trying to steal those off of them. Would it really matter if it was the older version?

Thanks for the idea re selling the 3ds, I will put that to her this evening.

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WallyBantersJunkBox · 23/10/2013 12:37

It was the same here - DS just wanted an iPad.

We have looked into the Hudl and my husband (Head of IT so a critical super geek Grin) was super keen on it. So we showed DS and he really likes it. It will do everything an 8 yo needs.

There are some very good comparison discussions online and it's well rated. The screen is better resolution than the iPad mini, it has a port for extra memory, camera etc and you can plug into your TV. It's an android device - a lot of free and cheaper apps.

With this we can afford to get him a few other bits, and at £120 if he has an accident it won't completely be the end of the world. The way I see kids dragging iPads around and banging the screens makes me feel a bit queasy about sinking too much money into one.

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Floralnomad · 23/10/2013 12:42

Is it vital that you balance the budgets ,I've never bothered with my children I just figure that it will even itself out over the years . I generally have balanced the number of presents rather than the money .

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Branleuse · 23/10/2013 13:12

one decent present is much better than 250 quids worth of stuff they wont play with for long

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exexpat · 23/10/2013 13:19

Is it specifically the ipad mini she wants, or would she be happy with, say, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3? That is basically the same as an ipad mini, except that it runs Android, and (unlike the ipad mini) you can expand the memory with a microSD card, so get it up to 64GB without paying a ridiculous price.

The only thing it couldn't do is Apple-specific things like facetime. But if she basically wants it for games, watching video clips/TV or using as a kindle etc, then it would be fine (DD may well be getting one for Christmas).

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 23/10/2013 13:56

I have looked at others with her, I have a nexus 7 and a kindle fire hd, both of which she plays on but it I the ipad mini she wants, she doesn't even want the full 10inch ipad, just the mini. she generally uses my tablet for bbc iplayer, youtube and a few games, she likes a game whereby you run a fashion boutique and dr panda.

I still have time to wait, I just didn't want to struggle to buy one as it gets closer to Christmas.

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LadyMacbethIsBored · 23/10/2013 14:03

I think the old iPad Mini will come down in price once the new one is released.

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fuzzpig · 23/10/2013 22:26

If you do end up getting one I would go for the current/soon to be 'old' one. I really doubt that a 7yo would even notice let alone be bothered by it not being the newest most expensive model. And I bet the new one will be a right bugger to get hold of when it's released.

I don't think it is at all mean to say she basically wouldn't get anything else - I also don't go for spending the exact same amount on each child but an iPad is a huge amount and she is old enough to appreciate that it costs loads more than regular toys.

However I wonder if she doesn't really get what you're saying (basically if you get the iPad you don't get toys) in an abstract sense - would it be better to put it in terms of specific things - what are her favourite toys, say playmobil/lego/dolls or whatever, so it would be a more tangible example? I know my 6yo DD would be ecstatic to receive an iSomethingorother to herself, but she'd be sad to miss out on stuff she can actually play with.

Mind you if she gets plenty from others maybe it's a moot point and actually it really won't matter that you don't buy her anything else - I only have a tiny family with virtually no presents from anyone but us/my parents so I'm viewing it differently I guess.

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CrotchStitch · 24/10/2013 08:37

I would go for it- DS is 9 and having the new xbox this year and "nothing else" :o
He is perfectly aware what that means and understands that the xbox is mega money expensive. He could have lots of smaller bits instead but his heart is set on the xbox so why try and change it just to spend money on "stuff" he hasn't asked for?
I also agree that within reason you do not need to completely balance the books WRT what you spend on each child (though DS is an only child so it's easy for me to say :o)

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 24/10/2013 08:59

The money thing is more for my older boys. Eg ive told them the maximum budget and if theyd decidee they wanted the ps4 theyd know it would be between the two of them .
.I set the budget as I save throughout the year. But don't always spend it all. Dd2 who is 4 will probably come to jusy undet £100.

Thanks everyone for replying

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WaitMonkey · 24/10/2013 09:42

Can I just hijack to ask a question, please op, what's the fashion boutique app called please ? DD would love that. Thank you. sorry. Thanks

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WaitMonkey · 24/10/2013 09:50

Oh, and did you suggest to your dd she sell her ds to help fund the iPad ? Just curious as to what she said.

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 24/10/2013 12:37

Monkey- Im pretty sure its called fashion story, its a free app and there are a few versions of it. they also do bakery story, disco story, so you can run a bakery or a nightclub, you need to cook items and come back hen they are cooked to display them, same with the clothing one, you order stock according to how many coins you have (from customers buying) and you can make your store bigger, decorate it, get fancier display stands etc. make sure you don't have your password set in the device though as you can buy extra coins and diamonds to buy stuff for your stores.

she did say yes last night and I advertised it on local facebook groups, but this morning she doesn't seem quite so keen to sell it. She's barely used it and I definitely can't see her using it if she has an ipad, so perhaps I should have just sold it and not told her Blush

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WaitMonkey · 24/10/2013 13:29

Thanks for that. Will have a look for dd. It's a shame she's changed her mind. Maybe if someone makes a decent offer she will agree to sell it.

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notso · 24/10/2013 13:53

We are having this with DD but she's 13 so I think it's easier, I managed to use my sisters Tesco discount and she let me buy some club card points off her to make it £200. The bargain thread has meant I've been able to get a lot for the leftover money.
However I'll be totally honest when DD was 7 she really wanted an iPod touch which at the time was about £250, DH and I thought long and hard about it but decided it was just too much so she didn't get one. She got one when she was 10, I felt she could appreciate the value of it more then.
I think we 'do' Father Christmas differently to lot's of people though. Here Mums and Dads only buy for non-believers so everything except friends and family presents are from him. Our DC write massive lists and they get a few things from the list and some surprises, so far no-one has ever been bothered when he didn't bring a particular thing.

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OneLittleToddleTerror · 24/10/2013 14:26

Even if she really wants an ipad, does it have to be the latest one? The old one is now £249. Have to agree that the hudl is very very good.

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 24/10/2013 19:20

She has an ipod touch. My brother gave it to her when he brought the new version. She rarely remembers to charge it and moans the screen is too small.

It doesn't have to be the latest model my only concern is the rumours that Apple will stop supplying updates for older models. Any truthin that? Will we be stuck in 2-3 yrs time unable to update or download new apps?

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wonderingsoul · 24/10/2013 19:47

they do stop doing updates for the first gen i m pretty sure you will have at least 3-4 years worth there

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fuzzpig · 24/10/2013 20:06

I have a first gen regular iPad that still works great and can have most games on there (barring a few requiring camera/gyroscope) so as even the first iPad mini is much more recent than that, I'm sure it'll be fine!

If she doesn't remember to charge the iPod, and doesn't play with the DS, are you sure she would really play with an iPad mini once the novelty had worn off?

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Dontletthemgetyoudown · 25/10/2013 08:21

She doesn't use the ipod or the ds as shes always stealing ds' s ipad Grin

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Ragwort · 25/10/2013 08:24

Of course it's fine although amazed at the amount you spend on Christmas presents for your children

My DS (much older than your DD Grin) wanted a PS3 last Christmas and understood he had to put half towards it and that was all he got from us, he was delighted.

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