Penny chew? Bag of crisps for 5p? What did you splurge your pocket money on when you were a DC? Share your memories of all things pocket money with Santander - you could win £250*! DRAW NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Santander have asked us to find out from Mumsnetters what you spent your precious pocket money on back when they were a kid. They'd also like to know how much you used to get versus how much you give your DC now.

Cast your minds back to the time when a packet of crisps was 5p/ 10p/ 20p/ cheaper than they are now and you could buy all manner of teeth-rotting sweets with a fraction of what your children are getting each week.

So indulge us - let us know what you used to love to spend your pocket money on. And tell us how much you got when you were a child, and how much you're now giving your children. Where did you prefer to spend the money? Or were you a saver?

Everyone who adds their thoughts to the thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 shopping voucher*.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Santander in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

• NB Standard MN terms and conditions apply - see here. Closing date 8 October 2014 10am
  
  ** Voucher can be chosen from www.voucherexpress.co.uk

[Eastpoint]

Crisps 6p when I first started noticing prices. I remember when creme eggs were 12p, Mars bars were 15p etc. When I first started school I got 10p a week - just after decimalisation. Nothing funny to add though

[HeySoulSister]

I'd get 50p on a Saturday!

(Then the same on Sunday x 2 from grandparents!)

I would buy a 10p mix and a comic/magazine

Blue jeans, patches, Jackie and my guy when I was older. Happy days

[HeySoulSister]

Loved blackjacks which turned your mouth greeny black!

[CMOTDibbler]

I didn't get pocket money till I was 13, and then it was my allowance and I got £30 a month which had to buy everything but school uniform and clothes.

But I did get 10p most Fridays to buy sweets on the way home from school - in my day, that meant 2 Fruit Salads or Blackjacks for 1/2p, and you could get 2oz of Tom Thumb drops for 10p which gave you loads of sweets

[Behoove]

I got about 50p, it was a long time ago!
For me it was comics, I remember waiting in the queue with my Bunty or Mandy and I just couldn't wait to get home to read it from cover to cover. I loved "the four Marys"
Simple times.

[Letthemtalk]

The day we did our 11+ ( n Irish school) our headmistress have us all 50p and sent us to the shop. Half penny chews, highland toffee, wham bars, pear picking porky/rocky rasper/Mr frosty/polly pineapple lollies ( or the mint ones with chocolate, what on earth were they called??), whizzer and chips comic, great days!

[Lookslikeimstuckhere]

Our local shop (tiny paper shop) used to sell stationery. For some reason (still unknown to myself) I used to use my pocket money to stock up on things like packs of elastic bands, treasury tags and accounting notebooks I'm a teacher now. Still love stationery.
I think we got about 50p every couple of weeks. Can't honestly remember now!
When he is old enough (still a toddler) I will give DS maybe 50p a week? People give him money at birthdays so I don't think he'll have to save up for things (like treasury tags!) in the same way I did. Will decide when it crops up.

[Foxtailsoup]

10p mix-up! And saving up for a Famous Five paperback from WH Smiths (paying full cover price too - no Amazon in the olden days...)

[LineRunner]

I remember old money (just!) and getting half a crown every Saturday when I was at mixed infants.

I bought a bag of sports mixtures every day (for 3d), and a cream bun (6d) on the Saturday.

My teenagers get £££!

[FeelingTwitchery]

I was a saver.

I used to save up for individual Sylvanian Families figures. I think the smallest ones cost £2.25 in Woolworths, bigger ones were £3.75.

Or books - about £1.75 or £1.95 for a paperback book.

I also used to save to buy Christmas presents for the family - cheap perfume or aftershave for the adults (they always acted delighted , cadbury's selection box or chocolate orange for my brother and sister.

My grandma used to give me my pocket money. 50p when I went round there on a Sunday morning, then £1, and she used to give me £5 when I was an older teenager.

[BornToFolk]

I didn't really get regular pocket money when I was a child but I do remember cycling to the Post Office on a Saturday morning (after Fraggle Rock) to buy a copy of the Care Bears comic so I must have been getting money from somewhere!

We were also allowed to get sweets once a week when my mum got paid. I loved a 10p mix up!

I had a paper round when I was about 13 and earned just under 5 a week. I think I spent it on copies of Just 17 and lip gloss...

DS (nearly 7) gets 1 a week. He's very good with it, he's definitely a saver, though it's unclear what he's saving for! He sometimes buys loom bands, those collectable rubbers, or packets of football stickers. Never sweets though, he seems to acquire enough of those through parties etc to keep him going.

[BreconBeBuggered]

I didn't get pocket money, but I recall the most affluent girl in my junior school class being given 20p a day (a day!) to spend in the corner shop before school. She always had a quarter of sweets on her, plus crisps or chocolate. She was the most popular girl in the class, and we were devastated when her parents decided to send her to a different secondary school from the rest of us.
When I started earning my own money, I usually saved it up for Christmas and birthday presents. My DC don't get regular pocket money either, but they tend to save what they do get.

[DramaInPyjamas]

Chocolate skulls, chocolate tools, and chocolate mice. And chocolate fish and chips.

I loved (still do) chocolate!!

[DramaInPyjamas]

I didn't actually get regular pocket money so the chocolate mix-ups were a massive treat.

[FishWithABicycle]

Early 80's - my pocket money was 20p. The beano comic was 20p. Some weeks I bought a beano, other weeks I would forego the comic and pig out on sweets.

[dottyaboutstripes]

My grandfather would give us 10p between 4 of us and we'd buy a bag of sweets EACH with that! Blackjacks, fruit salad etc, all manner of tooth rotting sugary treats. Those were the days!

[BlackeyedSusan]

three chewy sweets for a penny. twirlywirlys were bigger and only ten pence, but that took up my whole sweet ration, so not often bought.

I liked the sherbert fountains which were something like 7p and left some spare change for the three for a penny sweets. also sherbert dip-dabs and when I was a bit older sweetie cigarettes.

I do remember when first class stamps were 7p though.

[Fishstix]

Don't think I got pocket money til I was at secondary, and then it was enough to cover 'Patches' mag and a chocolate bar. My friend used to pinch 50p from her mums purse and we'd go and get sweets and a bag of hay to light fires in the woods with. (Lovely kids!)
Dd is 9 and gets £3 a week, which she does jobs to earn. We keep hold of it until there's something she wants to buy. Sometimes it's a pair of earrings or a book and occasionally something bigger. (She saved up for months once to go to an event day that she fancied that was £50.)

[KnackeredMuchly]

I was never given pocket money So I never did grow up to be very savvy about money.

I was given money for school trips though, I used to buy everyone in my immediate family some crappy souvenier, and would spend every penny and borrow more to buy them

I wish I could go back and say - your brother doesn't want a Camelot keyring you ninny!!

My boy is too young for pocket money.

[WowOoo]

I used to love helping myself to a 10p mix. i'd get lots of flying saucers.
The biggest thrill was being able to walk 5 mins down the road to the little shop.
I can't remember how much money I used to get, but I would spend it pretty quickly.

[Purpleflamingos]

My sister and I used to get 50p on a Saturday and another 20p from our auntie. Some weeks we would pool together and buy pens/felt tips/ etc and some weeks we would buy sweets. She went for the 1p ones so hers lasted long after my one expensive chocolate bar.

We were quite spoilt in that our parents would order our magazines with their newspapers which were delivered daily so never had to pay for our own until we left school.

My dc get £2 every Friday. They generally save this for a toy. We buy their sweets and magazines.

[0898]

the solo trip to the newsagent with a warm 20p in hand was a massive thrill. I'd get a Jackie magazine (to be scandalised at the advice on kissing - "why not practice on a pillow or the back of your hand?!) and I'd have enough left over for a white chocolate skull filled with pink slime. They were happy days.

[admiralclingus]

I didn't get pocket money until I was at secondary school and my dad used to give me £5 a week (sometimes more if he'd done some extra work in the week but it was a secret from my step-mom and stepbrother )

I used to go to my friends on the bus, then we'd go to the cinema and have a happymeal from McDonald's and get the bus home again, all for the £5!

Dd is 2.5 and gets £5 every couple of weeks for a "beebies" magazine, some sweeties (which she never actually eats!) a packet of stickers for her book and then she puts the rest in her money box

[ouryve]

Black jacks and fruit salads were a penny for 3, when I first started getting pocket money!

I did buy a lot of sweets - out of the change from buying whatever comic or magazine I was reading, at the time (Twinkle, Emma, Judy and, later Jackie!)