How much are you spending on Christmas presents?

If that's too expensive for you then why not tell them. I usually didn't less than one hundred pounds on my children as that's what I could afford. They wouldn't ask for expensive presents, probably as they knew they wouldn't get them. They rarely asked for anything specific, I'd usually buy them something I chose. For many people I'm sure they have the same budget as you, for others that would be too much.

11 seems young for a phone/laptop. Are they actually expecting to be bought these things?
I asked for a Gameboy every year for years knowing fine well I’d never get one!
We have bought expensive gifts but it’s not an annual occurrence and was always a bit of a surprise rather than something they’ve put on a list.

Which child is requesting which item? Assuming each child is requesting two of these four "big" items, they'd get one each (not both), plus a couple of smaller items.

DD is 13. When she was younger we used to spend no more than £120-150 all in (including stocking, one main big toy present, and some other presents including Christmas clothes). Now it’s usually more like £250-300 for everything, including stocking and all presents, mainly because she has to wait until Christmas or birthday for “expensive” clothes (eg. trainers, branded coats, etc.) or computer things. I wouldn’t spend that amount of money on one item or go over £300, even though we could probably afford it.

DD gets one of our phones second-hand when we need to upgrade, never as a present. I hope I don’t sound like a Scrooge, because I know lots of people give new phones and things like that. I just can’t quite justify to myself spending so much money on gadgets for a young teenager!

DS got a Bambu 3D printer for his bday last week and has used it every day so far! It was £150ish and works really well and really easy to use. We nearly didn’t get it but pleased we did!

Xmas will be smaller presents probably as we tend to do biggies for bdays. Kids 11, 9 & 4. Both the oldest want/need bikes.

Mine would only get one big/main present. So I’d ask them to choose what they want the most.

My budget is £120 per child, always stick to it and seen my oldest through the teen years.

Your allowed to just not buy the things if they are too expensive and silly/impossible. Part of parenting is teaching them they can't just have everything they want, life has disappointments and not getting an expensive toy/gadget will be one of the least they face in life. As teens they are old enough to understand the money side of it.

My teen is getting some PS5 games, headphone stand, sundae kit, shower radio, needoh etc... he's practically an adult now so they days of big piles of impressive looking huge toys are over.

Quite a bit because one thing I’ll do is pay for my son’s car insurance- he’s only been driving a year so expensive. And he has a few things on his wish list. So take the car insurance out and I’d say £200? My DD however is the opposite end of the scale and not only says she doesn’t want anything she hasn’t specifically asked for (and this year all she’s asked for is a vegetable mandoline), she will get mad if I do buy her anything else. I gift voucher to Vinted would go down ok but they don’t do that. So for her: £20 unless she ‘allows’ me to get her something else. I owe her a crochet poncho which I started a year ago but is really beyond my expertise (no pattern she showed me a pic). It’s become an insurmountable mountain for me! They are 21 and 23.

My budget is £150 for each of them.

We’ve spent £150 on our 10 year old and Santa’s workshop is now closed.

He doesn’t ask for things (mainly because he’s not fully verbal and can’t 😂)

But he’s got a rope swing, some Gruffalo and Cars stuff, and an Iggle Piggle.

He’ll get bits off grandparents and this year we’ve gone for one bigger present that we know will help him, and 6 bits that he’ll like. That’s it, done!

We tell them the budget is £100 as they don’t all know about Santa yet. In reality budget is £150ish including stockings. We have 5 kids and this means a budget of £750. If we were broke it would obviously be less and telling them this is the budget means they understand the value of things. Sometimes they decide to club together for a joint present, for instance two of them want a Lego set which costs £120 so they are asking for it as a joint present. I think this is great as they’re learning to share as well as the value of things.

Lego sets are insane prices. One of mine wanted a death star for christmas. £900! Nine HUNDRED quid.

I said jog on, pal, I just don't love you enough to spend 900 on a bunch of plastic bricks.

Mine are the same age and I’ll probably spend about £250 a child. They haven’t asked for anything that costs more than £50, so they’ll get about 4 things they’ve asked for and some surprises.

I hadn't heard of Needoh so googled it, is it worth the money, that is a crazy price.

When I was wee my parents spent £40 on each of us (not including stockings). It never did us any harm, and in fact was probably beneficial in terms of us turning into adults who knew that money doesn't grow on trees. Yes, our friends got more than us. There is always someone who does.
*£40 is probably equivalent to £80 now!

Decide what you can afford and tell your children what the limit is. If they want more expensive items they need to get a job and chip in, or get it as a joint Christmas/birthday present.

Depends which one, lots of Needohs are under £10

Likely £110 for main present (a bit more than usual) and probably another £40 for stocking. But I only have one child, he’s adult, and am comfortably off. Tbh rich couples like us tend not to notice the other experiences and things they pay for through the year and then get performative about spending less at Christmas. If you’re on tight budgets all year and Christmas is the one time you let the reins off, that’s a different thing imo. Eg (random example) I paid for ds to have urgent travel vaccinations in August as he hadn’t done it in time and I thought he should have them.

3D printer or laptop: Lego set or new phone.they can have the other one for their birthday.

They sound pretty entitled. Obviously I don't know your spending budget, but mine will get between £100 - £150 spent on them, which feels plenty.

They certainly wouldn't be asking for 3D printers and laptops. That was never going to be an option.

£400 each for my 7 and 3 year olds, they haven’t asked for main presents.

My 7 year old got a switch 2 last year so had a lot more spent on them.

Kids have always got £100 max for Christmas - but probably double that for their birthdays. So may people to buy for at Christmas and they have always known it’s not the same as birthdays. Don’t think it’s done them any harm!!

Ours are late teens/young adults now. We have bought tickets to take them to an event in London and dinner out; works out to about £200 a head, and then they’ll get some stocking fillers (pants, socks, sweets, beer…)

This year, £200 each ( 2 teens). Our finances have fluctuated over the years so it has varied according to what was realistic at the time. Since they’ve been that bit older, I give them the budget each year so they know what’s affordable, it’s how I’ve avoided being asked for more than I can provide.

Wow do they understand the concept of money? Big items like phones, laptops, iPads are not something they are allowed to ask for as gifts.

All 3 of mine have iPads, 1 paid for hers out of savings, her birthday, Easter & Christmas money for nearly 2 years, the other 2 paid just over half for theirs and we made the rest up for Christmas and birthdays but we volunteered that, they never asked.

DD14 hasnt done a list as we are paying for a big school trip next year and need to buy equipment, most of which will be Christmas presents. I’ve got her other stuff though.

DD12 has asked for Katseye & Illit CDs, Robux gift card and Squisheys

DD9 has asked for play food for her kitchen, Robux card, Art supplies & Squishies

They all get more than what they ask for, what I’ve spent to date is approximately
DD1 - £230 inc school trip items
DD2 - £250
DD3 - £160

Im as good as done, I may add an odd item but it won’t be anything expensive.

Regardless of whether it's the 11 yo or the 14yo surely they haven't had a phone long enough to need 'an upgrade'.

1 big present each, then a few smaller ones. I don't go big at Christmas as we do stuff all year as and when they need. So maybe £200 on each child