£100 per child at Christmas. Fair?

[Tattandthis]

I have 4 kids and have saved up £100 each.

Usually I just get them as much as I can but this year is tough.

DS3 wants a nintendo DS and I'm getting a used but boxed one for £40. He also wants a £20 board game.

I'll only have £40 left then and 3 or 4 presents is going to look pretty crappy compared to the pile they had previously.

I'm feeling a little down.

They aren't granny kids at all and I know they'll be happy with whatever but just feeling a bit crap when Dsis sent me a pic of a MASSIVE pile of things to wrap for her son

Oddly we have always got them something they have wanted rather than a fixed budget. That helped in years when money was tighter!

I used to find the stocking were the really expensive part because to get of bits to open can really add up to be a lot of money.

They've always had £20 per child from us, and even then I have to start buying in October. It's only stingy if you can afford a lot more.

We’re really cutting back this year and I intend on doing lots of nice free things in the run up - winter walks, board games, making mince pies etc

Don't people do this anyway? I mean it's lovely, but it's not a replacement for gifts

She didn't actually say this was in place of presents, she said in the run up

OP I can't remember many things I got for Christmas as a child. A Sindy caravan and a kids cosmetic set and a Girl's World. That's the only three things I remember. What I do remember is helping put the tree up and going to Midnight Mass and DM busy in the kitchen baking mince pies . It will all be fine

My 2 will be 8 and 3 at Xmas. I've warned my 8 year old that are won't be getting as much this year the things she's asked for are quite expensive but not only that last year she got tonnes not just off us but all the family and so did dd2 and it was a nightmare storing it all and half the stuff ended up in the bin or hardly or never played with.

Dd1 has asked for 2 things and dd2 just wants a paw patrol bike so I will get those. I was going to make a big craft box for them both and buy a couple of things they could have between them like a giant board game etc. And they will have their stocking plus a couple of surprise presents.

Because we have such a large family and they all buy for them they will have more than enough combined.

Plus I like to teach them that they should be grateful and we always go through toys and make boxes to give to charity or whatever because there are people less fortunate.

I also never ever take pictures of our presents under the tree or anything like that. That's bragging and stupid (if you post them on Facebook etc.) There's a few people been burgled before because they posted pictures of their stuff online.

They want love, not stuff!

You are getting him what he asked for which is brilliant, anything else is a bonus. We were poor growing up but my memory of Christmas was that we got loads of stuff and it was magical. Looking back most of what we got was pretty cheap stuff. I think 100 pounds is a good budget and it seems like you are spending it well. Relax and try to look forward to Christmas, you have it covered.

I don’t remember saying that the things we have planned are in place of gifts?

What I said was that sometimes nice memories are what children remember rather than a bucket load of presents to open on the day.

How old are your dcs? It was always made very clear to us as children that if we ask for something 'big' that we would then only receive a couple of other small presents. There were many years where one of us would have loads but the others would have less because it depended upon what we wanted. It was fine because we always knew the deal.

Tbh me and dp usually go all out but we are moving middle if Nov and won't have an oven until DPS pay at end of Nov so that would've been xmas money. Our DC are fairly young so we are just gonna buy a load of cheaper gifts. And I'm gonna have a look in our local children's charity shop because they always have a table full of brand new unopened gifts which they are selling 9 times out of 10 they still have the original price label on too!

£100 per child is more than fair!

I think it’s a fair budget, I’ve cut mine in the last couple of years to £50, but I prewarn the kids so they didn’t have unrealistic expectations.

That's all I ever spend on mine! Before Christmas, they make extravagant lists but they know that they can't realistically have everything they ask for. So for example they will write down that they want one of the enormous LOL surprise doll balls, but in reality they are perfectly happy with one of the small ones that cost 1/6 of the price. They have asked for Nintendo DS this year, but as I know from past experience that they rarely play with computer games once they are given them, I am buying them second hand.

We aren’t on a restricted budget and usually spend around that or marginally over it. Honestly, I doubt the kids will notice on the day. The Christmas magic is all about helping decorate the tree, nice walks, visiting Santa if young enough, christingle service, operation shoe box, Christmas stories and films, seeing family, nice food. Enjoy and please don’t feel guilty I feel quite sorry for the kids whose parents absolutely bombard them with gifts and each year they try and out do the previous year and parents get competive about how much money they have each spent on their off spring etc.

£100 is plenty if not too much! Also many gifts don't mean they are any good. You can easily spend £20 on Poundland shite, wrap it up and here's your mountain of presents. But if your kid wants a Nintendo, better stack up on games (second-hand will do)

That's plenty. Well done for saving £400! Not to be sniffed at!

You can make that money stretch's Definitely keep your eyes peeled for deals, second hand selling sites, Facebook, etc. Get down to the charity shops and the pound shop for lots of little presents. Buy multipacks and split them.

Children won't be adding it all up in their heads, they're just be excited it's Christmas!