How much £ do you spend on your child's birthday?

[HT96]

DD will be 4 in September! And DS 1st birthday is Oct...

For DD is has been different every year and everyone tells me it gets more expensive every year! Don't I know it with the list she has.. started with a £180 LOL house 🥴

So how much do you spend on your DC?

It’s DDs 3rd birthday shortly and we have spent £70 on 5 presents. Probably would have been slightly more if DH wasn’t off forloughed. I do need to pop to get a card and wrapping paper and will get stuff for a little tea party (for us). So probably another £30-40 including a cake on that.

We aim for anywhere from about £20 to £100 for say ~4 presents per DC. I've got a 2 turning 3, and a 6 turning 7.

I'm happy to get second hand bargains and won't spend extra just to reach a notional budget, but happy to splurge more if I think it's worth it. I guess I'd spend up to about £200 for the right item in theory, though not sure what they would be.

I'm sure it will increas as they get older but I don't think I'll ever be one of the parents who spend £500+ on their DC each birthday and Christmas, maybe as a one off on eg 16th or 18th?

For what it's worth we're high earners, I just don't think spending ££££ in birthdays feels right.

Additional context - I've spent £200 on a party the last cpuple of years, though I'm looking forward to this decreasing as they age. And I do buy them extras throughout the year, mainly books and lego

DD 9 last Birthday spent around £80 and £80 on an activity with friends.
DS 10 spent £100 and about £25 on a takeaway with friends.

Absolute maximum of £100 in total.
DD turned 3 in March and didnt really need anything as she had just got loads for Christmas, so we just spent around £25 on a few bits and will probably buy other stuff through the year.

Unless I thought it would have great long lasting play value, I'd be saying that a £180 LOL House (whatever that is) was too expensive. That is a large amount to spend on one gift for a 4yo.

We spend between £50-£150 depending on what we think the DC will like / what they 'need' at the time.

We don’t have a budget we just pick what we think will be the best present - they only really get one. My daughter is turning 5 and we’ve got her a scooter so about £115, but previous Christmas or birthday presents have been a bike (£150 secondhand), a sylvanian treehouse (I think around £30 secondhand), dressing up things (maybe £50?)

About £50

It depends if there is something they 'need' to be given.

I would say we spend £2-300 on DS for an 'ordinary' birthday or Christmas, but last year he 'needed' a piece of sports equipment that was £3000. When he needs the upgrade in a few years it will be £5000. (Not ponies btw!). I expect the year he is after driving lessons and a car, it will be even more.

Around £150 to include gifts, cake, meal/trip out/activity.

Very much depends on our circumstances at the time. Both dds birthdays are consecutive days so the budget is the same for both. This year DD1 needed a laptop for school so she got that and dd2 got a similar budget. Isn't always like that though.

Get the LOL house on eBay. I spent £100 (which I thought was a fortune at the time) for a sylvianian house that’s had a good 5 years of continuous use. Child has no clue it wasn’t new.

(Ditto the wooden train set which was then sold on eBay too!)

Depends how much disposable money I have at the time. One year when I was spectacularly skint I spent about £10 - possibly les. I think it was DS1s 6th birthday. He loved his presents though and luckily we have a large family so he had lots of things from others.
Other years it's been £50-£60. Occasionally my mum and I club together to buy something more expensive that they ask for, eg digital camera.

£100 per child for present and party.

I just get DS whatever he asks for. He's about to turn 7 so hasn't really grasped the value of things yet. He's asked for roller skates this year. Although he's talking about a PS4 but I've said no until he's a bit older.

Probably about £200 in total.

In the region of £150 I’d say, that’s not including whatever we do on the actual day which usually costs an extra £100.

It's been £50-£100 so far (same for Christmas). DD will be 9 soon and it's likely to be more as she needs a piece of hobby equipment- which we could buy cheap and replace in a couple of years, or chose well and last 10yrs+ (as it's 'adult' size, unless she is 6ft+ as an adult!). We aren't counting it in the budget.

I’ve just spent £123 on DS who will be 11. That’s a lot less than usual as he has everything he needs and has just had a lot of lockdown treats and new clothes. He wants a Nintendo switch but they’re out of stock everywhere so he’s getting an Instax camera, film and Lego Hagrid’s Hut. TBH we never go in for a massive pile of presents for birthdays, we save that for Christmas. He wanted a party but I think, if we’re lucky, the lockdown may be only just starting to ease by his birthday at the end of May. He’ll get a takeaway and a cake though to try to make it special.

About £100 for DD nearly 4. Also a day out somewhere x

I usually spend about £100 -£150 but then she gets probably another £100 worth of stuff from relatives. Then obviously if there's a party that'll be a cost on top. It's too much really

DD is 4 next week. We have spent about £200 on presents. This is more than usual but this lockdown guilt and we had budgeted for a soft play party.

Depends really, we budget £250 per child and this includes presents and party. As they've got older parties have become cheaper so more to spend on a present

£180 for a dolls house.. if you can afford it why not. If not, then don't stretch yourself. If it is something she will love and play with over and over and if she doesn't already have something similar - go for it!
Every girl would love a dolls house!

It should be about giving present that gives joy and will be loved, not about the £££. Sometimes it means you have to spend £180, sometimes it means you can get away with a £30 gift!

We got my daughter an iPad, but both grandparents chipped in as well.