What do you do with money given to your young children?

[CheesyCat]

My daughter is 3 and got £160 for Christmas - £100 from a grandparent and £60 from various relatives combined. I've used £60 to buy an extra set of magnetic tiles (she got one box for Christmas and loves them) plus some other smaller things she chose in the toy shop. I'm not sure about the remaining £100. She has a savings account with £1900 in it so it's tempting to put it in there, but money is losing its value so quickly at the moment! Shall I:

A) Keep hold of it and spend it on things as she wants them - feel a bit bad at the thought of it being "wasted" in dribs and drabs though
B) Stick it in her savings account

What do you tend to do when your small children get money for Christmas/birthdays?

Save it or get some premium bonds

Savings (it's in my name ATM but it's his savings pot)

I do a bit of both. More often than not, it goes in their savings but if there's something they really want, or they've been asking for certain clothes for a while, then I spend it on that.

Depends what the giver wants really.

Some relatives would give us money to put towards a big thing, like a trampoline or a bike. (Or now, as they are older... a few chipped in for birthday/Christmas towards an international Scout camp).

Other relatives gave money specifically for savings.

Following with interest - I've just stuck tenners/twenties from birthday/Christmas in her money box but seems a bit pointless! Usually bigger amounts have been gifted for a purpose (e.g. choose some annual passes for something) so I'd maybe suggest that? I'm reluctant to just buy more toys/books as she gets loads anyway (birthday fairly close to Christmas) and she has a savings account that is already pretty healthy. I might put it towards pricier garden stuff for the summer like a bigger slide or her first bike.

I have a stocks and shares ISA for mine at Hargreaves Lansdowne. I have a direct debit to put a certain amount each month in there and I added in any birthday or Xmas money they got when they were younger- they always got given loads of toys as well as money so weren't missing out!

The money has made a brilliant return on my investment- DC now in their teens.

I used to put cheques in their savings accounts and half of their cash presents. There are some really good children’s savings accounts that pays high interest rates. When my DC were old enough to drive they both had enough money to learn to drive and buy first car with insurance. It’s certainly worth the effort. One Son wanted to buy a gaming laptop for £1,000 so he used some of his money for that.

It sometimes goes into savings or just the money box. DD can take money out to go to the toy shop as her birthday and Christmas are quite close together so if she wants something at a different time of year she can use this money.
I have used it for days out for DD as well (money only spent on her and I always put in the thank you card that I used it for x day out).

We usually put it in savings, DH’s choice rather than mine really he’s a slightly obsessive saver!

After her first birthday we did put the money towards some garden stuff and one year she’d been bought a scooter and we used some of the money to get a helmet to go with it, but other than that into her savings account.

As she gets older I’m sure she will have more ideas about what she wants to do with it so I’d be more up for leaving it up to her (maybe save half spend half depending on amounts?)

I used to save some or use it towards things like annual passes for places he enjoyed.

he is 14 now but unable to look after his own money yet so other than the odd Xbox download it’s still pretty similar.

I opened building society accounts for mine and paid in all their birthday money that wasn’t intended for a specific present. The accounts were in my name when they were set up but had to be transferred to their name at a certain age. However as they were passbook accounts they were not allowed access until they went to uni. Once they reached an age to have an account in their name with a card this was set up and it was then their choice whether to pay birthday money into the no access savings or their instant access account.

I put half in DS’s ISA. Given that he’s 10, I have to explain to him where his money is going. It’s a good lesson to start saving.

I used to save winter birthday money and get some garden toys in the spring. Wendy house, sandpit etc

There's some decent savings rates in you look about. My dc were very glad of all the bits that people had given them when they went to university. That said £1000 of premium bonds isn't a bad idea, dp wins at least every other month! (Though I don't )

@Sirzy

Unless you ds have severe ld's, I strongly recommend letting him have some money to look after to let him learn, honestly letting them mess up in a small way is far preferable to them messing up when they have access to credit cards post 18!

I was in the same position OP with my children. I found a convenient bank account with the highest interest and every time they received money we made a morning of taking it to the bank. This money was given along side a small gift by relatives as 'savings' they are all happy with the fact they contributed to this fund and now my boys have approx £8000 (it does add up) which they will use to help them as adults. My own SiL thought this was silly and we had to buy presents for her kids even if they hardly played with them, both her children had to take out loans for their first cars etc and wish they had some sort of savings too. I have subsequently asked my kids if they felt they missed out and both have said that because they knew the money was theirs in an account in their name plus they are both into saving the environment and are happy they didn't contribute too much to landfill.

Put it all in a grit savings account.

My DC is 18 months. Any cash we've received so far goes in my purse or gets spent on my DH haircuts usually 🤷‍♀️.

We buy her what she needs as and when she needs it, and will have savings in our name if she should need a helping hand in the future.

If the money is from an older relative, I might send a nice message saying "thanks so much for the gift, we put it towards DC new shoes" or whatever, to make them feel like it was being spent on something specific.

We are working on it slowly! He is unlikely to ever be able to do it independently but we are working on things at his own pace - he will get it eventually!

We saved it and were able to afford driving lessons and an expensive school trip when the time came.

DD4 has most of her out in savings.
Around £200 in her name, the rest in my name.
Have used it to buy her a new bike, and that's about it.

DD‘s grandparents give money to buy something. So when she was smaller, we normally added it to a larger item, buy an annual pass, experience or theatre tickets.

She is now a teen and has her own ideas, quite often she is asked by the grandparents and then tells them she is looking for an item of jewellery, clothing, shoes, bag.

My mum will send a larger amount once a year and that is designed for saving which DD knows.

Another vote for a stocks and shares ISA if you don't want to put in cash savings.

I put it in there long term account until they are at an age where they ask to get things with it (approx 7.)

Saved it unless there was something they really wanted. Now they're older teens we give them the choice. Usually they do half and half savings and treats.