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?

It depends on the situation. So if there was something that they really wanted for birthday/Christmas that they didn't get then I would use the money for that and put what's left over into their savings. If not then it all goes straight into the savings.

For one birthday I remember that I had to use it for a new coat and shoes (for the child obviously 🤣) because I was I was in a dire financial situation at the time.

They are now at an age where they have started to enjoy spending their own money, but can still be persuaded to put half of it into their savings account.

If they're given a large amount (one relative gives each child £3k a year) we invest it on their behalf. If they get £10 in a birthday card, we just put it in our purse and use it for treats while out (ice creams etc). We are lucky enough to be quite financially secure, so we don't feel the need to save small amounts of cash they're given.

I used it for days out in the summer - having 3 winter babies.

They didn’t miss out and we saved for university so they are doing fine for themselves.

Given your DD your is so young and presumably has years to save I'd definitely put it in a stocks n shares ISA.

When they were little they used to get generous cheques from a grandparent who was advised by her accountant to for tax reasons, so that went into their savings accounts, as do any inheritances they've had but smaller amounts of gift money from other relatives - £50 eg just goes into their current accounts now.

We did the same, when our children were young money was tighter, so we used gifted money for day to day expenses, knowing that we had very good pensions and that when they were older we would have money to gift them cars and house deposits.

Money nearly always went into savings books. Both of my children's birthdays are just before Christmas, so they often got a lot of gifts in pretty much one go, so didn't feel the urge to go and spend money.

We always made it clear it was their money, for them to spend when they wanted, DS1 bought a couple of things mid teens (Xbox game and a headset I think) then used the remainder to fund his driving lessons.
DS2 is 15 and hasn't started dipping into his yet ( which is a miracle as he isn't as money savvy as his brother!) so I'm hoping he's planning to keep his for lessons too

I’d use it to buy something you will need for them eg uniform or a coat

What's your own financial situation like? Children obviously get so much more expensive as they grow and need different things.

In the past I spent money on experience like a zoo annual pass.

I don't know anyone who would have brought manga tiles new, always expensive stuff second hand, charity shops, ebay, car boot sales and so on.

Re savings mine have 3.

A small amount in a cash isa.
A little fund to pay for life enhancing stuff eg classes, dance, annual memberships...

A big savings pot in a stocks and shares isa in index funds.
It's up 31 %at the moment.

Oh and a sipp!! A self invested personal pension,.

I used to buy them presents with it. Toys etc. I never thought otherwise 😢😢😢

I feel bad now. They used to give me the money as they didn't know what to buy them.

Savings here, split between an ISA, Little Treasures gold account, and an instant access.
Just spent some from DDs for a school trip, it will be used to fund driving lessons, and perhaps a bit of uni.

Half and half. Half to spend on something they want from the toy shop and half into their savings account. Even now DD is 7 she still says "spend a bit, save a bit" when given any money so I think it's a good lesson to learn.

Her savings account gets transferred into her name when she is 17 and that's fine. She'll probably blow it at that point but it's money that was given to her so I'm happy with her having a bit of money to learn with and if she spends it all, that's on her.

We're saving separately for her into a Stocks and Shares ISA in my name that we won't hand over or let her know about until an appropriate time e.g. help with a house deposit.

I can't believe the posters admitting they're happy to steal their children's birthday money and lie to relatives and spending it on themselves or haircuts! 😢

We always put ours in a savings account for our two. I would never keep it and spend it on stuff. Not really sure why really.

I put it into premium bonds and we keep the cash.

I think yours is the "right" answer tbf. We have loads of hand me down toys so enough already.