Working/middle class Christmas presents difference

[Frustratedandpissedoff]

Something I have quietly observed over the years re Christmas presents for children. Children of unemployed or working class presents tended to receive lots of expensive flashy gifts which had their parents paying off credit card debt later on. Middle class children tended to receive maybe one big present at Christmas or were gifted cash and encouraged to save up for a big thing that they really wanted.
I didn't realise anyone else noticed this until some colleagues began discussing it today. Obviously this does not apply to everybody, but seems to be a common theme? Interested to hear people's thoughts.

Well I know when I had separated from my XH and was deep in dreadful poverty, I wanted my kids to have a nice time at Christmas, so I probably overcompensated with presents. They had little enough otherwise to look forward to and enjoy as their father never saw them or paid for them.

Maybe the MC kids get more during the year so parents don't feel the need to do so much at Christmas?

I live in a Luvvie area, only wear natural fibres, like BBC4, and worked in a very mc class profession.

My kids got loads of presents at Christmas. I never give them cash to ‘save.’ If l fave them cash it was for spending. They always opened them at 7.00 am.

None of this arsing around with ‘presents opened after Christmas dinner’ either.

Makes sense to me.

If you have money, DC will likely have treats year round, holidays and other experiences to look forward to.

If you struggle then Christmas may be the only time DC get treats.

🍿 🍿

Because rich kids already have everything poor kids have to wait for birthdays and Christmas

This website is exhausting sometimes

Yep.

FFS.

🙄

It’s because Rachel Reeves has stolen all our MC money so we can only afford to buy one wooden train track rather than hundreds of pairs of new Nikes.

What a lot of rubbish.

Sorry to throw a spanner in your theory, but shockingly some parents save up for Christmas in advance, even the working class ones, and some parents are absolutely up to their tits in debt, even the middle class ones.

I can't remember what we bought our kids last christmas so to quietly notice over the years what different class of families bought their children and then noticed a pattern, then a repeating pattern, I think says more about you then the gift buying OP.

From posts and comments on the local mums group, I’d agree the Christmas budget ranking does seem to be the opposite of the general household budget rankings.

I wonder if the perception of peer pressure and concern on children feeling left out has an impact. If your confident that your child is getting everything well covered through the year, it may be much easier to keep Christmas spend at a moderate level and not get every latest trend ane item on their wish list. If you feel your child often gets less than others than that feeds tye marketing narrative of Christmas being the time to splash out and treat ‘to show you care’. It’s a vile, predatory marketing tactic but it’s rife.

I am going to see if my amazon orders sheds any light on this!

Big flashy presents by the underclass. Cos that’s all the proles can afford/spread the costs over the years and gives the outward look of riches and status. Never could afford a large mortgage or run 2 cars. So it’s status driven to “show” they are just as good as anyone else.

MC and up. Nothing too prove. Some LMC may do performative under buying wooden lentil sorting games and a dried pumpkin head doll. But otherwise it will be expensive or not but a considered gift.

tongue firmly in cheek.

Another day, another shitty class thread on mn. Pretty sure these are made up by the mods, no one in their right mind could give a flying fuck about this op, you must be very bored.

I thinks it’s a pretty accurate description in my personal experience. I think it’s because we don’t have anything to prove, same goes for clothes, if you are affluent wearing mismatched socks is quirky, if poverty it can illustrate you can’t afford better

AI
Reform shills
Tory bot boys

Could be anything or anyone really

You'll get flamed for it OP but I've noticed this too. DB struggles for money and they have a relatively low income but DNephew just got a PS5 for his 9th birthday. We have more household income but birthday budgets are £100. DDs want a Nintendo Switch so are currently saving birthday and Christmas money for it.

How very worthy of you.

Disagree.
My kids are in a private school and most of their classmates are getting upgrades of their electronic gadgets, designer clothes and whatever they like.

And that is before they fly off to New York to ring in the new year. They've paid over the odds for every big concert that they've wanted to go to this year and none of them were last year's Christmas gifts.

We are not wealthy and my kids will get one big gift and lots of smaller gifts including books, pyjamas, clothes and toiletries (things they need).

I volunteered in a school for years and this is the same with birthday parties. I remember commenting that a whole class party to an indoor play centre and dominos after must have cost a fortune, and the mum laughed and said "you always know who's on benefits at party time they always have the biggest ones". After that I did notice this trend, the wealthier professionals usually had a very small 'birthday high tea' with only a few people, in their own homes.
I was at school with a girl who's mother came from old money and her Christmases were utterly shit in my eyes. It was literally a tangerine, some nuts and a book from a charity shop in a stocking that was 100 years old. For her DM it was all about "the spirit of Christmas", enjoying the crisp December air, decorating with foliage from their hedge etc.

I like the Icelandic tradition of a new book for Christmas eve, and do it for my kids.

In Italy sometimes kids get 'candy calling with their presents.

(Just to make a change from talking about class - I'd love to know any other country specific present traditions)

and the mum laughed and said "you always know who's on benefits at party time they always have the biggest ones

That mother sounds charming and completely lacking in class. I really wouldn’t quote anything somebody like that said.