How much do you spend on the kids for Xmas

[missrachael]

Sorry I’m sure this thread has been done a million times. Just curious, whenever I read about what some peoples kids are getting I feel like I’m not doing good enough, at all. I plan to spend £300 each this year on 4 kids, so that’s £1200 which is a big amount of money but it also looks like hardly anything compared to some !

I don't count really and I don't match the amount, my grown up Step-daughters get an amount each off each parent that has been in place since their Mum and Dad split up, they usually add a food voucher or something....my bio kids are 8&3....8yr old is having a VR Meta quest 3....but all of us effectively will benefit as we will all use it, 3yr old has alsorts but probably nowhere near the value of the 8yr old....we are also going to Lapland for a day trip, only because I've had some unexpected back pay

I was very surprised too but then thought if they have older children it is likely to cost a bit more.
I’m spending around £100 on a four year old, who doesn’t really need anything and hasn’t asked for anything!

Now mine all know about Santa I have set a budget of £100 each. They get things they need through out the year so don’t feel we need to go mad at Christmas. Do the same
for birthdays.

£200 on my toddler for main present (bike), the four "somethings" and his stocking.
He gets what he needs toy wise developmentally throughout the year so I'm not going to go wild!

That’s much more easily done when they are little though, that’s one pair of trainers for my teenager!

2 teens and I’m spending around £350/ £400 each this year, I’ve been buying since August to spread the cost.

It depends on what they ask for and how old they are. I’ve never decided that it’d spend X amount. My eldest wants a laptop for college, but my youngest wants a giant tube of Pringles in every flavour. Each of my kids gets a main gift and some extra presents - maybe 12 in total. They don’t get much presents from anyone else. The main gift is what they’ve asked for and over the years has ranged in price from £10 to £500.

I try to make the number of presents similar, so they each take the same amount of time to open them.

Because they’ve never woken up to a mountain of presents, I’ve never had to repeat the trap of each year buying them lots of stuff just for the sake of it.

Mine are young adults now. I have always spent about £100 each. Maybe a bit more (stockings seem to add up). Every few years they got a more expensive present if they needed a phone/laptop/bike or whatever although sometimes we would just get them as needed eg for starting secondary school/uni whatever.

When mine were little I often bulked out their gifts with second hand items - e.g. someone selling their collection of dolls / toy cars / play mobile etc.

Fb marketplace seems to be the best place for bargains. Vinted / eBay etc seem to have higher prices for much smaller, postable items.

Same, growing up my parents spent £50 on each of us (I remember the limit was a pair of doc martens or Levi’s) , and I think that’s still pretty much the budget. And I spend roughly the same on each of mine, plus stocking fillers (which are small things).

Interesting. We’ve no grandparents in this house due to them sadly passing away.
We therefore give what they would have used to have given. So in total around £700 - a lot of money but we obviously no longer need to buy our parents anything. Both sets absolutely loved buying their grandchild special presents at Christmas time.

Why too much but things are so expensive I save all year we have a mini break in the January as a gift last year was disney land Paris this year germany then 300 for a wwe belt 200 for ps5 control with extra buttons as she is autistic then with clothes trainers etc easily 2500

More than I want to think about when I add up what’s been purchased! However not going into debt for it so that’s the main thing.

We have done about £200 each for our two this year not including stockings. They’ll be 4 and 9. DS also has his 9th birthday on Christmas Eve to add to the expense!

It is more important to consider what you can afford to spend, not what everyone else is spending. We have one 11 year old son, he isn't at all materialistic and has said that he'll be happy with some chocolate. We won't spend more than £100 this year- he's getting a zoo keeper experience, some touch screen gloves, PJs, a book, chocolate and that's about it.

Buy what they need / want. I tried to stick to a £/child budget when they were younger but it gets more difficult with age gaps. One year my 14 yr old wanted an Apple Watch and my 10 yr old wanted slime. I try to make sure they have an equal amount of presents to open regardless of the cost!

We have allotted £500 for presents for the three of them combined. They also get an amount of money from grandparents which they either have in cash (older ones) or we put towards another gift. This year my daughter (8) is getting a bicycle so her grandparents money will go towards that. We would spend more if we had more, but we don’t!

About £250 each here

If my teenager gives me any more attitude it's going to be zero 😒 naughty list lol

We only have one child, and I’d say we do about £200 including Santa gifts and stocking. She has a birthday in October where we probably spend about £150 but it does mean there isn’t much she wants or needs for Christmas. I’m sure as she gets older costs will increase, but she’s 4 and happy with a small selection and her tastes are relatively cheap!

We could afford to do more but she already has so much!

£150-£200 plus stocking filler type presents (which always mounts up).

About £200 each. But they get stuff during the year (eg phone, clothes etc). And I think it’s irrelevant what others spend, it needs to be within your budget.

It’s not really about the total. You could spend £100 on 100 little things or on one big thing. It depends on age, what they need, and what they want. If they wanted some rocks and a new book there’s no point spending £100s just for the sake of things. When they’re little they don’t really care and I wish I had bought more secondhand items. It feels like such a waste when you have to clear it all out!

Mine are about £200 each. Two teens now. It was a doddle when they were little, but money doesn't go far these days.

I've loosely based purchases on: Something to wear, something to read, something you want, something you need.
Eldest: a book, some boots for 6th form, a tent and some money for travel. Youngest: book, white fox hoody, new water bottle, phone.

Stockings on top, mostly stuff they need, socks, underwear, toiletries and a bit of make up.

£100 per child and this year they’re each being asked to donate £10 to the local foodbank… so actually £90 each 3 kids age 9, 12 and 15. Even my daughter who does a precise list to budget has slightly begrudgingly accepted this is a good idea 😅

Approx £350 inc stocking fillers.
Im pretty much done to be honest. I could easily get them more but need to draw the line somewhere & that is more than enough. They are lucky.