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 !

The bike wasn't to bad but the Gabby's dollhouse with rooms was £200 then the bluey houses another £100 the Peppa train sets £200 furby £80 everything else average price

Mine are teenagers. Probably about £700 each.

Omg that’s a lot of money 🤯 I’m not keen on these kinds of toys personally although I’m sure your kids are going to love them all!

My 4 year old has various little figures but he just makes houses and so on for them out of magnatiles or lego. He wanted a paw patrol tower last year but got some pups and vehicles and we build our own versions of the tower with his magnatiles, that way it can be anything: paw patrol tower, house, castle, train station

Yes every year I donate before Christmas 😊

Do you find they mind when you donate things? One of the reasons we try to keep things minimal is my son is so attached to everything he has. That’s why I quite like extending sets he already has (a few more magnatiles, some more train tracks etc) rather than buying lots of completely new toys that would take over the house.

Nope by the time Christmas comes they've lost interest in almost everything anything they do continue to play with I'd keep 😊

My kids are very young so it’s not necessarily comparable but about £100 each. I could easily spend much more but everyone already has too much stuff so why would I. Once they are older I can see how laptops / phones, clothes etc make it more expensive.

Maybe i need to focus on more short lived toys 🤣

I'm so overwhelmed with toys because she still plays with everything and we've got rid of very little since she was born 3 years ago (animals, blocks, duplicate, balls, dolls and stuff, puzzles, train set, instruments, fuzzy felt, drawing/art stuff) apart from the noisier/branded toys which do tend to be more age limited.

10 & 13
planning to spend around £200 each this year. They’ve had more expensive presents the last 2 years (PS5. iPhone etc) so just depends really. I just don’t want to set the expectation it’s £500 each year regardless.

2 DC 13 and 8
think ive spent about about 1200 between the 2 of them.
i like to stick to around 500 each for christmas and 300 for birthdays.

We normally spend £100 each, then a 'Santa' present for up to £30 each and then probably £20/30 on some stocking bits. So normally £150 per child

Not at all. I don’t even know what I’d spend £700 per child on. I’d just be buying stuff for the sake of it. They have nice holidays, days out etc through the year so they do alright overall.

I don't think I could have spent 300 even if I had wanted too what does 300 buy ?

this definitely depends on age, for me, for my teen boy not much...
130 trainers
30 sliders
140 2 tracksuits

I do same amount of presents, not same amount spent. Children generally do not know the value of things and my children are between the ages of 1 and 17. 10 presents for a 1 year old can amount to 50 where my 17 year old I can spend what's appropriate to what she needs/I am able to and want to spend on her up to my budget and 10 presents. It's worked really well for us and kids are always happy.

I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine. Thinking of my child, 2 large brio pieces and some new trains costs about £150 alone when purchased new. A smaller set of good quality magnetic tiles is £50-60. That’s £200 on 3 things and a few trains. Some of the big sets of magnet tiles are £100 or more. Add to that some books, a couple of board games, and bits and bobs for their stocking… I can see it pushing £300 without actually having a massive pile under the tree.

Of course buying second hand helps. Some of our gifts this year are second hand and some are brand new. Nearly everything was second hand for his birthday.

@Yourethebeerthief to be honest as soon as I had posted I realised of course get to 300 if biuying Xbox for one child new bike etc.

My DC got second hand or free train sets , Lego new but always on offer and what I could second hand.

Obviously that's harder for teens but even so a perfume is on offer , 34 ,bag I'm waiting black Fridays 35 at the moment , other bits ,soft blanket , plates , towels 50 ...jewellery a set 50 and a few more bits...will def come in under 300.

I agree. We go second hand for nearly everything. All train things have been second hand until this point but we’re buying two new for Christmas. Magnet tiles I always buy new because I worry about them being cracked or cheap Temu ones because of the magnets. He’s older now but it’s a worry from when he was only about 2. Lego is always second hand… so far!

Agree on the tiles esp as could have dangerous chemicals.

It’s so interesting how different everyone is. We were poor growing up so got second hand stuff a lot and I hated it. I rarely buy second hand stuff but I have a 14 year old who specifically asks for second hand so he can get more things for his money! Just goes to show how much your experiences affect the choices you make and why threads like this have such varied responses.

Around £250 on DD and £150 on SD (she gets a lot of gifts from her Mum whereas DD has only us, and also because we don't see SD in December until the school holidays start, so we don't do all the advent calendar and lead up stuff.)

Honestly though, the presents are really not important. They enjoy opening them, but then forget about them 10 minutes later.

Having said that, I don't really have a set "budget", it's flexible. I typically spend about £150 on birthday presents but this year SD really wanted a Lego Avengers Tower which was £430. She didn't specifically ask for it, she's not grabby like that, but she did mention in conversation it was her "dream set." So we bought it and enjoyed the excited squeals.

But last year at Christmas she sent through some Temu links and the whole lot only came to £40, so she got that and £50 in cash and she was made up.

This year, we're spending Christmas in Lapland so they are both getting a few small bits, mostly off Vinted, because a holiday to Lapland is enough of a present and we have luggage allowances to consider!

It's depressingly easy to reach this figure once kids get older!

My 10 year old DD has only asked for a handful of things, and they are all quite useful and practical so I want to get them, but, as an example:

Acoustic Guitar - £130
Heelys - £55 (on sale)
Band Merch - A hoodie and a character plush - £110 with delivery

Definitely not a huge pile. My boys are younger and don't need any particularly big presents like bikes or tech this year so £250 each will be a very generous budget.

I aim for £300 each. DD2 will get slightly more this year as she needs a laptop, DD1had one 2 years ago. It may go over as stocking fillers really add up as they get older; make up, skin care etc.

£300 per child unless money is no object is an insane amount of money to spend.

It never fails to amaze me how much people spend of Christmas - gifts, Christmas Eve boxes, matching PJs, food, drinks etc etc.

Why can’t people live within their means and stop trying to compete with fake people online?

We are high earners and I wouldn’t spend more than £150 each on my kids. No xmas eve boxes, no matching Pjs. No waste.

I don’t see how it’s insane. We don’t do Christmas pyjamas or Christmas Eve boxes and never will. My 4 year old will have about 6 parcels to unwrap, only one of which is particularly large (a brio station for his train set), a few books and a stocking. Doesn’t seem excessive to me but it’s around £250.

Why would you insist on spending no more than £150? That’s an arbitrary amount that makes no sense. Things cost what they cost. For my son’s birthday he got a bike and a helmet which was over £300 🤷🏻 We’re mindful of the things we buy and keep purchases fairly minimal, but 6 parcels, some books and a stocking totalling £250 seems reasonable. A teenager might want a phone, games console, or bike or sports equipment costing hundreds of pounds.