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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in not buying my DS much for christmas

60 replies

Morph2 · 10/12/2011 23:46

He is only 18 months. I've got him a Henry hoover which cost £20, some wooden fruit which was about £5, a cuddley Po from teletubbies which was £10, also had a tea set £5 but he spotted it so i've let him have it already. I was also gonna buy a tent from ikea but they are out of stock all the time so i'm gonna get that for his birthday in May.

I really can't see the point of buying him loads at his age just for the sake buying stuff for christmas. He's had bits and bobs through the year, i don't spend a fortune but for example i spotted a fisher price little people garage on ebay near us the other week so i bought for £4 and he's had that straight way. One of his baby friends mums i am friends with on ebay, i saw on her status she had posted 'Average spend on children for christmas is £178, whose kids am i buying for????' which i take it to mean she spent more that that. they are not rich but i know she's bought her 18m DS an electric car and a dancing elmo toy which is about £60 odd quid. I'm not rich but i'm not poor, i could afford to spend more if i really wanted to i just can't see the point at this age. Am i being tight?

One of my friends with older kids told me the more you give kids the more the want and the less grateful they are.

OP posts:
BoattoBolivia · 11/12/2011 08:42

That allnsounds great. Ds (20mths) is getting a garage (from the loft- it was dd's!) and some stocking fillers from us. Dd (9) is getting more, but some has come from the charity shop. She will notice but be very happy as she has been trained to be a super bargain hunter like me! They will bothhave loads from other family members and be totally happy with what they are given.
I find it hard when they are small because they develop and grow out if things so quickly, which means they need new stuff during the year rather than just at birthday and Christmas time.

BuckBuckMcFate · 11/12/2011 08:49

Well I have spent nothing on DS3's Christmas presents so I call top trumps Grin

He's 13 months. He's getting a ride on scooter and an elc car transporter. I ordered DD's presents online from boots and got his as the free ones in the 3 for 2 offer. In the end they didn't have most of the stuff for DD but still honoured the 3 for 2 offer! Thank you Boots!

I've done him a small stocking too.

As family buy him presents too he'll have loads anyway. And at this age the stuff they play with can have a pretty quick turnaround so it's a bit dim to go overboard.

And make the most of it too, by the time they are 8 like DS2 and want 3DS for Christmas they suddenly become very expensive!

I don't tend to buy throughout the year for the older ones, that's what their pocket money is for, but will for DS3 as his needs change so quickly.

And next Christmas he will be having DS2's outgrown Thomas the tank engine track wrapped up and DD's happyland stuff.

cheeseandmarmitesandwich · 11/12/2011 08:59

Sounds about right to me- DD1 is 3.5 and is getting 2 barbie dolls (one was £10, one was £5.99), a music/jewellery box with a dancing ballerina in it (£15- she has wanted one for ages!), a box set of Little Miss books (£25) and some crafty stuff (£5).

DD2 is 18 months and is getting a Happyland rose cottage (tenner on ebay), some Maisy books (£10) and a baby doll (3.99 from Sainsburys!)

They will both also have a stocking with things like hairclips, pants, socks, chocolate coins etc.

I find christmas so hard as between us DH and I have 8 nieces and nephews to buy for- I've been trying to keep to a budget of £10 each for them, but added up that's still loads. We only buy for the kids in our family these days, otherwise it's just ridiculous!

EverythingsNotRosie · 11/12/2011 08:59

I have bought my one year old a box of duplo bricks for twelve pounds and some pyjamas that she needed anyway! For her birthday she had some nice toys but she hardly plays with them, at the moment she likes strings of beads and Christmas tree baubles to roll around on the floor and her stacking cups. I am sure she will grow into the toys we bought but at the moment it seems pointless buying anymore!

Strawbezza · 11/12/2011 09:03

Sounds plenty. I've been at quite a few Christmases/birthdays where the children under 5 are perfectly happy playing with the first thing they opened, and have to be cajoled into opening more. On one memorable occasion the little girl refused to open anything more, her mum put the presents away "for later" and she opened them at Easter.

FabbyChic · 11/12/2011 10:33

How the fuck can you say a new toothbrush and socks is a christmas present? How cheap.

festi · 11/12/2011 10:38

I think you can safely say anything given as a gift is a christmas present, my dd will be opening a new toothbrush along with new tights and some other practical stuff like that she will need through out the year she is just happy to opening things and is greatfull for the items she has kindly been given.

festi · 11/12/2011 10:40

she also gets an apple and an orange in her stocking and that is normally the highlight, she sits in bed with me eating her apple and oragne, whilst delving through the rest of the stocking, Grin

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 11/12/2011 10:43

Sounds perfect. I went a bit overboard this year, and their birthdays are a long way off so they will be getting it all at Xmas, but I feel really silly about it and am determined not to do it next year.

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 11/12/2011 10:46

My DCs get a new toothbrush and flannel in their stockings each year, an maybe in the future they will get socks too (not this year as we are drowning in clothes already!) - it isn't 'cheap', of course they get these things at other times too, it's just a silly tradition FFS.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 11/12/2011 10:55

That sounds perfect. We have bought DS2 (9 months) a fisher price animal train thing, which I managed to get half price using various discounts. So we have spent £18 on him.

I think we have spent £50 on DS1, but that is loads IMO.

Fabby you are so weird on threads like this. The whole thing when they are little is that they have something to open, they don't really care what it is. I would rather have £400 to put towards a holiday that spend it on a vast pile of toys.

lljkk · 11/12/2011 11:38

As far as I'm concerned it's perfectly valid to get an 18m old nothing for Xmas. Yes nothing. Can he possibly mind getting nothing? No.
Since when is Christmas just about the goodies? :(

An 18month old will be more interested in playing in the box than in what was in it, anyway.

ReebleBeeble · 11/12/2011 11:58

I dont believe in buying too much for small children at Christmas. Then, I was brought up with only recieving one toy for birthdays and one for christmas plus a santa sack with maybe £10 worth of tiny toys in it.

My DD will also have her 1st birthday on christmas day meaning more presents than usual and both DP and I have large families so I know she'll be really spoilt. For her first year we've asked people to be sensible though- MIL is just putting money into bonds for her and we got her a santa sack with cheap Ikea learning toys (cuddly fruit, stacking cups, a book and a wind up water toy. £13 in total) Fisher price Magical discovery tree for her birthday (£19 in sale) and for christmas shes got Tomy squeeky eggs (£5) and a musical push and go Coupe car (£6).

Richlinn · 11/12/2011 12:14

My daughter is now over 20, but she was only months old at her first Christmas. I remember I only bought her one gift. This made me very unpopular with my family, as they thought she should have been showered with gifts for 'baby's first Christmas'. As she got older I bought more presents and she has never done without. You are definitely doing the right thing.

ShellyBoobs · 11/12/2011 12:19

Fabby you are so weird on threads like this. The whole thing when they are little is that they have something to open, they don't really care what it is.

Exactly. Xmas Smile

NinkyNonker · 11/12/2011 12:23

Yanbu. Dd is 16 months and is getting some little wooden musical instruments, some crafty stuff (paint etc) and some balloons from us.

KarenMillenCoat · 11/12/2011 12:23

That sounds lovely! They don't understand about presents and cost etc at that age, trust me! I went completely overboard last year and ds can't even remember it really!

Ds2 (3mo) has a moneybox and some squeaky eggs from DH and I, cost about £12 in total.

ExquisiteChristmasCake · 11/12/2011 12:38

My ds1 is 21 months and I had ds2 last week. Ds1 has nothing overly expensive (£30 on a new tricycle from EBay is the most expensive item). He likes unwrapping more thAn what's inside! Have bought things like Sesame Street plasters and funny shaped paint sponges (wrapped individually) and some bath crayons etc.y stater did a catsbum face when I said I'm buying nothing for ds2 who will only be 22 days old!! Madness!

ExquisiteChristmasCake · 11/12/2011 12:39

My sister**

stegasaurus · 11/12/2011 16:36

DD will be 8m at Christmas. We have bought her a stair gate! We would have had to buy one anyway in the near future and she will like a big box with lots of wrapping paper. At her age she isn't interested in loads of toys anyway, as she proved yesterday when she sat for half a hour and played with 5 lids/ dose measurers from washing machine detergent bottles. If I had known they were so fun, I would have wrapped them for her stocking. We have bought her one small (less than £10) toy and one book, and everything else she gets will be stuff we would have had to buy anyway - a dress, bubble bath, toothbrush, toothpaste etc. She isn't getting hundreds of things from relatives either, because my mum organised a lot of them to get a jumperoo together which she has already had and loves.

Woodlands · 11/12/2011 16:44

Sounds like plenty to me - I have spent £16 on two little car sets for my 17 month old DS, plus maybe another £10-15 on stocking bits (wasn't going to do a stocking but changed my mind!

mumeeee · 11/12/2011 21:38

YANBU. Sounds like you've got him plenty already.

Rhubarbgarden · 11/12/2011 21:55

Yanbu. Sounds very similar to what I've got for my 18 month old dd. Last year I got her an antique rocking horse - it probably cost more than any Christmas present she'll ever receive again and was of course for me! An inheritance meant I wanted to buy something that could become a family heirloom and the recent arrival of dd gave me the perfect excuse to indulge a lifelong dream Xmas Grin.

Meglet · 11/12/2011 21:59

yanbu.

That is far, far more than I bought my dc's for their first proper Christmas's.

I spent £20 each time and stuck £20 in their bank account.

Even now I can get away with spending very little and they're 5 & 3. I don't let them watch adverts so they haven't asked for anything. That way I get control over what they have, I'm the one who has to find storage space / tidy it up after all.

Meglet · 11/12/2011 22:03

fabby mine get bits like socks, crayons, character toothbrushes in their stockings, stuff they actually need - but a snazzier version. They think it's great. They are easily impressed though.

And it doesn't really add to the clutter in the house.