Spending very little on your kids at Xmas

[quirrelquarrel]

I don't have kids but I know aroundabouts what my parents spend on me and it's usually between £40-100. Some people spend more some less.
So I was wondering, would you ever only spend £10 on your kids each at Xmas, and what would you get them if so, and how would they react? Would you feel guilty or like you'd let Christmas go by that year.....?

absolutely not trying to offend or be all self righteous or whatever, just curious.

I buy presents for the children that I childminded - 11 in total - this year I bought from "the toy shop" online. I bought each child a gift worth between £12-15 , all "big box" gifts so look very substantial and the total money spent was £39!!

If I had to spend a tender on my own children when they were younger I could have done and still made the stuff look ok - now they are strapping teens It would be much more difficult.

And my second child had nothing bought for Christmas for his first three year we just wrapped up his brothers old stuff and gave him that instead lol

I always struggle to find anything very good at car boots or charity shops. Mind you the charity shops in better areas might have more things. The ones by me are full of really scratty stuff that looks like it's the stuff people couldn't sell at a car boot or on eBay.

Have had a few second hand things off eBay. I quite like buying second hand but not if it's rubbish and barely useable like a lot of the stuff I've seen locally.

If I only had £10 then I'd only spend £10. If I could afford more I would buy more. I personally don't think £10 gets you very much - maybe two books or one small toy. Most toys now seem upwards of £15-20. I agree for £40 you could get something good, or even £30. A lot of places do two for £30 toys.

if that’s what I could afford, yes. funnily enough our "big " present to DS this year cost 10 quid. Its a big box of lego I bought 2nd hand. He's going to love it. He will have some others bits n bobs, but I bought the lego last month.

My siblings & i only get £10 from my parents for xmas & i dont think there is anything wrong with it.

My dd gets A LOT of money spent on her by me at xmas but as she gets older it will reduce.

Ds (3) only wants one thing for christmas and it costs £15. I am pretty sure if that is all he got he would still be delighted. However, I will probably spend another £20 or so on some craft bits, stocking fillers, books etc and a game for us to play together on christmas day. I am not buying much though, because he just gets so much from grandparents /godparents etc that our whole house feels swamped with toys and books already.
Not sure I will spend anything on Dd who will only be 6 weeks old, I will probably just wrap some of ds's old toys!

DD1 (18)will get around £300, she has had up to £600 in past years.

DD2 (8months) will have around £50 as she will have no clue what day it is!

Dh and I get nothing from our parents - we are not at all bothered by this....we continue to give them generous gifts as a thank you for all they have given to us while growing up.
I like small gifts from my dcs, things that I need and love....some sea salt fudge - always love that! We are very well off and end up spending more on dcs than we probably should - rod for our own backs, we've scaled down their Christmas every year...I still feel our spending us shameful and would recommend people don't up the ante in the early years.

When my daughter was about three her list was as follows

"A baby that cries, a baby that wees, a pram and a chocolate rabbit "

A chocolate rabbit!!! In bloody December !!!!

She got a crying, weeing baby from us, a pram from nanny and I have a feeling that she got a chocolate reindeer

For DS' first few years I didn't buy him anything.

The gifts came from 'father christmas' - so he wasn't to know.

I wasn't being a skinflint - just didn't see the need to add to the piles of stuff he got anyway.

My boys are big now, but when they were young most of their presents were from boot sales, and it was never an issue. Much harder now they're older, as a) they know how much everything costs and b) stocking fillers for young men/teenagers are really expensive!

Student son will get nice smellies in his stocking ( ie not value shampoo which is what he's had to get used to this last year) new underwear, and a few books, plus usual chocolate coins, tube of jelly babies etc. Someone on here made the brilliant suggestion of getting rolls of gaffer tape for boys' stockings. Following this train of thought, will be getting things like tube of superglue, pritt sticks, batteries for all 3. I could stop doing stockings, but really don't want to.

When I was a teenager, my Mum ( single parent) was particularly skint one year, and made me a frilly petticoat out of an old sheet with lace edging ( all the rage back in the day) which I loved and wore all the time. She also made me rag dolls, outfits for my Barbies, and clothes for me, all of which were fab. The presents were never really the issue, it was more having a lovely dinner with a variety of faces at the table ( she always used to invite waifs and strays with no family of their own) then games and music.

I'll probably spend around £50 on 2.5 year old DD all in, but then grandparents etc will buy her gifts too, so she will have lots. I don't like the "mountains of plastic crap" syndrome, but she will end up with just that - plastic tat is what 2 year old girls seem to like! I'm happy to buy stuff second-hand. She'll have one "big" present, a stocking (crayons, chocolate buttons, etc) and a couple other things (jigsaw etc) from the £40 "santa fund".

Last year we spent a similar amount, and again the year before - when she was 8 mnths most of it was the next size up in vests/gro's/ etc. I'd say we were pretty well-off but hate the "only open presents after dinner and then they'll be rubbish" thing that properly well-off people do, but would prefer DD has the pleasure of a properly favourite and well-loved toy to remebwe when she's 80 years old.

I think its a bit weird to spend a lot - spending £100 on something that'd cost £50 3 days later, and that thing is likely something they don't massively want anyway.

OOh, I had a wee-ing dolly. I fed it a bottle and it did a wee on Mummy's nice dress, was the best thing EVER and SO funny.... I must've been about 3 and it's a really lovely fab memory.

This year DD (4 in feb) is getting :

Pink armchair for her bedroom, has been badgering for one in dunelm mill - 99p on eBay
Quilt for her baby cot - free as I'm making it from some offcuts
Room on the Broom soundbook £7 from book club
Minnie Mouse slipper socks £5 from sainsbury's
Hello Kitty baking set from dunelm mill £7
bag of chocolate coins £1 from asda
Possibly a bike but only if I find one cheap

We are reasonably well off but I don't spend money if I don't have to. If I can get something cheaper I will.

Showy , I think your Christmas sounds wonderful x

bumperella that's so funny, in a slightly evil way

Most years we spend about 20. So a few well chosen items sometimes second hand.

The mil and my mum also spend 25 on the kids each so we can get bigger items if we group money.

My kids are very great full. They know others get more but are always happy with what they have.

Also most people fritter money away on crap that goes in the bin unused. Xmas isn't really about what you get, it's more meaningful and we like to do lots of family games. We have a laugh.

Also most people fritter money away on crap that goes in the bin unused. Xmas isn't really about what you get, it's more meaningful and we like to do lots of family games. We have a laugh.

I'm spending 40-50 pounds on each of my two. A lego set and a stocking.

I think that's loads!

Ten pounds, i'd look in Charity shops. Last year I got my ds a horrible histories jigsaw for 1.50, it looked new! I once got him an R2D2 that lit up Star Wars pictures on the wall for 50p.

I think it's the adults that impose materialism on kids sonetimes.

I couldn't spend that on my 3 dds each for Christmas it's such a tiny anount. it would personally make me feel like I had failed them. not that I am passing judgement everyone has different ideas on a suitable budget for dcs at Christmas. we have spent just over £600 each on dd1 & 2 their 8 & 10. We've spent abot £450 on dd3 and she's 21 months she has loads tgis year but dd1 & 2 pile to us is really small this year due to the price of stuff they want.

£10 is madness to me I like to see piles and piles of presents but I seem to be in the minority on mn who do.

However Christmas should only cost what you can afford to spend without debt or using credit cards etc.

No, you've failed them if you can't give them love & stability - not if you cant give them a pile of expensive pressies.

but that's what I am saying it's such a personal thing I don't understand why people judge on it, no matter the spend the result will be the same homes full of happy children playing with their new gifts. my dds have more than enough love and stability but Christmas in my family has always been about loads of presents and spending time with family, that's how my parents done it and now us.

You haven't failed them if you don't do the piles of presents though, you know that!

The difference between Showy's Christmas and Three's reminds me of that saying about knowing the price of everything but the value of none. I know which version I'd prefer.

For lots of families this year, things will be very tight financially. To suggest that spending less than £x is 'failing' your children, as Showy's post shows, is frankly nothing short of ridiculous. I've seen Three's list of gifts recited on about eight threads now, and it sounds like something off the Generation Game. Or, to bring it up to date, the Gadget Show prize bundle.

Yes, I'm judging. I'm judging my arse off.