Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

aibu to spend less than £50 on dc xmas presents?

91 replies

GinAndSonic · 01/11/2014 09:47

Well, it doesnt really matter if IABU because im skint Blush.
We dont have much spare cash. My dc are 5 and 3. We never go overboard at birthdays / christmas, so they arent used to being showered in gifts.
I have a barbie sizes wooden dolls house (no furniture or anything) that i got for a fiver in a discount clearance place that i can give dd(3), and i got a barbie with a bed etc for a tenner in the sainsburys sale. My mum has a box full of betty spaghetti toys from my sisters childhood that im going to give her too, plus books, jigsaws from charity shops. Ds (5) will get whichever action figure i can get for a tenner or so, some second hand board games, and magnitex toys (again, from my sisters childhood) and books, jigsaws from charity shops.
They arent deprived, are they?

OP posts:
Stripyhoglets · 01/11/2014 10:29

that all sounds fine, really don't worry about it.

IneedAwittierNickname · 01/11/2014 10:29

Minany year = mine last year

rebelfor · 01/11/2014 10:32

I've spent around £400 on my daughter at Christmas every year since she was around 3 years old, and seriously shouldn't have bothered.

She's now 10 and doesn't remember the majority of the gifts she received, she also had too many and didn't really play with most of them.

I wish I'd have spent less and just bought her things she would enjoy playing with. My parents budget was more like yours, OP, and my siblings and I loved Christmas time with the gifts we received.
And we never felt deprived.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 01/11/2014 10:33

Please don't worry, they certainly won't be deprived.

I have read some lists of presents already bought in the Christmas section and I am astounded at the amount of money that must have been spent, it is utterly ridiculous.

They'll have great fun with the stuff you've got.

bakingaddict · 01/11/2014 10:33

I already have got DD's (3) toys for Xmas this year when Argos where doing the 3 for 2 and i'll add some books to it as well. DS (7) is getting a few boxes of Lego and some books

Stupidhead · 01/11/2014 10:33

They sound like fab presents!
I'd also make them a sock monkey/monster each, I made one each for mine (when I was very very poor) and they still want one every year. They're in mid to late teens now! Dirt cheap, two pairs of socks and an old washed pillow for stuffing.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 01/11/2014 10:37

Sounds absolutely fine!

puds11isNAUGHTYnotNAICE · 01/11/2014 10:39

I don't buy my DD xmas gifts. She gets so many from the family they would just get lost in a sea of crap.

fuzzpig · 01/11/2014 10:46

YANBU! Less is more when it comes to Xmas IME. More likely to get played with properly etc :)

fuzzpig · 01/11/2014 10:47

As long as you really think about what they'd like rather than getting something just because it's cheap IYSWIM. (Voice of experience)

velocity1 · 01/11/2014 10:49

My dc never got much at christmas, tat for the stockings, an outfit, and a couple of well chosen toys. They enjoyed them as much as the neighbours dc who had a room full. I asked them recently, now they are grown, if they ever felt they missed out, they say no, so I feel ok about it.

Your dc will enjoy what they get, no matter how much or how little it cost, and you get to have fun helping set it all up too, which is the best bit Smile

MagicMojito · 01/11/2014 10:51

Something I heard in here a few Christmas' ago in here:

something you want
something you need
something to wear
and something to read.

I think that's a lovely way to do it, and a nice little family tradition.
although in reality I've already bought a tonne of stuff which I'm really mad at myself for as I know it won't be appreciated and is totally unnecessary

Smile
MissWimpyDimple · 01/11/2014 10:51

I don't think I have ever spent more than that. Plus a lot of what DD gets is second hand- either ebay or charity shop. She knows and doesn't mind at all! In fact I think she likes the idea that she is "rescuing " unwanted things.

She gets about £20 spent on her by my parents and my brother and a few other bits from friends and it's more than enough!

If there was something very specific that she wanted /needed I might spend more but to be honest, even her bike (which is a really good one) was £40 from ebay and her tablet was bought with Clubcard points.

Your gifts sound lovely Thanks

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 01/11/2014 10:51

I find the children get overwhelmed with presents from family. It makes sense not to go over the top as well. Your DC's presents sound great!

samithesausage · 01/11/2014 10:53

I'm trying to set a limit on presents for my children this year. Main present about 30 pounds, little odds and sods 10-15 pounds.
One year I bought party bag stuff (I have 4 boys) to bulk out the presents (screamer balloons, punch bags, pencils etc) and they ended up playing with these for ages ignoring their main presents!

MotherOfInsomniacToddlers · 01/11/2014 10:54

Sounds lovely. If you wanted a couple more things to unwrap for the 3 year old I have got my 3yo some really cute packs of hair bobbles with little owls and things on from Primark 9 in a pack for £1 and a little bag to put them in for £2.50. Also I got some puzzles from nearly new sales for £1 each. The works also has cheap sticker books and things. I agree there's no need to spend too much on toddlersGrin they just love unwrapping!!

MagicMojito · 01/11/2014 10:56

.. or what liquid said.
must learn to raft Grin

MagicMojito · 01/11/2014 10:58

Aaagghhh Ffs rtft obviously

MsVestibule · 01/11/2014 11:03

I struggle to find enough stuff to buy them at Christmas, but I have this idea that they must have a decent pile of presents to open on Christmas morning! By decent, I mean 10-12. I would be happy to buy more if I knew they'd use them, but most of them are just a waste of money. They're still at the age where it's quantity over quality, so maybe a trip to the pound shop is in order! It doesn't help that DH wants to buy more and I object to the waste.

MaryWestmacott · 01/11/2014 11:04

you know what, I bet that dolls house doesn't look much different from ones that cost £50+ - and if you'd spent that on her, would you think she was 'deprived'?

A couple of Christmas' ago, I was trying to work out what to get DS then 3, and decided a role play shop would be a good idea (the sort of stall one with play fruit and veg he could pretend to be a shopkeeper with). I was looking at ones in Little White Company and Jo Jo Mamon Bebe for £150+ then someone on the christmas bargain threads on here linked to a wooden Asda one for £20 - it looked very similar to the 'posh' ones, although it came without toy food, another £10 on food for it, and I had his Christmas gift that looked just the same as the £150-£200 ones. (And if I'd shopped around, I might well have got the toy food for a lot less).

I had a similar angst of 'is this enough' because we'd set a large budget for his gift, and I'd only spend £30. But as DH pointed out, if I'd bought the expensive shop, I wouldn't feel it wasn't enough so why just because this cost less but was pretty much the same thing, did I feel he needed more gifts?

(those days of massive budgets have gone for us now sadly!)

You've bought her a wooden dolls house. that's a wonderful gift, you've got a bargain, that doesn't mean you need to buy more. (And you could ask other people to buy her some furniture to go in it)

You're getting your DS an action figure, again, just because you're spending a tenner on it, doesn't make it any less of a gift than one that cost £40.

If you have a little left still in your budget, (or other family members to buy for still) I highly recommend hanging out on the Christmas bargain threads in the Christmas section on here, there are some very savy shoppers on MN who can do the hard work for you! Smile

LaChatte · 01/11/2014 11:08

We're not skint and that's the same as what we spend on our two. If they want more expensive things then they have to learn to save up for it!

HirVileness · 01/11/2014 11:17

It sounds like you've got them great presents.

I remember one of our skint xmases. DCs were 3 and 1. I made a snake from leftover fabrics and collected tokens for some puppets. They still play with the snake and the xmas was just as nice as the year after when we had a bit bigger budget.

MaryWestmacott · 01/11/2014 12:10

oh and for DD this year, we've actually one spent £10 - bought her something that should be £60 full price, in the Tescos half price toy sale now, then spent £20 on clubcard vouchers so only paid out £10. I don't think she needs anymore because we've only spent £10, I wouldn't feel I had to get her anything else if I'd got this toy at full price as I orginally intended to, it was only DH saw it in the toy sale in store, mentioned it and we looked on line and ordered it a couple of nights ago. I would happily have paid £60 (in fact I had seen it on Amazon for £50 and thought I'd be getting a bargain!) so as far as I'm concerned, she's got her gift, we'll just do stocking fillers now and resist the temptation to keep the spending between the 2 DCs the same.

WineAndChocolateyummy · 01/11/2014 12:28

We live away from all our family. Christmas is when we get together and the children get horribly spoilt IMO. We buy our children hardly anything as I think they get enough from others. DD 1st Christmas, we bought her one present for £5. I would far rather treat them through out the year than overload at Christmas.

Your kids will have a great Christmas - its about being with family and friends, not who got the most expensive present.

makeminered · 01/11/2014 12:39

No you see I don't like treating them through the year. I like the anticipation of them looking forward to christmas and birthdays. So we go overboard then.

Horses for courses.

Swipe left for the next trending thread