To ask how much you plan on spending on DCs at Christmas?

[Snowflakes1122]

I ask because dc10 seems to have a lot of friends getting the iPhone 6 or 7 for Christmas. I'm talking 9/10 year old kids!

I was planning on spending £150 per child (we have 3 dcs)

What do you think is an acceptable amount to spend on your children at Christmas?

I am

Sweet in curious, if you spend £1000 on average for your dc5 Xmas, what are you buying? My dd is much younger (15 months) but I'm struggling to think of anything to buy her given she has quite a lot already

Depends what you can afford and what DC want / need. Last year we spent about £2.5k on DS1 as it was the year before he started school and we wanted to buy him a laptop and phone as well as his other presents. He also needed a bigger bike and DH was in charge of bike purchasing and spent way more than I would have. Last year we spent about £80 on DS 2. He's much younger and all of the things he wanted were cheap. This year we'll spent more on DS2 as he needs a new bike and scalextric is on his list. DS1 wants a couple of Xbox games and drawing stuff so I'll spend about £100 on him.

Your the friendly jolly type aren't you Queen? Ho-Ho-Ho October or not 😉

Loads. I over compensate as I find this time of year tough. They end up with piles of shite!

Am I the only person who has absolutely no idea? I know it is probably around £100 each but I couldn't give a figure at all. Buy through the year and stop once it looks like they have enough.

When he say DS1 was starting school, I mean secondary school.

It's ridiculous to complain about spending about Christmas presents without looking at the bigger picture.

Some people don't spend much at Christmas, but buy their DC gifts, clothes etc all year round. Some people spend loads and waste money on lots of toys etc Others spend loads but buy useful things.

I easily spend £500 per child. But that includes three new outfits, an annual supply of underwear, pjs, slippers, dressing gown, stationery, things for their room.

So others might only spend £50 at Christmas, but I'm betting they still buy their kids pants etc at other times of the year. So whilst I might spend lots more at Christmas I bet if you looked at their annual spend, I reckon mine is no more.

Sweetdreamsaremadeofthis Because no child should have that amount spent on him! Even if you have unlimited funds. Have you secured your future and his?

Um, maybe about £50-60? She doesn't get masses from family either. But we do get small bits and bobs throughout the year.

Both Dh and I would balk at the amount of money most MNers spends on presents (£150 is just for us), not just for DC but other family members as well. And I don't get an advent calendar with gifts in it either.

DD is only 6. I know that presents will get more expensive as she gets older so why fork out loads now?

Fecking phone! About £150 each, but more this year than others as we have bought them both bikes and helmets. We save all year. My family all do presents for adults too so I spend about £1000 in total. I save all year. My kids have bdays quite close to Xmas and I have had some luck with persuading my family to do experiences instead.

I hear you altik , mine only have gifts/presents for Christmas or birthdays 😉

About £20 for 16mo DS and will probably get him lots of little things as he likes the wrapping paper. He will have a little stocking too with socks and toothpaste in etc.

DD is 7yo and wants quite a bit, she will probably have about £50 spent on her plus a small stocking, with socks, sweets, bubble bath etc in. She gets lots of presents from 3 sets of grandparents (my parents are divorced), so no need for lots from us. She'll probably get a board game, a cuddly toy she wants and Hama beads.

An a hell of a lot of pants 😮

That true, alt, it simply wouldn't occur to me to count necessities as a present. So I wouldn't count a bike as a present, for example, as I think a bike is pretty essential.

It's all relative really, depending on the needs and age of the child. Our 19 year old needs a new laptop (he's at Uni) so £500? Plus smellies and fun bits. Our 16 year old just wants a few bits for her horse (about £200),plus usual smellies and fun stuff. Our 11 year olds at an awkward age and doesn't really want toys, but not really interested in phones/iPads etc. He's vaguely interested in VR goggles for his PS4 (£350) which I'm considering as he has no idea what else and our 4 year old is easy. Various toys and a wooden play house for the garden (that's cost us £140). I don't really buy them anything out with birthdays and Xmas. When they were younger it was much less 'per head' and plus their dad was in the army and we were always skint

Oh and I do buy clothes, underwear etc as needed during the year as they're both still growing so difficult to buy the right size for the right season if bought in advance.

iminapickle you don't get to dictate how much parents choose to spend on their children. It's all relative and you've no idea of the full story. How much you spend is up to you and largely irrelevant as long as you can afford it.

About £50. We are not on a low income, we just don't spend large amounts on Christmas presents. The dc are always thrilled with their presents and it wouldn't remotely occur to them that they were being hard done-by. They get presents from grandparents, uncles and aunts etc too. It's plenty! Presents are just one part of the Christmas fun imo, not the whole point.

Exactly Eolian

We spend about £150 on each child. Sometimes more, sometimes less, greatly depends on how much money we have had to pay out throughout the year and what presents the DCs would like.

This is a question guaranteed to cause drama on MN though. You have some people here to whom scraping together £20 for presents would be difficult and some who would think nothing of blowing £1000.

About £150 each and they have generous grandmothers! They are 21 and 18.

DD needs a new laptop and will get one for about £500 - she'll have it before Christmas.

clarinsgirl why on earth does a 10/11 year old need a laptop and phone worth £2.5k.

I've spent around £100 on DD1 since May on things to keep her interested throughout the next year (games, jigsaws, play-doh, colouring pads, books etc) whenever it was a decent price so I've got loads for that. I've not noticed it as it's been £5 here and there. I'll now spend another £100 on the "big things" that she is actually asking for.

We also have Christmas #2 on boxing day with family gifts from my parents, sister, family friends etc (thank goodness my lovely PIL pay into an ISA instead).

Teenagers do make it so much harder. Phones come out of their pocket money so technically they could have the latest phone but losing £30plus pounds a month and suddenly they are not so keen. DD bought a second hand iPhone 5s for £80 and DS1 bought an all singing Chinese phone for £150 and both pay £5 a month sim contract.