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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

400 replies

Snowflakes1122 · 28/10/2016 18:35

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?

OP posts:
IpDipCatnip · 28/10/2016 21:16

thingywhatsit totally understand! Good on you- although I know you have sacrificed elsewhere. We budget as we can 😉

Rhythmsticks · 28/10/2016 21:21

We don't really have a budget,I try to get most of the things they ask santa for so some years it's only been £200 a child, others over £1000 ( one child asked for a piano!).

I think the older they get, the more expensive their tastes! Last year I spent about double on my teen than my lo but the lo had twice as many presents!

ample · 28/10/2016 21:22

I recall a few years ago, one mum was shocked when I told her my DD had asked for a set of books and yep that's pretty much what she got (with a few bits extra)
I didn't buy a lot of other things to make up say, a £200 'limit'. To me that would have been completely bonkers.
The mum was Envy and basically told me that her DC's would never settle for that.

Fine with me...her DC's aren't mine and what a relief!
Each to their own though.

altik · 28/10/2016 21:24

Because no child should have that amount spent on him! Even if you have unlimited funds. Have you secured your future and his? - amount £1,000

inapickle - my daughter is a keen flautist, plays in two orchestras. Wants to take GCSE music, and possibly to A level too. Her current flute (a 30 year old hand me down) will last her to grade 5, but is not good enough to go beyond that. Her current flute teacher, previous flute teacher and bloke at the flute shop today said she will need a flute with a silver head piece. The cheapest I can get this is about £800+. We have said this is very expensive, so it will have to be her main birthday and Christmas present, but is something she needs to pursue her flute to the higher grades.

Are you saying I should never buy her this flute? After all, you do say "no child should ever have that amount spent on him?" Should I just tell her to give up, once her current flute is no longer any good? Or should I just go out and buy a thousand pound gift on top of everything she gets given for Christmas??

Or just maybe you can see that sometimes it is appropriate to spend that much money on a child, because after all circumstances do vary.

JustMarriedBecca · 28/10/2016 21:29

Nothing to do with income here. We are probably the top 5% of earners but we spend about £100 on DD2. Couple of Disney DVD's and maybe some Christmas pyjamas.

Christmas here is about spending time together not number of gifts. Quality not quantity. She'll need a balance bike for next summer so strictly speaking could buy for Christmas but she won't use it until the summer so better to wait and see if she grows into the next size.

Flanderspigeonmurderer · 28/10/2016 21:29

Mine has his heart set on something that costs just over £100. I think this is a lot but we will get it, and I will put a few small things in his stocking. Normally I would buy a few items around £20 then some smaller stocking presents. But he is still fairly young so I think cheaper presents are easier to come by.

AtSea1979 · 28/10/2016 21:33

I spend about a weeks salary on each DC

SheldonCRules · 28/10/2016 21:34

This comes up often and there are usually two camps, those that spend hardly anything and those that like to go overboard. Neither is wrong.

Some save and make a big deal of christmas, others spend weekly on magazines, wine, coffee and then claim to be virtuous spending wise when it comes to the festive season.

Bettybooop25 · 28/10/2016 21:40

I spend about £800 each on a 13 and 11 year old.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 28/10/2016 21:41

"Some save and make a big deal of christmas, others spend weekly on magazines, wine, coffee and then claim to be virtuous spending wise when it comes to the festive season."

How terribly reductive Grin

I never buy magazines, have a very rare takeaway coffee, am firmly in the £6 price bracket for wine - and yet I STILL don't fritter money away on Christmas. I guess that puts me in the smug bracket.

BarbarianMum · 28/10/2016 21:41

This year it will be about £150 each but that will include about £40 of necessary clothing each. It really varies though - bicycle years tend to be expensive and last year we snuck in a weekend at centre parcs as a "Christmas present"

bibbitybobbityyhat · 28/10/2016 21:42

If my dc need new clothes around Christmas or birthday time, sure I'll put a bit of wrapping paper on it and stick it on the gift pile. Where's the harm?

GoodGirlGoneWrong · 28/10/2016 21:50

It's all relative to what you can afford isn't it?

I try not to spend much as grandparents/aunts/uncles will buy a stupid amount of stuff. The children will have a stocking from them which my parents will have spent an extortionate amount of money on.

In our house we buy the children a main present from us and they have a stocking from Father Christmas.

Dc1 will be 5, has a birthday a few weeks before Christmas, have spent maybe £35 on stocking fillers and not 100% sure on the main present but no more than £40/50.

Dc2 will be 2 (3rd birthday 2 weeks after Christmas) I have spent £12.99 on the main present (a remote control car which was less than 1/2 price in the sales) but seem to have spent about £50 on stocking fillers.

I will spend about £200 on DH, as I have always done him a stocking as well (both his parents are dead and he hadn't had a Christmas stocking since they died before I did him one)

Great grandmothers will put £150/175 each into their savings account and will not buy presents at all, or if they do it will be something less than £5 a book etc.

When we have been truly poor DH had been made redundant, I did an entire Christmas for everyone for less than £100 was one of the best Christmas days we have ever had.

GoodGirlGoneWrong · 28/10/2016 21:51

Oh and my DC always have a Christmas Eve box with new pjs and book.

MissMoo22 · 28/10/2016 21:54

Why do people come into these threads just to moan about the topic of the thread and how they hate talk of xmas in October. Don't read the thread and don't post then!

I think how much I spend has a lot to do with age. When both older children were young enough to believe in Santa I could do one trip to the toy shop, spend less than £300 and not be able to move in the living room with the amount of presents from us in there. Now they are much older and ask for the latest console and games for it so obviously it's much more now. I'd say I usually spend around £300-£400 each if they are getting a new console but this year they have no need for new consoles so am hoping to spend £300 each and get quite a lot of stuff for that price instead of the 5-6 gifts when they're all much more expensive.

DD is 2 so a max of £150 on her, less if what I want is on sale. We have some family who buy a small gift each so I would say our kids do get a lot.

allowlsthinkalot · 28/10/2016 21:58

We have four dc so about £50 each total.

But rather than spending a specific amount I'd prefer to look at what they really want and will benefit from. I'm not fussed about spending equal amounts.

If one of my dc wanted something big and I was happy that it was okay for them to have I would ask grandparents to chip in and get it as a joint present.

I wouldn't buy a nine year old a mobile phone though!

dementedma · 28/10/2016 21:58

We spend about £300 on teen Ds and about £200 each on adult DDS. They dont get anything from relatives etc other than things like boxes of chocolates, small gifts etc. The rest of the year they get very little and the DDS have part time jobs to fund themselves. I don't buy for any of dh's family, pils are dead, don't buy for teachers etc.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 28/10/2016 22:01

"It's all relative to what you can afford isn't it?"

Well, no, that absolutely isn't the case. Some people put themselves in debt over Christmas. If you have to save up for it through the year (without saving for other things like pensions or holidays or home improvements or whatever) then you are spending more than you can afford.

Sallystyle · 28/10/2016 22:02

Well actually £150 per child seems a lot to me. We spend less than that and always have done.

I find that £150 is load for younger children.

However, for my teens it doesn't go very far anymore. Which is why they get a bit extra.

Sweetdreamsaremadeofthis · 28/10/2016 22:12

IminaPickle i do not need to justify anything to you or anybody else. I simply answered the question that was asked.

To clarify though he does not get any additional presents during the year only for xmas and bday.

I will buy our son what we want dont need to explain that to you but his main presents was 750 add that too loads of new clothes and a few lego stuff ect it soon adds up. We save all year to give an amazing christmas but that is our buisness not yours IminaPickle

IminaPickle · 28/10/2016 22:14

It's not my business, no. But why don't you give him things throughout the year? Confused

Sallystyle · 28/10/2016 22:16

Christmas here is about spending time together not number of gifts. Quality not quantity.

I dislike comments like this, they always sound so snide. I do not class myself a big Xmas spender at £150-£200 per child but the people who do spend a lot no doubt think Xmas is about spending time together as well. It doesn't mean the presents aren't of good quality. Although I would struggle to spend £500 on a toddler!

I could easily spend £1000 on good quality presents for my teens. I can't afford to spend 5 grand though!

Nzou1050 · 28/10/2016 22:26

I've spent £65 on DS age 3 so far (lots of stocking presents from Father Christmas) two biggish presents from us and he really has enough. Find it hard to resist a bargain though so may add to this.

DD will be 8 months and she doesn't really need much as we have so many baby toys from DS. Will probably spend less than £50 so DS can see her open some presents.

CheeseAndBeans · 28/10/2016 22:28

Don't really have a budget set out, all I know is not too much as we are skint!
If I get what I am planning, 3 month old about £30 and 3 year old about £80. Both sets of grandparents will spoil them rotten, but I don't think you have to spend a load of money at Christmas, for me it's not what it's about.

Sweetdreamsaremadeofthis · 28/10/2016 22:32

IminaPickle i ment he doesnt get additional presents through out the year of course he gets stuff during the year he juat doesnt get loads of stuff all year long.
Hope this clears this up for you