How much do you spend on dc's at Christmas?

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

I spend about £70 - £100 each. They're 8 & 10. But from what I've seen at Christmas time -on facebook- eek other parents spend hundreds.

I’ve already bought my youngest her gifts to the tune of £200 (way cheaper than last year thankfully) so the teens will be getting £200 each cash as that’s what they’ve requested.
Their dad will spend about £1000/£2000 on them each buying pc’s, laptops and Apple products and good luck to him too. Saves the pull on my purse strings which means more money for me to get myself an awesome pressie from Selfridges 👠👜👗

Tiger town yes we do have disposable income but I wouldn't spend the £800 each on them if it meant we couldn't go on several holidays .

No-one should be made to feel like a worse parent for not spending enough/spending excessively. We all have different circumstances and want our children to be happy so will do this within our means.

My daughter will be 14 months at Christmas and I won't give her a present to open - she is too young to know any different at the moment. I know I spoil her in general though - she had the luxury of going abroad 3 times before she turned 1, like most parents of babies, we have bought her everything she needs without exception and she has plenty of toys to keep her happy. We have done activities and classes with her over the past year and will continue to do so.

When she is 2 next Christmas and they will be learning about it in nursery, having visits from Santa etc, she will get something but I still don't plan for it to be a big gift.

Personally I don't believe in big Christmas or birthday gifts - if they want something and have Christmas/birthday coming up, I will buy them it as a gift. Otherwise, having something small that they will enjoy to open is sufficient. However, I have no doubt that I spend a lot over the year so have no judgement for those who choose to do it all in one hit.

Do ignore FB. I am very aware that the 2 families I know who like to post pictures of expensive gifts have some sort of axe to grind. I just take pictures for grandparents of them opening something from them. That's about it. We tend to get stuck in with playing with things or a game quite quickly so no time for FB until around 27th and it would be a bit odd that long after!

We are very low income. I save through the year and we don't have many luxuries. We never holiday and I'm not into clothes/bags/shoes/hair/makeup like so many of my colleagues seem to be. DH doesn't have expensive hobbies and neither do I.

I don't care if someone spends £20 or £2000, there is no "right" amount. The posters who feel bad about looking at fb photos or threads like this should step away. It really isn't a competition.

I try to make the piles of present look more or less the same rather than spending the same on each.
Not happening this year though. DD who will be 11 before Christmas has hinted several times about some £50 adidas trainers that she likes. Whereas DD6’s main present is a pram for her dolls and is cheaper and larger than the trainers.

DD6 has had less spent on her but looks like she has more.

Do the people that spend around the £100 mark only have 2 or 3 gifts? Or buy loads of cheap things? Genuinely wondering because I spent £100 the other day and only got 3 things. The week before I spent £150 on 7 things. So nowhere near finished. The 3 things for £100 were a cheapish scooter, a playmobil set and a lion king playset. Nothing major.
I struggle to imagine how people manage to get things for under £100.
My older ones presents are more technology, expensive clothes shoes etc so definitely wouldn’t get much for less than a few hundred.

Imustbemad

It was easier when my two were babies and toddlers. Could only get a couple of things, spend about £20 each and voila easy Christmas

Now at 2 and 4 the 4 year old at least wants a bit more.

I'll admit that mine are spoilt at Christmas. I had shit Christmases as a kid and I want it to be much better for my kids. We try to get everything they ask for, they're not greedy kids and don't ask for lots. They're teenagers so usually ask for Xbox games, concert tickets and band shirts/hoodies.

Between £100-150 each. Their birthdays are just before Christmas so it is that again for their birthdays.

I think spend on children’s presents get more costly as they get older because SO many children are into techy stuff, gaming, computers etc and it costs!
I will spend £100-£130 each. DC are 14 and 12. DS wants a Nintendo Ds of £180 so will contribute towards it.

Do the people that spend around the £100 mark only have 2 or 3 gifts?

Mine are very nearly 4 and 2. I reckon I’ve spent about £130 on each and that’s 5 gifts each. I think that (plus a stocking) is plenty of gifts for young children.
They’ll probably get 4-5 presents on top of that from family/friends.

I fully appreciate that things will be much more expensive as they get older!

I struggle to imagine how people manage to get things for under £100.

Because some people have to. Because some people don't have endless budgets. Because some people have little to no money.

How can some really not understand that?

Do the people that spend around the £100 mark only have 2 or 3 gifts?

Yes, I'd probably do 3 main gifts from us. Then add in a selection box and some new pjs.

However, there will also be all of their stocking presents plus quite a few from family and friends.

That's plenty imo.

What a shame you have such a struggle imagining gifts for under£100 . I guess there's no way you can imagine no gifts, other than those provided by charity.

Ok I'm going to be honest because I always feel like if I am then I'll be judged harshly and it's not really fair. I don't judge anyone else on how much or how little and it's all dependent on how much your kids get the rest of the year etc.

I spent about £400 on each dc - they are 7 and 10. Spent less when they were littler. Only other time they get stuff other than clothes and books is if they have saved up Birthday / Xmas money or at their birthday.

Yes it is a lot but we save all year for it and holidays which are our luxuries if you like and I appreciate we're lucky to be able to do that.

We also give alot of our time volunteering throughout the year and contribute to the foodbank etc all year round so they are well aware life isn't take take take.

I don't spend anything like as much on their birthday because their main gift then is their party / day trip etc.

I usually aim for £30 each but planning bikes this year so probably more like £100 each. They're still little so no need for expensive stuff in general.

Ecureuil
I shop around and start early. I buy in the sales or on offer and stash things for months. Upthread I said I spend around £150 but I don’t think I did last year. I can’t actually remember what I bought. I’m not buying dd any toys again this year. She prefers experiences and is 9. So I’m buying practical stuff like a dance leotard, a dance bag. I also get lots of bits and bobs from places like primark for stocking fillers. Tbh I haven’t bought much this year because I’m a bit stumped. Dd doesn’t really want or need anything.

I buy one main present for each child and they also have a stocking. Easy to spend much less than £100...

I spend around £100 each on both mine but it depends what they want how many items that is.

We also go away at Christmas so a lot of Christmas to them is the activities and my DS is not materialist. He is ASD and asks for very little just Mummy and cuddles generally for birthdays / Christmas (sometimes with cake), refuses to take part in school trips costing more than £4 (otherwise its a school rip-off according to him) and even when I give him money for sweets he rarely spends it and even when he does he will only spend 30p. He won't do the non-uniform days either as he can't stand the thought of us parting with £1. DD is keener on spending money but has never complained about the £100 spent at Christmas and birthdays.

Thanks to those that have answered my question (on my phone with rubbish connection so can’t quote all your names). I can’t really ask that sort of question irl so I appreciate you satisfying my curiosity!

Seems it’s a combination of 1) people with a genuinely decent amount of disposable income 2) people who save up/buy throughout the year 3) people who don’t spend/buy much the rest of the year so do it all in one hit at Xmas (fair enough). I also noticed people mentioning things like sports gear etc which is interesting as I think I’d probably just buy that as and when required throughout the year (supports my theory of different spending patterns/fund allocation)

iwant - yes, we probably only do 3-5 presents per person. Depends on age & expense of present. Especially for children I think this is plenty, as they have two sets of grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends etc who will all also buy at least one present so by the time you add all of that together they will end up with about 20+ presents anyway. Also, I think it depends on how you view Xmas as a family. For us, Xmas isn’t that big a deal (more about the family coming together) but we spend a lot more and make a bigger deal of birthdays.

We live abroad and budget 5000 baht which is around £88. We went over to buy a hatchimal. But this amount bought: Magic set, box of Lego and a Lego robot set, giant troll some colouring things, a stuffed stocking,some books and a Christmas outfit. Getting English books isn't easy and toys r us is veeeeery expensive as is Lego etc. But DSD is 7 and doesn't get a lot during the year. Plus it's Christmas and it's probably the last year she will believe in Santa. So we are happy to spend it

My DCs might get a little more this year, but I will be spending about the same amount. This is because I am working at a toy store and get a 30% discount on all our stock