To spend less than £50 per child at Christmas?

[hibbledobble]

I read the thread where people were talking about spending as much as £1000 per child, and the average was in the 100s.

I can afford to spend a lot, but I don't see the need or the benefit in buying a lot. I plan on getting one large and one small present per child and maybe some chocolate. Things they will play with and cherish.

I don't buy into the consumerist culture surrounding Christmas, and I don't want to raise spoilt children.

Aibu?

I'm spending around £250 each but they won't have a pile, with teens you get a lot less for your money. They will have 5 or 6 presents each, some will be clothes which they need. I think it depends what they want, what they need and how old they are, oh and how much you can afford.

Presents in our household are lower than what seems to be the norm.

I shall spend around £40 each on DH and 3 teens. I’ll have a similar value gift from OH.

The DCs will give everyone a present costing £10/£15 each (out of my and DH’s money of course!).

Oh and Father Xmas still visits here and will fill DC’s stockings with around £10 each worth of small fun things.

That’s enough!

You are totally judging because for some reason, you have got it into your head, that you are doing it the 'correct' way and anyone who splurges is doing something 'wrong'

Well there is also judging the other way round. On another thread posters seriously can't understand how people can buy anything for under £100.

YANBU to spend £50 on your DC but you are BVU to think that everyone who spends over this amount is indulging their children in a mountain of tat culminating in them being spoilt. We will spend much more than £50 but this will include expensive sports equipment and a laptop. All these items we can afford and could go out and purchase today but since as a family we all buy into the Christmas Spirit of waiting to see what has been delivered under the tree our Dcs will wait until December 25th. I don't think my DCs are spoilt because they are prepared to wait in fact far from it.

Also why get piles of presents, does it really make anyone happier to have so much stuff

Yes it makes Christmas morning even more special as we creep into the living room to see if Santa has been and my kids spot them all! They don't get spoiled any other time of year, £30 max at birthdays so I love to go mad at Christmas. We also don't have anyone else that boys for them apart from my brother. They appreciate everything they get - from the most expensive item to the pound shop stocking fillers. I love watching them open everything.

Absolutely nothing wrong with spending under £50. That is a lot of money and you can still buy lovely stuff for that amount. Like you I hate the modern consumerism around Christmas.

We don't have strict limits. Some years it will be more and some less. Sometimes one DC gets more than another, but it evens out over the years.

swg I value experience and quality time over presents yes. My child won't be spoiled by learning an instrument or playing sports.

£1000 per CHILD?

Fuck that.

I don't know a soul who would spend that on 3 or 4 kids (collectively) for Christmas, let alone ONE child.

I call bullshit.

*LagunaBubbles.
*
How I love what you have said.

A predictable superior thread about minimal spending on children and anybody daring to get more than the feather toilet wind chime or a satsuma is consumerism and spoiling children.

Of course you're not being unreasonable! I feel like I say this all the time on here in all sorts of contexts, but why would you need to check what other people spend? What does it matter? Do what you want.

£50 per child sounds great by the way. Good for you OP.

Don't believe these people who say they are spending £1000 per child.

We'll probably only spend about £50 a child OP. That's nothing to do with competitive frugality, it's just that I'm just finishing a years maternity leave and money has gotten really friggin' tight, so we're going to massively cut down this year. We also have enough toys in the house already to open our own blooming nursery, so there's nothing they really need anyway. To be fair though our DD's are only 3 and 1, and are therefore young enough that we can get away with it easily as they don't know what things cost and will inevitably be more exciting about the wrapping and boxes than anything else anyway. I'm sure it's a lot harder to be frugal with older kids who write wish lists for santa with video games, and expensive toys on. I also know, that my Mum and PIL will go ridiculously overboard (as usual) with present buying, so the DD's won't be short on presents. Again, we're lucky in this respect as I'm sure it's a lot harder if you don't have other family buying for your kids and that all your kids will therefore have on Christmas is gifts that you have bought.

@YellowMakesMeSmile

Sounds like people may have hit a raw nerve with you huh?

I value experience and quality time over presents yes. My child won't be spoiled by learning an instrument or playing sports.

I value experience and quality time too. I also enjoy splashing out at Christmas because I am able to and want to. It’s not either or.

It's fine. If you shop carefully you can get quite a bit for £50. Saw lots of good deals whilst I was shopping today.

hibble - you are really starting to sound quite sanctimonious. I truly value experience and quality time - could give you lots of examples of lovely things we do as a family but my DS is getting a new phone and DD is getting a whole themed gift that cost more than £50 but will give her great joy. I'm not going into debt for anything and I defy you to meet my children and define them as spoilt.

Let people do their own thing.

Of course not! My DD is 3 and I plan to get her a scooter helmet and that's it! For my 1 year, a staryer train set for around £30 : )
They already have too many toys.
Kids these days have too short attention spans because they have too many things. Children play better and more creatively the fewer things they have, and the more open eneddd these toys are.
They will get loads of presents from grandparents and aunts and uncles, so don't see the reason to get them loads of stuff. I get them small things whenever I think they need something anyway, so think they are materially soiled enough!
Christmas shouldn't be about presents and materialism, but about family and togetherness. By drowning them in presents you are teaching the wrong message, and worst of all, they appreciate things so much less when they get so much. Keep it simple as long as you can! When they're older, and more aware and start consorting with others, I may consider spending more, but at this stage where my children already have tons of toys and don't need anymore I see. I reason to splash cash on unexessary things they will forget after a week anyway.

My problem isn't the money but the waste. Endless piles of plastic shite that will sit on this earth forever, barely played with. Much rather someone spent £1000 on a few expensive but well made, well played with things than £50 on 20 crappy gimmicky things tbh.

YANBU. I think that the whole save up for months to spend thousands on toys that will be forgotten in a week thing a bit ridiculous. We could afford to spend thousands but never do. We get a nice small gift for everyone so that everyone knows that we are thinking of them and so that everyone has something to unwrap. As far as santa goes the official line is 'we are very fortunate and can afford to buy you whatever you need. Other children do not have parents who can do that. There are an awful lot of children in the world and if santa made the same size/complexity gift for everyone then everyone would get a relatively small gift. This wouldn't be a problem for us because we could always buy what we need on top but poor children would miss out althogether. For this reason Santa has decided to make big presents for children whose parents cannot afford to buy them much at all and children like you get a small token present. He still cares about you and is thinking about you on Christmas so much so that he goes to the effort of coming all this way to give you such a small present but he knows that you don't need a big present from him so, due to limited resources, he just gives you a small one so that you know that he hasn't forgotten you and that you are special to him'. I'm hoping that this help prevent my children from growing into entitled brats.

But if they do it that way, it's clearly THEIR kids who are spoiled and having unnecessary extras

Yes, just like how the frugal posters apparently can’t think what one could possibly buy for dc that costs hundreds yet when pressed will admit that their children do own iPads, games consoles, phones etc. It’s just that the poster didn’t actually pay for them, rather generous gps/relatives did. I can never get my head round someone being smug because someone else stumped up for their dcs stuff!

Anyway Op spend whatever you like. Just try to bear in mind that the amount a person spends on their child at Christmas tells you precisely nothing about that person, their child, their morals, their class, the type of parent they are or whatever else you (and the many other “my way is the correct way, anything else is wrong”) seem to imagine other posters Christmas spend indicates about them.

We’re going to have at least one of these threads every week between now and Christmas!

I don't buy into the consumerist culture surrounding Christmas, and I don't want to raise spoilt children.

Bollocks!

These threads drive me demented tbh. Spend hat you like but everyone does things differently. If you are planning on sticking to the £50 (plus inflation) then are your children not ever going to get a bike, a laptop etc? If you give these things at a different time then spending £50 at Christmas is not completely different from parents who spend £400 when one item costs £££.

Also easy to give a toddler plenty with a budget of £50-£100, not so much a teenager.

Not a crack at people who have a budget of £50 or less as that's what they can afford, but don't bullshit about your DC not being spoiled even though you have money when the they are prancing about on a fucking pony the got form GPs

Buying children things does not in itself make them spoiled, damned sure that DC finding out that they never got their most desired gift from M&D because it was a tenner above budget and they had plenty of money will no doubt help to build a loving relationship...

Yes well funny enough I can spend a bucket load on my boys and still value "experience and quality time" with them to, it's not one or the other. This thread is laughable. Sadly I predict it won't be the last before Santa comes!

I think someone needs some commas and full stops in their stocking this year.

I know someone who bleats on about experiences over things! Luckily she is loaded enough to pay for expensive holidays and activities! Maybe if she wasn't, she'd be hitting up the toy shops like everyone else