To ask you how much you spend...

[TheSunIsFar]

At Christmas - on your kids.

I'm talking relatively speaking.

My DH and I have about £400 a month disposable income between us after all bills and food etc and we've probably spent about £400 on presents for one child this year.

My in laws think this is excessive but other than Birthday and Christmas there isn't many new toys in the year so this is an ideal time to provide with new age appropriate fun toys and we always donate older toys (that still work) to charity.

In total I think I've spent £6-700 on everyone I need to buy for in DH and both sides of the family with about £150 each being spent on the 12 and 10 yr olds and £100 on the 5 yr old.

I think this is a bit more than other years but they are having an Xbox One to share as their main present.

1 Dd age 12, have spent about £250 will probably end up about £500 by the time I buy other gifts. It’s our money & I don’t care what other people think.

I'm with Laguna here, the mention of your daily income Kong plus the use of the word absurd, clearly had the subtext of 'Why are you spending money you can't afford you ridiculous pleb, I am considerably richer that you and wouldn't dream of entertaining such vulgarity'.

And don't pretend you didn't mean that. Because you did.

My budget every year is £150 for each of my three DSs and £50 for DH.

This year I spent:
DS1 (7yrs): £180
DS2 (6yrs): £165
DS3 (2yrs): £95
DH : £60

So I’m pretty chuffed with that overall. Quite close to the budget, and decent stuff (I don’t like buying tat or ‘fillers’ or things just for the sake of it). Equal-ish presents in quantity and quality for older two. DS2 has a birthday in november so always hard to balance that. And tricky with 3 boys too.

2 DS (11). About 100 each and 50 bits. They dont need any more than that even though we could go higher.

I dont buy for DH as we have a joint account so I dont see the point.

Our total spend will probably be about £1000- that includes presents for our 3dc, parents X 4, siblings and partners X 8, grandad, nieces and nephews X 6, Christmas food shop and alcohol, trip to see Santa at Severn valley railway, and any other bits. Sounds a lot, but when you look at what we buy, we get a lot for it. We budget through the year for it and, importantly, we love it. I love giving to my special people at Christmas and we don't go mad the rest of the year. It really depends on your income as well.

OP, MN is known for its competitive frugality when it comes to children Christmas presents.

I've spent more than you so I don't think it's excessive. Some spend more buying a bottle or two of wine a week than you have spent on gifts.

Thanks @SweetEnough

Really does it matter what others spend ds1 birthday is on boxing day so he gets birthday presents we don't have much family and he doesn't get much during the year so if I want to spend 3/400 pounds on him its up to me ds2 is severly autisticand has learning disabilities so buying for him is much more difficult .

Birthday presents as Well *

About £80 per child, perhaps, usually less. We spend much more at birthdays though.

Approx £200 each. I'd spend more, but my parents also spend similar on them, so they get plenty!

There’s too many considerations. What is included just main presents, stockings, new PJs, advent calendars, Christmas Eve boxes etc? It also makes a difference if others buy significant presents eg grandparents etc.

What you spend is entirely up to you but I would advise against setting a very high bar, taking on debt to buy plastic tat(children’s happiness is not related to the amount spent on them at Christmas), or buying so much it wasn’t valued. I think on the whole ‘needed’ presents are better than wanted, useful presents give greater long term pleasure than the latest silly trend and the excitement of waiting and guessing are far, far more joyful than a bunfight with a mountain of discarded wrapping paper. Too much and they don’t really either enjoy their gifts or value them.
I think it’s different as they get older and expectations and needs increase. We’ll spend a lot helping with furniture, household items etc for the older ones and cars for the younger ones. In truth we’d do that anyway but might as well give it as Christmas presents rather than create an entitled attitude that we’ll pay out regardless.

Knog why the silly eyes? Of course I think my kids deserve it, they work hard all year round, DS2 in particular does so much for me and DH around the house and I love them both so much (as we all do our kids) - so that's enough reasons for me! What kind of mind must someone have to post a sarcastic rolly eyes just because I feel my kids deserve to be spoiled at Christmas?

I've spent about £20.. my daughter is 1 and will likely be more interested in the wrapping paper! I could spend more but don't really want a house full of plastic rubbish.

I think people's own upbringing often influences how much they spend at Christmas. I remember only getting £10 worth of presents from the age of 8 upwards (I got bikes and prams on years before then) and my friends all got loads more. I felt like the poor kid. It has made me want to spend more on my children. We have limited it to £600 between the four of them but I would probably spend more if I could afford it.
My friends who had more presents when they were kids are now happy to have very frugal Christmases with their own children. Obviously everyone deals with situations and memories differently though.

My dd is 11 and I usually spend quite a bit but that's not because I buy her lots of things, but because I like her to have at least one "big" present that I know she will really like. I think that's because my parents always did that for me.

we have a very small house so it's quality over quantity!!!!

Only child - about £500 although not been keeping track closely. I don't care what people think, I'd bet the people moaning will be the same people who start twitching at "early" xmas trees ...

About £100 per child. It might stray over with a few stocking fillers but not by much.

Oh, I have two kids - 9 and 4.

I have one DS aged 14 and I’ve spent just under £1200.
Yes it’s a lot of money but I save for it and he is really grateful for everything he receives

Imho save the money for when they really need stuff ie uni.
There's obscene expenditure on very young children on here. Still, if it makes you feel good crack on. But you never know what is round the corner.
Happy Christmas 😱

It has varied a lot but this year a gaming pc will set us back about 1200.

We have spent about £150 on each child (we have 2 kids). We don’t have a lot of expendable income so this is stretched over a few months. I think it depends on your financial situation really. Anything we couldn’t afford will come from relatives so works out more than enough.