To ask what you do with cash gifted to your kids?

[Monoblock67]

DS1 + 2 (aged 2 + 4) have been gifted some cash as part of their Christmas, £40 in total each.

I struggle with how to spend it each year, so can I ask, do you:

1. keep it till they need it for practical stuff (socks, clothes, shoes) etc. Which I’m not against but at the same time I feel a bit bad spending ‘their’ money on practical stuff when as a parent I should be providing it anyway.

2. put it towards their birthdays (both in January) so they can get bigger/more presents, which again feels cheeky

3. let them have at it and buy whatever they want, which results in meltdowns in the shop when they want a bigger present than they can buy, as they don’t ‘get’ the £40 limit (well the big one does but the little one doesn’t)

4. let them have at it and buy whatever they want which results in more useless clutter

5. suggest what they buy-which I don’t particularly like as as child my mum forever ‘told’ me what to spend my money on

Help!! I’m driving myself mad over something so bloody ridiculous

Invested into their savings accounts

Surely you save it?! My mum and Dad saved all our birthday, Christmas money etc from when we were tiny and it's mainly because of that that I had enough for a house deposit.

Save it! DD (almost 6) has about £2k to her name, i hope it'll be enough for a house deposit or at least a car when she's old enough. She gets way too many toys anyway, I'm not buying her more!

My kids get enough gifts and clothes so the money goes in their savings account and some in their money box as they both like to save for certain things through the year.

We are letting them buy a build a bear or something from the Disney store and some trainers for ds. They got £80 each. Will put any left over in piggy bank.

I always put it towards shoes.

Savings or use it for a day out or towards a big toy or something.

Spend half, save half here.

Put it in their bank accounts. Always have done. Both ds's have a lot now, which is more than we have! Ha ha.

It depends a bit on what your own financial situation is and what the expectation is from the people who gave it to them. My granny regularly gives my DS £100 for his savings for birthdays and xmas (he’s nearly 2), we save it but then when he needed a new car seat we did pay for it out of his savings as we just couldn’t afford a new one ourselves and felt it was important to get a safe one even at the cost of a few hundred pounds when he’s older. However other relatives give him money and ask to let us know what we got with it so I spent it on something he needs or put it towards toys or books that I couldn’t afford to buy myself.

My DC got £30 each.

DD (4) spent £23 on the build a bear website.
DS (5) spent £7 on build a bear. He wants to take it to TK Maxx.

Save it.

£40 is a couple of driving lessons.......far more useful than more tat.

Savings!

It goes in his bank account. I also try to put some in every month or so. Hopefully by the time he's old enough to appreciate it he'll have enough savings to put towards something meaningful.

We save it.

I opened junior savings accounts for them with myself and their father as 'trustees.' Oldest is now 20 and still hasn't got access to it. Unfortunately I'm now divorced from their father and the only way to access the money is for both of us to attend the branch with proof of identity. Due to acrimonious divorce, this isn't likely soon, so the money is stuck in a very low interest account!

Shoes !! DD (almost 2yo) needed boots ! Brought said boots and put rest in piggy bank :)

Goes straight into dd's ISA. I feel she will appreciate the money more at 18 then getting another toy straight after Christmas when she's already received lots of gifts.

Both.
A token amount yo spend as they choose. It's s good lesson in learning the value of money.
The bulk saved in an account.

Savings account. DS is 3 & we used part of his savings for a climbing frame in garden. Now DS2 is here both their savings are at equal amounts & will remain that way.

Savings account

My two DD get £50 each from DGP for xmas/birthdays. When they were younger (and didn't whisk the money out of the cards and start dancing like they had won the lottery) we put it towards a secondhand outdoor climbing frame. Sent the pictures of two very happy girls playing to DGP and when other kids come over they immediately go out to play. Everyone is a winner. We also put the money towards camps/certain extra circulars which we probably won't of paid for.

The girls did get a fair amount of money for their Baptisms and when they were babies which will probably cover a backpacking trip around Europe or a secondhand car.

The thing to consider is that will you be struggling/will it make your lives easier to use the money now? If the kids will be going without something they need use the money as that's better than a few driving lessons at 17.

DS has a savings account. Most cash presents get put into this account and I tell the person the gift is from that I am doing this. He is 2 and has a fair bit in there. Hopefully when he is 18 and can access the account he will have enough to do something useful with (car/education/part house deposit) if he is sensible enough! Fingers crossed.

We put ours in premium bonds. Once they get to an age where they’d understand birthday money we’ll probably match it so we’re still putting money in. We reckon it’ll pay for driving lessons.

I put it in the DCs bank account and then dip into it for treats and days out during the year.