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Original poster

How much do you spend on your children at Christmas?

285 replies

Lilybetsey · 15/12/2018 13:53

A FB thread about a woman who plans to spend £400 on each of her 5 children for Christmas got absolutely ripped to shreds.

My children are teenagers and I have spent about £300 on them, or main presents .. then I do an advent calendar each - usually things I have picked up over the year, costs about £100 each I think .

Doesn’t seen massively excessive ? What do you spend ?

OP posts:
madcatladyforever · 15/12/2018 14:28

£100 but he is grown up and has a job and a home.

Tw1nsetAndPearls · 15/12/2018 14:29

We don't have a budget and I don't really think about it and so my figures may be a bit out. Last year about £15-£20 on our toddler and about £50 on 16 year old. This year will be similar.

LoisWilkerson1 · 15/12/2018 14:29

Depends. If they ask for an Xbox it would be 500 plus. Ask for a bike 200 etc etc. I drew the line at iphones etc. I would not go over 500 per child.

Maybe83 · 15/12/2018 14:32

I don't set a budget. They ask for what they want and within reason get it.

It will be about 2000 with clothes for the 3 of them. Not the same amount spent on each.

ExperiencedCatLover · 15/12/2018 14:32

This year we'll be spending about 90 pounds each (DD-14, DS-16), we tend to spend more for their birthdays

Skinnydecafflatte · 15/12/2018 14:33

Finding this interesting, this year we’ve added it up and they both got £65 each (excluding stocking prob £10
of stuff from Poundland) Thats for a 9 year old DS and a 5 year old DD. The Ds only had his birthday 6 weeks ago and has loads of stuff and neither really want anything much. They’ve both got new slippers and onesies and pj’s and a few other things. I think they’ll be happy enough. We could afford realistically to spend say £200 each but whilst they’re not asking for anything, I’m not just going to spend for the sake of it.
We’ve encouraged grandparents to buy an experience ie trampoline park, cinema voucher as they’d enjoy that.
My brother and their godparents give them some money so if there’s something they really want they can buy it in January.

PedroLostHisGlasses · 15/12/2018 14:35

Mine are 4 and nearly 6. I spend maybe £50-70 each - they've each got a Lego set, some wooden toys they liked from Lidl, some books and a couple of other little bits. Stockings are little cheap things only, some glow sticks (which they LOVE), some chocolate, I'll probably get some colouring pencils and mini notebooks plus a satsuma. They have overly-generous grandparents and aunties/uncles who like to buy for them too though, so I imagine the total spent on them is huge Xmas Grin

MrsMaker88 · 15/12/2018 14:37

Why are you worried?
I bought a lovely teddy and torch each for mine. That’s enough for them this year, they will get bits from family. Previous years they had bikes or climbing frame etc so was more.

Fiveletters · 15/12/2018 14:38

About £350-£400 on each of my 3.

DishranawaywiththeSpoon · 15/12/2018 14:40

The thing is it really depends on how old the child is, a 15 year old is entirely different to a 5 year old.

What you count as presents, some parents will buy like toiletries and socks and pus and stuff as Christmas presents whilst others might just get their children that

Whether DC need anything big that year that you can get as a present, poster above getting a flute for example, or nice sports equipment.

I think as long as you spend what you can afford, you're not excessive so filling up a room with presents it doesn't matter. Spend what you want and what you can.

When I was younger my parents probably spent about 80ish in todays money on me, I got one biggish present and a couple of little presents, books and socks type stuff and a stocking. My best friend got literally hundreds of presents, must have come to nearly a 1000 looking back, and her parents were probably similar levels of wealth to mine, crazy levels of spending. I never felt hard done by compared to her, I just remember thinking how on earth could she enjoy all of that. I was equally happy with my presents.

I don't think children realise the value of money, I never really thought her parents spent more on her than mine I just knew that she had masses of presents that tbh I didn't want, because i was happy with my one much coveted toy. But she was happy with her Christmas too, we both got what we wanted. I wouldn't feel guilty if I didn't spend as much as others because I honestly think children appreciate a couple of presents just as much as 100s. Christmas is exciting because it's Christmas and it doesn't matter how much money is spent, it is magical because it feels magical not because you get hundreds of presents.

DishranawaywiththeSpoon · 15/12/2018 14:41

That was supposed to say pants not pus. That really would be a shit Christmas if you got your DC pus

Canibuildasnowman · 15/12/2018 14:43

About £200 each which includes our pressies and Santa pressie

Flapjackninja · 15/12/2018 14:44

About £500 on DD15. The problem with teens and brands you don't seem to get alot for your money. (£56 for an eyeshadow palette Xmas Shock) I miss when she was younger I can could get proper toys and plastic crap Xmas Grin

Redgreencoverplant · 15/12/2018 14:45

Obviously age has an effect on how much is spent. We spend £100, DS is 2 so £100 is plenty. Probably won't go far when he is a teenager!

However you also have to think about other factors. Someone who spends £400 may not have family who also buy for the child. DS has huge numbers of people who buy for him so we can spend less.

Also some people buy their DC stuff through the year (we do) so might not spend as much at Christmas.

RolandDeschainsGilly · 15/12/2018 14:48

Teenager - £350
10 year old - £250
7 year old - £150
3 year old - £75

What the younger DC want is always cheaper than what the elder ones want. And I’m not prepared to just buy random shite so they all have “the same” amount of money.

HappyPumpkin81 · 15/12/2018 14:49

£16, she's a year old and I've bought her a very nice xylophone.

KingsScorn · 15/12/2018 14:52

I've never had a set amount - which is easy to do when you have an only child!

Just go with what seems reasonable/what they really want and try not to buy excess just for the sake of it or attempt to have a set number of things to open. In recent years (tween-teenager) it has varied from £200 - £600. This year it will be around £300 (a pair of stupidly expensive (IMO) trainers and some headphones mainly). Younger primary it was more like £75-£150 and baby/toddler £20-£50.

Summerisdone · 15/12/2018 14:58

I've spent somewhere around £120-£150 on DS, as that's what I can afford. He is however only just turned 4 so not yet asking for games consoles and other gadgets which cost upwards of £350.
I personally love Christmas and make it about the whole month of December though, so I've also spent a fair but on days out doing Christmassy things too (maybe up-to another £150) so once all added together it does become quite a bit.

I really don't understand why people spend so much effort ripping into parents who spend much more or less than themselves... it's all relative to what an individual can afford, and what sort of gifts their children would like (as stated, older the child the more expensive each gift tends to generally cost).
I couldn't really care less if someone spent £50 or £500 per child, it doesn't affect me and my child and also doesn't change how much money I can afford to spend myself.

ernjas · 15/12/2018 15:00

About £150 on DS who is almost 2 this year.

My mum used to spend about £1000 on me every Christmas once I'd got to 11ish.

heavenleighcasteel · 15/12/2018 15:01

2 DD’s £600 each. They are teenagers with disabilities. In the younger years (before we both worked full time and had made our way up the career ladder) it was based on what we could afford, some years £100 maximum. Birthdays are £50 each.

Many of the items are clothing as they like unusual gaming merchandise. As they have disabilities they rarely go out socially, so during the year they spend very little. Christmas is the time we splash out (especially on consoles and games)

We save through the year and do not go into debt. They have 20 gifts each, and are very appreciative of everything they receive.

It is simple, you spend what you can afford, I remember once year only getting paid on Christmas Eve and running about the shops to get the bargains, now I shop from October and I am savvy with the best deals.

Whether you spend £50
Or £5000, as long as it is appreciated and you have put thought into your gifts your children will be happy. My best Christmas was one where my sister was given a dolls house and we played all day with it (it was second hand), I couldn’t tell you what I got that year just that we had so much fun together.

PadawanCat · 15/12/2018 15:02

About £100 each. We always do a big family present too (in previous years we’ve done a trampoline, Nintendo Switch).

Stringofpearls · 15/12/2018 15:06

About £80, £60 on a main present from Father Christmas (baby rocking horse) and £20 on stocking bits that she'd probably get anyway like a book, socks, ear defenders for an upcoming flight.

OlderThanAverageforMN · 15/12/2018 15:15

Scrooge here. Two teen DD's about £100 each this year, £50 limit set between DH and me for each other.

It's not that we can't afford it, we are just not in the habit of spending much at Xmas, and we don't accumulate much stuff. During the year, we just buy what we need, so when it comes to Xmas nobody really needs or wants anything much. Some years we have bought phones or laptops or ipads, but you don't need those every year, and the (poor) youngest gets everyone's else hand-me-downs anyway. None of us could come up with anything we wanted this year Confused.

IsItCoffeeTimeYet · 15/12/2018 15:32

Between £40-50 each. We're not big spenders in our family and the main presents (ie not the little bits for the stockings) are all second hand, so technically worth more.
They have 9 other sets of adults buying for them at Christmas, so they're going to get a huge amount! (Although some of that will be money to go straight into their savings accounts)

Kolo · 15/12/2018 15:35

I only spend what I can afford, but I’m lucky in that we can get our kids some nice presents and it doesn’t bankrupt us for the year. This year I’ve spent about £100 each on them. I like to get them a biggish present they’ve put in their list, a few stocking fillers, some stuff they need (like new PJs, football boots) that I’d have to buy anyway, and some tickets for something we can do as a family (panto this year, though last year was a Boxing Day footie match).