To ask if £600 is too much to give your teenager to go and buy holiday clothes?

[SandraDea]

Just wondering if I’m a bit out of touch. My son has just come back with his mate from a shopping trip in the city centre.

His mate (14) had £600 transferred into his bank account by his parents this morning to buy clothes for the holiday they are going on tomorrow.

I know the family are wealthy but even so isn’t that extortionate? He did actually spend all the money as he’s shown us all his purchases!

Just interested if this is a bit OTT or if I’m just mean! Or maybe people just spend what they can afford whether that’s a lot or not much 🤷‍♀️

I think £600 is reasonable if it's branded items, I'm assuming the teen is probably in the adult section, so prices are higher.
My ds is 12 and I've spent £400 on him on just bits, shorts t shirts and underwear, it will easily be another couple of hundred for trainers. You need plenty of clothing for holidays, as you change more and nobody wants to be doing the washing whilst they're there.

Erm, I can easily see how to spend £600 if you avoid Primark and buy better quality items.

If you think a new pair of trainers from Nike/Adidas are around £130. Jeans could easily cost £150-£200 if you brought Edwin or Levi’s. Branded T-shirts can be around £40.
If you were to buy hand luggage that could be £120.

So no, if you can afford it, why not spend it? I would rather buy better quality items less frequently than cheap stuff.

You have to love the competitive misery on MN.

yes, it's a fair amount, but if they can afford it, who cares? The kid is not more spoilt because he can afford decent quality clothing.

Easter holidays are the ones who cost me an absolute fortune in term of clothes: kids have pretty much nothing left that fits from last summer, so need new pretty much everything for our Easter holiday (and I buy the summer uniforms whilst we are at it).
I buy more clothes because of the holidays, because I buy them in one go instead of grabbing a few pieces every week.

some people have the luxury of free time to potter around charity shops and take ages to find the right clothes, others just buy a bulk from a few shops. Really not a big deal.

I don’t think it sounds massively unreasonable if they can afford it - my 2yo and 9yo had £500 spent on their summer wardrobe this week and that will probably be half of it - depends where they shop - doesn’t have to be big brands - ours was John Lewis mainly

I'm not sure that paying more neccessarily = avoiding sweatshops though

It 100% does not. But telling yourself that is does is a nice way of making yourself feel better about spending a shitload of money on a pair of shoes.

Do your children not grow between one summer and the next then? How lucky! Mine always needed new clothes for the summer every year.

Well yeah, this thread is specifically about buying clothes especially for a holiday. Not about buying clothes to replace old ones that your child has grown out of.

but that's the point, I always buy clothes for my kids Easter holidays, because that's when we realise they have nothing to wear for the summer.

If you’re buying branded then £600 is going to be less than 10 items probably.
It’s a lot for a holiday but not that much if you’re replacing a wardrobe I suppose. I don’t buy branded stuff though so it’s more than I’d ever spend. If they can afford it comfortably it’s not really anyone else’s business.

I've spent £100 or so on ds 5 holiday clothes so far as hes had a growth spurt(Next,George) .Dh favours brands so will spend more on his.I spent around £150 on mine.

but that's the point, I always buy clothes for my kids Easter holidays, because that's when we realise they have nothing to wear for the summer.

Ok. Maybe that was the case with OP too. Who knows! But if we're taking a tangent from the OP to discuss new clothes in general, then no I wouldn't give my teenager 600 quid to go out on a shopping trip for summer clothes either.

I wouldn't either to be fair, but mainly because I try to keep my kids away from obvious brands, obvious designer clothes are deemed chavy around here and I agree! It's possibly reverse snobbery, but I like that way of thinking.

I gave Ds2 £200 to get him self kitted out for Australia the the year and I got £50 change!
To be fair Ds has little interest in cloths as long as they are clean and fit him!
Ds1 on the other hand.......

I can see how that would happen. Ds16 is into his brands he bought a tracksuit for £140 on Saturday and his trainers were £140 that's one outfit. Designer flip flops are around £50 so yep that's what I'd expect to give to my teen.

On paper it sounds a lot. As parent to a 6 foot tall 13 year old, £600 really doesn't go that far. And it seems like when he has a growth spurt all of a sudden everything needs to be replaced at once rather than doing it slowly.

If it's affordable, I don't think it sounds overly unreasonable or spoiled. If you're leaving yourself without money for bills or essentials so your child can have cash for clothes, then it's ridiculous.

FudgeBrownie2019
But in the Ops case she was talking about new holiday clothes, not a complete wardrobe because of a growing spurt.
£600 seems a lot for holiday extras when presumably the lad will already have trainers and t shirts and a couple of hoodys anyway.

Holly sh$t yes it's far to much unless they only buy designer gear! I'd say about £200

When I was 19 I had a boyfriend who's mum would give him 130 a week pocket money and he'd give her ten back to repay her for the alloy wheels that he got with his brand new golf guitar that she bought.

Gti not guitar

Has he bought Primark outright????

You have to love the competitive misery on MN.

Competitive misery is equalled by competitive "of, of course £600 only goes so far if you get designer gear" type posts though, isn't it?

I don't really buy this "stimulating the economy" bullshit. Not for the manufacturers or retail workers. Just for the owners. The gap between rich and poor is widening, and I don't think 14 year olds wearing shoes that the person who sold them would have to spend a weeks wages on to afford is a sign of the economy going well.

I don't think I could actually spend over £100 on a single amount of clothing without feeling physically sick - even a coat or something I'd spend less than that. Prescription glasses I might pay over £100.

Yes, obviously if you're buying £2 t-shirts and £15 jeans they aren't going to last very long but designer isn't necessarily indicative of quality, is it? I'm sure you can get long-lasting things for around the £60 mark (and probably half of that or less for something like t-shirts).

£600 is probably about our clothing budget for the year - 2 adults (we rarely buy clothes), one baby, one preteen. We are not interested in designer brands.

@BackOnceAgainWithABurnerEmail Wed 17-Apr-19 18:47:59
Why does one need a new wardrobe for a holiday? Madness regardless of how much you have and teaching him you’re a money tree.

We always get some new stuff before going away, not necessarily a whole wardrobe, although last year everything I took was new, but we only took cabin bags for 14 nights, I made sure I could mix & match outfits and we had a washing machine.

Comparisons with adult holiday shopping are ridiculous. Try working out what you’d buy if you were going on a sunny holiday if you’d put on three stone since last summer so hardly anything suitable in your wardrobe still fitted. Oh, and you’d grown an extra toe.

I took DD 22 shopping last week. 2 pairs of trainers and Birkenstocks were over £200.
A couple of pairs of jeans £140
Assorted tops, Denim jacket and culottes another £150.
So yes, it can easily be done.

It’s all relative if they can afford it why not it’s money back into the economy I like to convince myself the money I spend in Tu 25% forvmy chikdrens summer wardrobe also helps!