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 🤷‍♀️

Sorry, I think giving your teens 500 twice a year to spend on clothes, not including a coat or shoes, is pretty obscene. Or 50 a month. It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are. Money for a hobby, yes, if I could afford it, but clothes, no way.

backonceagain
We both wear Levis because we have 34 inch inside legs and they fit! Levis last at least 3 years so are an investment.
I always buy quality over quantity.
Not sure why people are so outraged at other folk's spending habits.

@Inadvertentlybrilliant - I completely agree.

My older teenager has a part-time job and brings home about £600 a month. No way would she spend the whole lot in one go on a few new clothes for a holiday. But then she knows how hard she has to work in order to earn it.

I dunno... it depends on whether that includes footwear etc. this week I spent over week between clothing and make up but I do not do that every week (or month) we’re going away on Saturday for 5 days so I got a new coat, jumper x2, shirt, dress, and underwear and then 3 items of make up at 25 each 🙈 it’s not completely obscene if he’ll wear them all summer.

That’s nuts.

Oops and a pair of jeans..

Over €400*

The friend in the OP is 14. I doubt he is spening more to get better quality or because it' s a good investment because
a) he is a 14 year old boy
b) likely none of it will fit him next year anyway. Actually if he's like my DS none of it will fit him by the summer holidays, which would be another argument for not spending more than necessary

daisy, you can think it’s obscene, that’s fine! My mum thinks the same, doesn’t understand why we don’t dress our children from the charity shop.

@CakeNinja- do you go with them to spend it? It’s a combination of the amount and him spending it without company/ guidance from parents which seems sad in the OP

@CakeNinja

Because there's no middle ground between spending stupid mounts of money on clothes that will soon be grown out of and buying from a charity shop. I definitely agree with your mum. It is obscene and having hundreds to spend in one go at the age of 14 having done nothing to earn or save up for it will do them no favours in later life.

For what it's worth I could afford to spend that much on my kids' clothes but don't because I wouldn't want to encourage them to be so careless with money they haven't earned, I wouldn't want them to come to expect overpriced clothes when they may well not be able to afford it as they grow up and I'd generally not like to place such an emphasis on something so superficial. By all means when they're older if they get into fashion and want to spend their own money on it I would think it's fine (by that age they will probably be better placed to distinguish what's over priced from what's genuinely good quality).

It is a lot of money but I can see how quickly it can be spent.

Ds is 16 and likes Armani and Hugo Boss t shirts and polo tops, price anything from £50-£120 approx for one top.
He gets his jeans from River Island and likes JD for Under Armour sportswear. Recently
bought a top and a jumper hoodie there which came to £90 and his trainers cost me a fortune ( size 13/14 ) so I can get why it is easy to spend £600 without going OTT.

Ds goes on amazing holidays with his dad (my ex) every year and I probably spend around £400 getting new stuff, he doesn't mind Primark for cheap and cheerful swimwear etc.
It's a problem when they refuse to wear Primark etc and only want designer clothes.
Ds knows that I don't mind him having nice stuff but not to be snobby over it.

Meanwhile in the real world, I wear Matalan, River Island, New Look, Zara etc and have far more stuff than him as it costs a lot less.

Zoflora but are you genuinely happy to spend those sorts of sums on clothing for a 16 year old, and, more importantly can you really afford it? I am sure my 18 year old would love designer T shirts etc but we’ve always made it clear that if he wants ‘brands’ he buys his own. He’s got a strong work ethic & has had p/t jobs since he was 13, interestingly he is verycareful about his spending now that it is his money, and tends to save rather than spend .

If you have the budget for it then I guess it doesn’t really matter (although in my opinion rather indulgent).
What I think is really sad is when parents go without because they spend all their money on designer stuff for their children.

They're calling them 'holiday' clothes, but maybe it's his entire spring/summer wardrobe. If he's had a growth spurt, I could see how it might cost that much. Middle ds isn't going to be able to wear one single thing this spring/summer that he wore during the last one. At 14, the friend could be buying mens stuff too - that'd soon add up even without any labels. Or am I clutching at straws?

I don’t see how £50 a month is obscene? Maybe a week, but if they’re spending £600 over a year (so what the boy in the op spent in an afternoon) and that includes some footwear and they’re still growing? I also give my ds an allowance for clothes, some of it we go out and spend together, some he’ll go with his friends, I’m genuinely struggling to see what’s offensive.

having done nothing to earn or save up for it will do them no favours in later life

I don't make mine earn or save up for clothes. I buy them as a parenting basic.

If they need the next size up it's very easy to spend hundreds. Pjs alone came to £70 the other day. It very easily adds up. Maybe they said it was holiday clothes but mean new in time for holiday and will be worn after.

£50 per month, is just over £12 a week. That's hardly obscene

Spends if he buys labels as it would only buy 5:6:7 things if they are .. I would take him to an outlet if he will only wear labels though .

He quite possibly has no holiday clothes at all as at that age it is likely that he will have grown a lot since last summer. So, no, £600 doesn’t sound like a huge amount if he needs a full week’s worth of clothing including trainers, swimwear etc as well as t-shirts, shorts, flip flops.

£12 a week might not seem a lot but I personally think it’s a lot to spend on clothes. I have fully supported my dc hobbies and activities to a much greater sum than that but I refuse to spend it on unnecessary clothing, apart from something at Christmas. My teens have had part time jobs and all make extra money by, of all things, selling clothes online. If they want to spend their own money, they can.

Oh are we talking £12 on just clothes? I thought that was £12 per week pocket money and that seemed on the low side if anything. I agree £12 per week just on clothes is a lot.

Ragwort
I agree to an extent that it's better if the teen has earned the money themselves as knows the value of money etc but ds is doing GCSE's in a few weeks and I've said I am happy to pay for these things as I don't really want him to have a job yet as he has terrible anxiety and Aspergers and wouldn't cope with it all.
His dad is happy to give him a "part time job" in his business once he starts 6th form college in September and we will see how he manages his workload.

I can afford to do it yes.
I don't go without anything and have an 8yr old dd too who wears nice clothes but prefers hers from Zara kids or River Island kids thank god.
I receive a generous allowance for ds from his dad and it helps massively.

I've no doubt that once he starts to pay for his own clothes ( and expensive football away games ) that he will be a bit less choosy. He's happy to wear underwear from Asda/Primark etc unlike some of his friends
who "only wear designer" which is crazy!

Ultimately though it's all relative and some people will be horrified at any amount and prefer the dc to live in hand me downs all the time which isn't possible with my two

Thats a lot of money. I dont spend that much on each child in a year!