to think there is an inverse relationship between how little money people have and how much they are willing to spend on presents for their children

[Twiglett]

am truly gobsmacked at some of the things that people I know are buying for their children

truly and utterly, spoilt bastard, gobsmacked

why spend that much money? why?

I don't know, tbh. I find things get out of control every year because of very generous grandparents, step-grandparents, half sisters, godparents, aunts, uncles etc. So yeah, they get too much.

I wish we could use the money towards a holiday instead!

I think there may be a relationship with how much the parent had as a child.

Dh's parents were (still are) extremely mean. Dh does not look back fondly on receiving school shoes in his Christmas stocking. Consequently he goes overboard and wants to spend wildly at Christmas (and every other time too, but that's another story) to make sure that the dcs don't experience what he did.

Funny this thread should pop up, because i've just had this very same conversation with a friend over the phone. Ok, so for starters my charges (i'm a nanny) both attend a private school as does my friends child. BUT, the massive difference between HER and lots of the other parents is that she doesn't believe in overindulging her child, who is more than happy to receive a new rug for her dolls house than the latest techno gadget!
The sad thing is that my charges have been bought up in a world where the word NO rarely exists for them...except from me . So our conclusion was, that all these children who are spoilt, given what they want etc in the end have next to nothing to aspire to or look forward to because their darling mummys and daddys will see to it that they get what they sodding want anyway .
Whatever happened to having a NORMAL childhood [sigh]
Sorry i just get so bloody fed up at times

HoHoHoofW - have a look in some of the second hand shops/charity shops - mega blocks in particular is very often them, as they are hard wearing but have a relatively short 'playtime' (as they move onto Duplo/Lego).

Hohoho, whenever I buy for other peoples kjids I get either a couple of little bits from places like wilkos and stuff or PJ's.
PJ's are probably the best thing to buy a child ........ever Plus you can get them cheap and they get worn often. When they go to bed xmas night in their new PJ's all the rest of their presents have gone into one big mush in their brain!

Have just read the thread and just want to add that for me it depends on the age of the child.. I don't know a single person that as an adult can remember what they got for christmas before the age of 5 or 6 so with DC we are hardly buying them anything. they are getting stocking fillers (DS2 is getting lots of plastic fruit & veg wrapped individually and a couple of cars 49p sainsbury's) DS1 is getting stocking fillers (nothing more than £2 each) then he is getting a bike (definately not £600 )

Heard Martin Lewis on the radio last week suggesting that buying too much on tick at christmas was bad for your kids because it gives them a false sense of money - better to show older kids reality then they can be encouraged to be either more modest in their expectations or try to earn some money. Life isn't equal nor is it fair.

Definatly it fircone, both DH and I used to get alot of presents at Christmas so alot seems normal for us. We were both far far far from spoilt, but it's just how it was. I know some of my friends got a few presents for Christmas and that was normal for them...

For £600 I'd expect the bike to have satnav, wings, hover facility, handlebar-mounted lasers and a minibar!

DS is getting a few of those 49p sainsburys cars in his stocking - it's the only toy that seems to be a reasonable price nowadays!

£600 bought the car we had when I was pregnant (and insured it!)

BTW would never dream of getting anything on credit. If we were that skint would just buy cheap stuff.

Oh this thread comes up every year. Poor people spend more on their kids at christmas because throughout the rest of the year, they spend very little on them. If you count up the amount of money middle class people spend on their kids throughout the year - piano lessons, ballet classes, football courses, judo, holidays, school trips, school dinners, new clothes and shoes whenever they need them, not having to wait for the sales etc., museums, cinema trips, books, improving educational games, workshops and outings, then I think you will find that the amount the poor spend on their children at christmas, even including £600 bikes and WII's, is still a lot less if you divvy it up over the year.

And because the middle classes spend so much on their kids throughout the year, they don't feel the emotional need to spend loads more at christmas and just for one time in the year, say "yes" to their kdis instead of the usual "no".

The feckless fuckers.

LOL UQD at hover facility

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I don't know about the link between childhood and the presents bought now. I rarely got anything more than a book, one year I got a joint present of a dressing gown.

DP, however got everything he wanted, we have both said that being happy is the most important thing, and that getting something they actually like and will use all the time is best.

Yeah, I don't buy toys really throughout the year, I will think "ok, will get that for Christmas". Or last year I bought it then and stored it.

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But to get back to Twig's point, I wonder how many fairly well off people don't spend much on their dcs at Xmas?

TBH, the norm with most of ds's mates IS the Wii, PS3,phones, ipods etc, but I doubt any of their household income is less than £100k pa.

Thats better! A musical instrument set for ^.99, one drum in ELC was £10. And the etcher sketcher (?) was £14 in ELC, only £3.99 there. I often wondered how people afford all that stuff, I see now how they do! I am so glad I haven't bought anything yet thanks.

I think the point Twig is trying to make is not (in very loose terms) poor people will spend £200 a child and rich £50, just in correlation to the amount they earn, it's different. Say they earn 50% less, they don't spend 50% less? Not my opinion, just trying to translate

We started a "present cupboard" this year and it's the best thing we have ever done. Loaded up with stuff we have bought cheaply during the year - e.g. a couple of bumper packs from Book People (for party presents), second-hand toys, stuff from summer sales etc. Beats spending it all at Christmas.

I agree with most of you. UQD, yes for £600 the bike would have to be an antique or from the film Tron.

My mum's upbringing was always "if you don't have the money, you don't buy it". I think credit is far too readily available and very often to those who can't pay it back quickly. Hence credit companies know they are onto a winner with years long guaranteed interest payments. None of the shops seem to WANT you to buy anything outright anymore.

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I do that uqd. Most of my stocking filler presents were aquired like that.

See HoHo - you can get lots of stuff for that £50 .

I've found - especially with your DS's age (where they're not really old enough to "ask" for anything") - browsing around to see what you can find (boots, woollies, wilkinson, tesco, etc etc) and then choosing that way is more effective than having a "set" idea :-)