Christmas spending & children

[AnAverageMum]

I’m not going to put amounts here because that never ends well, it’s either too much or not enough!

My 2 children will have the same number of Christmas presents this year, but the 4yo’s have cost considerably more, just based on what they’re into being branded (Barbie) & therefore expensive £.

My mum thinks I should spend equal amounts on each of them. But that means I’ll just be buying more needlessly for my 2yo.

AIBU to think as my children don’t know how much things cost & as the number of gifts are fairly equal it’s OK?!… Or AIBU? I feel a bit guilty…

At that age number of present matters no value.

As they get older they will notice a cost difference. But not at that age

I never ever counted the money for my 3 dc presents.

Different ages/different needs.

Give them lovely presents and don't tally up the money!!

That's how we always did it when my kids were younger. An equal number of presents to open. They had no idea of the cost of any of them.

Money evens out over a lifetime. We definitely do same amount of gifts.
For example DD10 wants the same trainers as DD17- the same shoes in different sizes have a price difference of £60!

Yes, exactly. I had a 9 year old and a 1 year old - there’s no way the 1 year old got the same financial value but we did make sure the number of presents was the same - because the 9 year old would have noticed and thought it strange if he had more.

DDs present is 1/3 the cost of DS. (We only do one gift each and stocking)

She is 2, he is nearly 5. They will both love what they've got and aren't really aware of the cost.

I make sure their stockings are very similar where possible.

Mine are 5 and 1, like you they are getting the same amount of presents but the 5 year olds are more expensive.

They might care that they are similar sizes/types of toys (eg both get an age appropriate doll or toy car etc) but they will have no idea of the cost.

Excellent news - thank you all!

Told you so mum

Actually I found that mine got really quite easily overwhelmed by presents when they were 2/3 - I think its a too much choice thing.

Second time around I stuck to a couple of things I knew dc2 would love plus a stocking and a Cbeebies annual and it was plenty.

I'd have been swamped by unplayed with plastic if I'd tried to match what older dc's PlayStation had cost that year.

The 2 year old won’t notice. It’s fine. Don’t buy more stuff you don’t need.

You’d be crazy (and wasteful) to buy more stuff just so’s each child has the exact amount of money spent on them. Your mum needs to butt out.

But honestly the number needs to be exactly the same, as soon as they can count they notice.

It's the number of parcels that matter.

Eg doesn't matter if one has three books wrapped up in a parcel and the other only one. It's the number of packages to unwrap

@Dishwashersaurous

But honestly the number needs to be exactly the same, as soon as they can count they notice.

It's the number of parcels that matter.

Eg doesn't matter if one has three books wrapped up in a parcel and the other only one. It's the number of packages to unwrap

See I don’t get this. I have a brother and a sister and we would never have even thought to count our gifts.

@PinkSyCo

You’d be crazy (and wasteful) to buy more stuff just so’s each child has the exact amount of money spent on them. Your mum needs to butt out.

I agree! But my mum is lovely (& bought half the gifts 😂) we just didn’t agree on this one!

@Dishwashersaurous
@Costumeidea

See I don’t get this. I have a brother and a sister and we would never have even thought to count our gifts.

Guess it depends on the family/kids. I’ll find out in a few years

I guess it depends on how you do present opening. We do it one at a time in turns and therefore it's obvious if the number is different.

My advice is keep the bar low for as long as you can. You can always surprise them with more generous Christmases when they're older. If you get into Christmas being all about massive piles of expensive gifts when they're wee, you'll have a hard time paring it back when they're older. If they turn out to be hoarders, you'll want to keep the whole thing minimalist. If you're anything like me, anyway.

We get DDs presents that are the same value to them. Not necessarily the same financial value. Same as in every day life.

For example... they needed a piece of sports equipment each. One is officially "child" sized, other is "youth" sized. Elder DDs cost more (£35 vs £25). But they got the same item...

It would be madness to spend the same just for the sake of it. I’ve probably spent equal amounts on the 2 eldest (teenager and 11year old) but in all honesty, I’ve spent about a tenth of that on the 2 year old. He won’t have a clue, and has more than enough toys anyway! By the time he’s a teenager the older 2 will (hopefully) be employed so I’d imagine I’d spend less on a 29 year old than I would on a 13 year old, it’ll all even out in the end!

I spend enough for each of them to have a nice Christmas, according to what they want, need and are into at the time. Sometimes one child gets more spent on them than the other (not always the same child) but I’m not pointlessly spending money on things they don’t need or want just for the sake of it. They don’t get exactly the same number of parcels either. They’d be given very short shrift if they started counting items under the tree and comparing - but they never have, they actually enjoy seeing the other getting things too. They both get more than enough, especially once family presents are included too.