To ask how much you spend on DC at Christmas?

[Iggleshmiggle]

My DC are 5 and 2 and, my DD has a huge list which adds up to about £400, just wondering how much you spent, although I’m guessing it varies depending on what they want.

£250-300 per child, I have a teen and a toddler. Obviously teen's "pile" is smaller than toddler's as the things she wants are higher value. But it's roughly that amount each.

Probably £100 to £150 max, teenager. They have everything they need in terms of a phone, laptop and that sort of thing already, and wouldn't like clothing as a gift. Spending much more would be unnecessary. I don't know what people who are spending hundreds are spending it on. Piles of filler presents?

What on earth do you buy with that? Sounds ridiculous to me.

Your daughter, at 5 years old, is so commercially savvy that she has compiled a Christmas list that consists of over £400 of gifts?

Did you pass her the Argos catalogue or is she a tech prodigy and created her own Amazon wish list?

Around £80/90 inc stocking fillers.

Ds is nearly 3 so don't see the point in spending a fortune.

When he's older will probably spend £150ish

We don’t have a set budget - it depends on what we want to give and how much money we can afford this year.

generally, one main present, a stocking and a few smaller gifts.

DS is having an iPad this year but he isn’t / won’t be aware that it DHs old one from when he upgraded - factory reset, new case and new headphones etc.

we tell them that Father Christmas gets them one thing off their list, or he might choose them something special himself, so that they don’t expect everything they ask for.

It's quite easy for a 5 year old to write a list of specific toys they have seen on adverts/ in shops/ at a friends house etc.

Why so passive?

She could have included things like a big trampoline, or a new bike, Lego set and it easily be well over £400. Mine at that age had no proper concept of money, so would’ve thought of that as well within the “3 or 4 ideas of what type of thing she’d like”.

We always said Santa didn’t bring anything electrical or anything alive, and that she had to write a nice letter with a few ideas of the type of thing she’d like. She still wanted Santa to bring her the house next door to her friends house when she was about 4-years-old, so £400 seems modest compared to her £550k gift list!

My 7 year old asked for 3 things that come to a total of £45, so nice and easy to manage.

£500 for the 6 year old

£350 for the 3 year old

But we do spend a fair bit on Xmas in general, for example I tend to spend £1000-£1500 on DH

I'd like to say less and join in competitive sensible spending but around £350-£400 but they are 9 and 8.

When they were up to about 6, about £250 but presents tend to be a bit less cost wise.

Our dc is 3. We’ve spent about £220 so far and just have a few stocking fillers to get from Santa, so it will be more like £250.

We started buying presents a couple of months ago so the cost has been spread out.

Mine are 7 and 9 and I've spent about £300 each, they both believe in Santa and everything comes from him, maybe I should have done it differently when they were younger but I like to enjoy the magic of it for the few Christmases while they still believe.
Presents from us come on birthdays.

i only have one DS and I've probably spent £200/£250 on him this year but he didnt get as much for his birthday in september as we went to a festival the week before and let him bring a friend then took 5 of them trampolining on the actual day. His main present this christmas is an electric guitar and he has asked for art markers so he can practice drawing manga. He's also asked for a jumping spider so we've got him all the set up and an iou for the actual spider.

About £150.
More when teen needs for a laptop became an issue, but that has always been on a needs basis.

That’s what can be afforded, but year round spends are reasonably generous.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else does or does not spend, the most important thing is that you don’t get into debt or go beyond what you can afford trying to meet unrealistic expectations.

We don't have a set amount. If DC needs something or we think of something they'd like it may be more, eg we got them a laptop a few years back to play games on but also useful for school work. This year they don't want anything specific so we've spent about £150. We only have one DC though so don't have to worry about it being even etc

So none of these kids get a play station or and x box or a phone?

these threads are dumb.

aoend what you can reasonably afford. Don’t get into debt.

We have spent around £900 this year but DH won £500 of smyths vouchers in an online competition so used those. (Yes donated a few presents we bought for those who will no doubt moan).

Boys wanted an Xbox too so this way we were able to get a new one rather than second hand.

I will not apologise for spoiling my own children on Christmas Day.

Spending a bit more than normal this year as both wanting bikes, although we have bought nice ones second hand to cut costs. Normally around £200 each but probably around £300 this year. I think it's how long is a piece of string as it depends on your budget and what they actually want. I'm fortunate enough that we can afford this but not so fortunate that we could spend £1000s on them.

No, because I can’t afford them.

If they needed a new laptop or phone would you buy that as a xmas gift-or would they buy it themselves?

Dd is having a new hairdryer - Ghd - £100
Samsung earbuds - £100
Lego flowers - £50
So already 3 presents are £250

Who is asking you to apologise?

I don’t have a budget as such it depends what Ds wants that year but this is easier to do when you only have one child as you don’t need to even things out. Some years it’s been several hundreds when he’s had a games console but other years maybe around £150

Rather than focusing on the amount of money others spend it might be better to consider how long you allow the list to be. This year DD is asking Santa for a Switch so i told her that is a very big present and she shouldn't ask for anything else. She is 6 and hasn't questioned this. As her main pressie is more expensive this year i have spent more that i have other years. Next year I may spend less.

About £200. Sometimes I see extra small things to add to their stocking fillers which takes it up to around £250.