If you gifted money to your grandchildren...

[HarperElla]

...say £50-£150 per birthday/Christmas and the odd other occasion like Easter or random gifts, would you mind if their mother put the money towards a holiday for them and their parent? I've been doing this, I have a 4 year old, he has too many toys, I have a really good savings pot for him already etc etc. I want to take him on holiday to Egypt before he goes to school, and put any money which is given to him by family members towards this. I've made sure that it doesn't extend past the fare for his flight. I've been told by a family member that I'm out of order doing this and that I should either put it in his savings or buy him gifts with it. I've made it clear to him that the family members who gave us the money helped us pay for it and that we should be grateful to them that they helped us go on holiday (explained in terms he can ubderstand). He has 4k in savings, 1k a year put in my me. WIBU to do this?

Spent quite a lot of time working in Egypt and seen some cool stuff.

It's a fantastic place, but it would be a pretty extraordinary 4 year old that would get a lot out of that trip. It also poses some fairly challenging issues in terms of the visit.

I think you'd really be better off waiting till they were older and could get more out of it, and probably spend some time visiting the Egyptian collections in the UK (many of which are pretty extensive) first.

If they are still mad on the subject at 7 or 8 maybe that is the time to consider it.

I really can't believe the amount of YABUs. I'd much prefer if the £50 I gave to a young relative went towards a holiday than towards plastic tat.

Especially if he is really into the destination and is interested in the culture. This is an opportunity to create important core memories that will last a lifetime and will be more valuable than a few quid in a bank account. I think OP has a really balanced view on this and experiences trump money in most cases, for me. Enjoy your holiday and ignore all these naysayers.

It's not fair to the other dgc. Favouritism. May upset the cousins. I'm not sure how much he'd get from a holiday in Egypt.

Again , does no one read?

Once the money has been gifted they have no say. Go on the holiday, your child will love it. Saving up money is normal to a lot of people for a holiday . Ignore the haters.

I'm generally pretty easy going about this stuff but I think in this instance money saved should be for university, house deposit etc.

Budget for a holiday and enjoy it but don't use money for your son for it.

Good God, that's really cheeky. Your relative is 100% in the right over this.

Put it in savings and pay for it yourself.

I expect OP and her son went on this holiday several months ago.

It would not be something I would do with money gifted to my children (who were also well provided for), but as the OP's mum/the giver was OK with it, according to OP, then I can't see the problem.

Not sure why the OP didn't just ask her in the first place rather than posting on here and then disagreeing with 50% of posters.

you stop contributing to savings and instead use the money to give him experiences etc. save all birthday and christmas money from
relatives in the account for him - this way you can go on holiday without taking money others have given him x

I ask my DD what I should get my DGC for Xmas. Sometimes she will tell me a toy or she says an annual pass for a petting zoo or Sea Life Centre. It's for them, they enjoy going and she takes them quite frequently so they definitely get their money's worth, so I'm fine with that. Not sure if you should use their money to pay for a family holiday because parents should pay for that imo.

Really?! I gift money to friends’ kids, my godchildren and my nephew and have never given any thought to how they/their parents spend it. I hope it either eases the burden of the expense of raising a child or is used for something fun/extra. If they needed it for a holiday/bills/clothes I would just be happy I’d helped. Isn’t that the spirit of giving?

Agree with this. I think YABU