How much do grandparents spend on your children at Xmas?

[stonebrambleboy]

I have six grandchildren and I spend £50 each. Is that enough? A friend made a comment today and I'm worried I haven't been spending enough on them.

It doesn't matter OP. Each family has its own norms and budgets, so what other people do is irrelevant to your family. If you are treating all your DGC fairly and choosing gifts with love and care that's all that matters. For what it's worth, my DC one GP was very extravagant. Now they are adults, I occasionally ask if they remember this or that gift. They don't. Their memories of her are all about being taught piano, being read to and being taken to look for shells on the beach.

Inlaws give £150 in cash per child (6 grandchildren) plus a gift which costs somewhere in the ballpark of £30 to £50 each.

My mum spends around £75 per child (2 grandchildren).

£25-£30 from one Grandad and £10 from the very cash strapped Grandad plus a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

The first Grandad also deposits £100 a year into each of their savings account which has added up over 18 years and they transferred that into a LISA as soon as they could to save toward a house deposit. He only has 2 grandchildren whereas my Dad has 4 grandchildren.

It doesn’t really matter to me how much people spend on my daughter. I would rather they got something she liked and got the benefit of rather than something random just because it’s expensive.

My parents have 10 grandkids in total and end up spending about £40 on each which I think is plenty! Each kid gets a present with a few small bits surrounding it and a card+chocolate and it is always lovely. DH's mother sticks to just a Christmas card which is lovely too x

It depends on each family

My parents buy a small thing (book, jigsaw, toy car, lego) from a charity shop, so my kids and my nephews have something to open on the day, and then they put £100 in their ISA for when they are older. 4 grandkids in total.

From their other side, their grandma gets them a new toy or some clothes, probably around the £10-20 mark and the grandad sends a card. They are separated now, but each has loads of people to buy for so I appreciate that they remembered us when writing their cards!!! (8 siblings between the 2 of them (plus partners), 8 children (plus partners), 14 grandkids and a billion nieces and nephews, cousins-once-twice-thrice-removed...

One set of grandparents spend about £200 per child - 3 grandkids, retired.
The other set £15ish per child - 4 grandkids and well off.

I ask my dad for £100 each for my DC. Buy something nice with it and wrap it for them from “grandad”. That’s a secret between me and him though!! My stepmother buys them polyester pyjamas, fake Lego and cheap bath bombs every year (she does this for my 3 DC, as well as her own 11 grandchildren!!). All from my dad’s money!! It must cost my dad £20 a head for this tat 🙄 After Xmas, I regift all the stepmother stuff to the charity shop. Yes, I’m ungrateful. It’s been going on for years 😂

MIL buys a book each that she wraps and puts £30 each in their bank accounts.

My parents have no budget for the grandkids in the family. They go mad and buy them piles of presents.

We have 2 grandchildren and £50 would be absolute max per child.

We live off one pension and so can't afford much and both sets of their parents live in London and are on decent salaries so don't feel bad about it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I love these threads. It really puts in perspective real people real holiday gifting. My dad gives my dc 100$ or more in a very thoughtful card with a very thoughtful message. DM deceased but my DF has kept
it going. My DC are the last and youngest GC ( but there are GGC) and they are in 20s. 50$ is plenty generous. It doesn’t have to buy anything. It can be used TOWARDS buying something they want. I do buy for my nephew who is in his 30s and probably makes more money than me but for some reason he isn’t gifted by DB or exDSIL that I see. He’s close to them tho. He always comes to the holiday stays with me and loves all the good food and drink. But even with that I still feel he “needs” a little something to open. Oddly most years I spend the most on him on a single gift…lovely pots and pans lush towels nice sheets. Things I know he doesn’t buy. He is quiet but you feel the joy he has in receiving these. I have gifted him alcohol cash and paid for petrol or road tolls as he drives 4 hrs. I have already decided cash in bank account for my future DGC from the day they are born for all gifts with me as co owner of account just in case

I spend up to £40, but preferably nearer £30.

My dd (the one and only grandchild) gets fuck all from my mother. And nothing for her birthday either. Mind you, neither do I.

How much money do grandparents give each grandchild holiday money?

7 GC here - I spend up to £50. The older ones get money if that is what they wish. I make no attempt to spend the exact same amount on each - I get them what they want and it usually works out a similar amount.

Late to the thread but my parents normally spend about £50 on DD (they could afford more but have five grandchildren so it would get a bit ridiculous!) My MIL has usually spent about the same. DD is 12 now so starting to prefer cash to presents!

They are all quite generous with extra bits of spending money and regular £10 or £20 notes in a card for eg. exam or piano results and so on.

It's enough but if you wanted to spend more put it into savings for them rather than buy more stuff .

It’s sad that this is even a question. They’re kids! They love to rip open presents from their lovely Grandma! They don’t sit there adding up how much was spent!

My DPs it seems are at the extreme end as they prob spend about £500 on each of my 2 children but I’m an only child and they can afford to and it gives them pleasure (and means we don’t have to spend nearly as much ourselves since they’ve had plenty already under the tree).

My DH parents prob spend around £50 and that’s also totally fine - they buy thoughtful gifts and the kids love opening them too.

Argh - just seen it’s a zombie thread 😣

We give our three GC £75 each. They are all teenagers and we stopped buying presents years ago. Other GPs give them £250. One year the oldest GD gave her money to charity as she said it was too much. You should give what you can afford. If ours needed money, which thankfully they don’t, I would probably give them a bit more. For example, when the oldest passed her driving test I gave her £100 towards petrol. She didn’t tell me her parents had said they would pay her petrol costs while at uni and she didn’t tell her parents I’d given her money!

Your friend is mad the value isn't the point it's the love behind the choosing even if it's £1. Don't get into debt for your friend.

My mum gives my younger two (15,6) about £50
each or presents to a similar amount. The older 3 get stuff as and when. My dad gives the younger 2 £50 each though this stops at about 18.
My MIL and her husband spend about £10 on the youngest 2 (the 15 yo isn’t my partners but always get something) in contrast she spends about 50-100 on her daughters (my SILs kids, there are 6 of them).
My FIL usually buys something plastic and crap for the 6yo and some nice bath smellies/face mask, type gift for my 15 yo. Always goes down well with her!! Then again, his daughters and wife’s kids children get a substantially larger amount spent on them. My Dp has 2 other children who are 27.19 and they get minimal as well.

We have 2 young granddaughters between us (2,1) and I go crazy with presents for them. Usually something collectible like steiff bears or something that will be sentimental as they grow up. I do spend roughly the same on them both though.

Its a zombie thread but how do people define normal?

I'm sure normal in the King's circles is a wee bit different to normal in Betty's down the roads living on a state pensions circles.

Size of family makes a difference too, if the Betty's of this world only have 2 or 3 GC then its easier to splash the cash than if you have 5 or 6 GC.