to only spend £50 each on my kids this year?

[SmugColditz]

it never occured to me that I would be unreasonabl;e to do this, but an aquaintance of mine has said "Oh, X says she is only spending £50 each on her kios this year, I think that's really tight, don't you?"

And me being me, I told her I was only spending £50 each too (less on ds2, if I'm honest) because what the hell is the point of spending more than you can afford, and that she herself says her kids broke all their Christmas presents in 3 weeks.

And she looked horrified.

So, if you have a 'normal' or less than average income, how much are you spending on your kids, and AIBU?

gitteryprincess... I'm the same as you. We will spend aroung the same as you for ds aged 6... dd is only 13months so we have will wrap up a lot of the toys we saved from ds when he was a baby.

And for the person who said it's showing off, that's not fair to be honest. I'm not a show off at all and we save throughout the year to go mad at christmas. They get very little throughout the year and we don't spend much on holidays and days out. dh works away and christmas is his long break off.

We don't go into debt to spend this amount just save and plan ahead. Why does that have to be showing off. My son appreciates all he gets and there is always only 2-3 items on his letter to father christmas and the rest are surprises.

£500 is just one extreme to the other though.
I have three so there is no way I'd spend that or DH and I would be getting an apple and a orange

Haven't read all the thread, but just had to post.

I spend about £20 on each of my DDs at Chrismtas, aged 6 months and 2.5 yrs. Personally I think that's more than enough as they get loads of other pressies from family aswell.

And let's not forget the real meaning of Christmas?

furiousgeorge - that is the BEST name

I pick things up all year round like ketal does, and so don't really notice it - yesterday I had a look in the cupboards and there is plenty of things for all 3 so am now just looking at forking out for a lego set for dd1. Am thrilled!

I don't spend £500 but I do spend more than £50.

I must say though that this thread has really given me food for thought. I remember Christmas as being a really happy time when I was kid with loads of presents etc. However the rest of the year was not so hot. My Dad was never there and my Mum was regularly abusive so I wonder if I am bit obsessive about recreating happy times as a child because they didnt come too often.

I have been thinking about this thread all day and I have realised that maybe some of the stuff I was planning to get for dc was more for my own benefit than theirs. There are a couple of items ds REALLY wants and would probably just be happy with those and certainly would not be thinking about more he could have got.

Have to say though that I dont go into debt for christmas and this year have done a good job of spreading out the cost by buying a couple of things a month.

Thankyou Barnsleybelle was feeling a bit picked on till you came along.
We save throughout the year for Xmas too, like you do not have many days out or a partcularly expensive holiday and are definitely not show offs. We have nothing to show off, the kids presents are just a part of Christmas to us, the same as making cards and decorations, baking, playing games, tv and having a lovely day with our family.
KatieDD I would not be spending £500 on each if I had three children, even if I wanted to.

I dont think it is showing off either. I love seeing their faces and just want them to have everything. We havent had a holiday for two years and I buy clothes once a year for myself if that. Our Christmas is like years GP.

Sorry about my spelling in the last couple of posts. I'm doing this while watching a slide show of my daughter's school trip to the Isle of Wight... v.v boring lol

Wouldn't it be better if you DID have days out rather than entering into some mad commercial competition at Christmas?

As for children comparing presents at school - better to educate your children about just how shallow that it now.

I love seeing their faces too Almummy that's what I do it for. Not because they expect it or ask for it because they don't. It's the element of surprise that means so much to them.

yours that was supposed to be.

My kids seem not to conform to the usual ideal of "spoilt" kids in that they are utterly delighted by everything they get and take really take good care of their toys. My DS knows and can put his hands on every single toy he owns and remembers who gave it him too.

We also have days out as well as a big Christmas. I don't see Christmas as being a competition. My son has High Functioning Autism so isn't really aware of other kids and their interests eg: he is 5 and has no interest at all in Ben 10 or many other toys 5 year olds might like. He just likes what he likes. As I say, I budget for it and go without myself to do it.

What I meant was we have a lot of days out that are relatively cheap and not many that cost a fortune ie Chessington and day trips that are further afield and therefore cost a lot.
I regularly take my children to museums and galleries in London which are free as are various other places luckily. My children have as many days out as the next child and don't go without on that score.
I had very little in the way of Christmas presents as a child and that had absoloutely nothing to do with how I learnt about money and budgeting, or even the value of stuff. My daughter learns the value of money through saving and spending her pocket money.
It is shallow that children compare presents and shallow that children are judged on their clothes, trainers etc but such is life. I could tell her that, but that doesn't stop it being part of being a part of life in this day and age.

I am spending £50 at most on my 2YO DS because we don't earn much not unreasonable at all.

He will get spome things from us and other stuff from family so why sppend a fortune by myself.

I ave even bought something 2nd hand from ebay but I got it half the price it ormally is and it looks brand new so he wont care.

I think the generalisation that anybody spending more than £50 means that they have spoilt children and like to show off is so wrong.

Who cares as long as you are happy with your own choice - why the need to make others feel bad?

Nobody should have to feel the need to justify how much they spend or how they do their christmas.

Totally agree HappyMummyOfOne.

I think if you come on a thread that is asking if it is ok to spend £50 on a dc for xmas, and say yes thats fine but i spend £500 on mine, imo that is showing off, also if someone has a diffenrent opinion to yours, then you think that means your being picked on then, well, if you cant take the heat.

Well I have spent £50 on my children in the past, when they were younger, my daughter through necesity and my son through choice, so I see nothing wrong with that.
I don't think having said that I save all year in order to spend that amount suggests that I'm showing off. I go without a lot of things in order to spend on my children.
I think it's fine that people have different oppinions but there is no need to be judgemental, I am just defending my own oppinion.

georgimama... i think you have the wrong end of the stick here, both princess and i have said we don't consider it a commercial competition and my children are the complete opposite of showing off with friends..

We do have many days out... what i meant to say is that over the year many people spend money on smoking, drinking, clothes etc as well as weekends away etc. We are very much home orientated and do a lot of hill walking etc...
We enjoy saving our money to splash out at christmas, not to show off or compete..
I would never tell someone they were tight for spending less so why should i be crticised for spending a lot.
It's our money to spend how we like.

I don't think it is showing off at all to say how much you spend on your dc for whatever the amount. That is what the thread is about. I certainly don't feel better than anyone on this thread because I spend more. If anything I thought twice about posting because I am obviously in the minority and thought I might get slated. Really has given me lots to think about and while I might spend more than £50, I really won't spend as much as I probably would have done after reading this thread.

If you think spending more is showing off then one might also say there is showing off from the other side in a "Look at what a more genuine and better person I am not to be affected by the filthy monster of consumerism" sort of way.

No ALMummy, the thread is not about how much we are all planning to spend on our dc this xmas. The op asked if she was BU to only spend £50, obviously times are hard for some at the moment, but tbh each to their own, we all spend what we think is a reasonable amount and thats is fine, i just didnt feel the need to tell the OP that i will spending 10 times as much as she is planning to spend like some of you did.

I didnt. I said I would be spending more and did not specify an amount. A thread on the subject of an amount being spent for Christmas was always going to get people thinking and probably saying what they were planning to spend. Glad that it did tbh, has definitely given me something to think about.

£50 sounds fine to me. Its all relative.

Actually the OP asked how much people on an average or less than average income were spending on their children, as well as asking if she was unreasonable. So therefore some people were going to disclose how much they spend albeit 4 times as much or 10 times as much as some of us have done.