how much to spend at xmas????

[poppies1]

Im so excited about my DD first christmas :) im counting down the days sad i know.
I was just wondering how much to spend on a 8 month old, my partner and i have saved aside 500. too much??? too litte??????

:)

Please tell me that is your entire present budget, and not what you are planning to spend on your 8 month old?

In really think £500 is a horrendously large amount to spend on any one child regardless of age.

But that's just my opinion...

Perhaps think more about what type of things you would like to be getting her, not just this year but as she gets a bit older. Are you likely to have more children and therefore could you afford to spend so much on each child?

Try and carve out a Christmas which is special to you and your family, rather than thinking in budgets and 'keeping up with the Jones'

My DD was almost 8 months for her first Christmas and she got one of those things thats like a stick with rings that stack on it, a shape sorter, a Vtech singing Bee, and some clothes but we would've bought those anyway.
She also received about a billion my first Christmas items from family.
You do not need to spend even £50 on a baby, Christmas will still be special because it's her first Christmas.
Do yourselves a favour and save £470 for when she's asking for an Ipod touch or something.

An 8 month old does nt understand the concept of Christmas, birthdays or any occasion. What will happen is that on Christmas morning she will be faced with a mountain of gifts and a lot of eager faces urging her to open said gifts. With a lot of coaxing, child will open first gift with a lot of help and proceed to play with the wrapping paper. Parents and family will start thrusting next gift on to child. After about 20 minutes of this, baby will be crying with sheer frustration at being forced and grown-ups will be feeling very hard done by because of the obvious lack of enthusiasm for their hard work and preparation.

Save yourself £450 and just buy toys and/or clothes for your 8-,month old

Mine was only 3 months for the first and I don't really think I bothered much. The second Christmas I got (second hand) some big clunky ball drop, shape sorter-y things.
Last year (3.4) was the first year she really "got" Christmas. Seriously, save your money. Have a look at some of the traditions threads and think about buying a special decoration or snowglobe or something every year instead.

Then bankrupt yourself in a couple of years

Give your DD your discarded wrapping paper to play with - she will be more than happy.

A new-generation iPod already loaded with several versions of, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

This has to be a joke surely

£500 for an 8 month old!!

Crazy person!

I think I spent about £100 on my baby's first Christmas and looking back, that was totally unnecessary. I spend less than that per child on my two big ones now.

Far too much. £50 max at that age, surely. They're oblivious.

I have a total budget of about £500 - and that's everyone - 2 DCs, DH, his and my family etc etc. And we have a wonderful time and I think it's a pretty generous budget.

(Is this a joke? Must be)

Spend as much or as little as you like, a few pointers though:

Dont go into debt for it, totally not worth it.
Dont go without things that will benefit you as a family for it, again, imo, totally not worth it.
Think about future Christmas' and how you will be able to up it, logically speaking kids tend to want more and more, not less and less each year.
Think about future children, if you plan 1 or 2 then a large amount seems more sustainable than if say you wanted 10 or 12 kids! (this going on the basis that all things have to be equal between children ideally)
If you're planning a Christmas, and this suggests you are, try to think of the christmas as a whole experience, rather than a gift giving machine. For many people the gifts are a major player in christmas but there are other things. Dont blow your budget on presents then sit home all december missing out on the activities you could have done which would have ment as much/more than 'stuff to open'

Just my thoughts.

1 last tip, if you do spend a few quid DO NOT mention it on mumsnet, it never goes down well

BabyDubs you are so right with your 1 last tip!!
I think with all my 3DC's first christmases I've spent very little and focussed mainly on clothes but of course that depends on how old they were. One was 2 days off 1 year and another was 2 months old.
These days now they are 12, 4 and 2 we spend roughly £80 each on them.

i think its quite sad that spending a few quid 'never goes down well' what are we 14?!!

No we're not 14 but personally I think it is a bit bizarre to be measuring things on how much money you spend.

Surely it is about sharing a lovely few days with your family rather than counting how many boxes of plastic tat you have bought?

In another year or two you will probably want to do some Christmas outings or whatever with your toddler, and they are expensive. My advice would be to spend £50 and stick the rest in the bank for future years.

Personally, I think it is a good thing that it 'never goes down well' as I rely on MN for a more developed, rounded view (overall) and I guess most MNers have worked out that how much you spend is not directly proportional to how much you enjoy it

Spend what you like, but there is some very good advice here.

poppies - what are you thinking of buying for her with your £500? I am genuinely curious.

I honestly cannot think what I could have bought DS at that age that would have cost so much. No child needs more than one shape-sorter/stacking rings/set of soft blocks, and won't family want to buy him things too?