To ask how much you would normally spend on christmas per child?

[UpInSmoke]

Back when money was ok I would spend around £300 each on my children at christmas. 70% of the stuff they would never bother with again after christmas day and another 10% of what was left would be broken/bits missing within 6 months. But yet I felt I had to spend a lot because it was christmas.

Then money got shit. I had to dramatically reduce how much I spent on them for around 2 years and it came down to around £100 each.

Now money is good(ish) again and I'm left wondering how much SHOULD you spend for christmas??

Already I have spent £120 each and it seems I havn't got much. £70 of that is just two tiny xbox games.

How much do you spent on yours and if you could spend more, would you?

[MorelliOrRanger]

£300

You say yourself that they don't bother with the stuff or it gets broken.

Christmas isn't just about material things anyway.

We spent £50 on our DD and she had a fab time. Mind you she's only 4, maybe it's harder as they get older.

[UpInSmoke]

I know it does seem a ridiculous amount and I wouldn't go back to spending that much no matter how much money I had.

[AnnaThePenguin]

£100 to £150 per child.

but I always buy far too many silly stocking fillers that somehow get forgotten in that

[ThatllDoPig]

Really @ £300 each !
Please adopt me !

[sjuperwolef]

i have always spent between 300 and on DD and intend to spend around 4/500 this yr, DS wil only be around 7 weeks so will be buying toys for when he is a few months older maybe upto 300.. i really like shopping and i like seeing DDs face light up when santas been..

[UpInSmoke]

sjuperwolef, you've made me feel so much better

I always buy a stocking full of crap presents too which I don't include in the main spend but they're only cheap things (magazines, chocolate, socks etc).

[tigitigi]

£20-30 per child, two children. Spend about the same on dh and our parents/sibs, about £10-15 on nephews/nieces. Presents are joint from DH and me (except the ones we give eachother of course)

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

I'm not saying, I'd get murdered

I hate Christmas but for some reason end up going completely overboard

[PerryCombover]

£200 ish on the bigger one
£100 ish on the middle one
£50 on the smallest one

[sjuperwolef]

i really dont notice at the time! its just now and again i'll be in town and go ''ooh theres a deal'' or ''i'd best get that in now'' and come xmas when dp is asking where the heck all his wages have gone all yr i just point him at the pile i always think im being good because my sister spends upwards of a grand on my nephew every flipping yr and will do the same with my niece this yr that really is a monumental waste as my nephew has played with the same 4 toys since he was 2!! at least with DD i give her some choice and usually buy things she will like/play with/get use of and i usually include her winter clothes as part of her xmas 'amount' iyswim its not too bad

[Oakmaiden]

How on EARTH can you get away with only spending £20-30 per child??? My husband tries to get me to spend £50 a child, and even that is impossible....

I mean really - a book (£6), a board game (£10), a cd (£10) - gosh, that is most of the budget gone. And you couldn't even buy something like a DS game, or a pretty dress, or new leotards/football boots etc....

[SaulGood]

DD is 4. Last year I spent less than £20 on her. This year she has asked for an alarm clock. The one she wants is £7.99. So I might even break last year's record.

This year I will have a 3 month old too and he will be getting absolutely zilch as presumably he'll still be enjoying that fuck me I have hands AND feet sensation and therefore won't need presents.

If I suddenly found myself ridiculously rich I probably wouldn't spend much tbh. I am a wanker who likes to make presents for people. But I would say that the actual figure anybody spends is irrelevant if the child appreciates the true value of the present iyswim. See, I'm a wanker.

[Squitten]

Wow - I think we might be quite tight!

We didn't buy either of our two gifts for first Xmas (3mths old and 3wks old respectively). We spent about £20 for DS1's 2nd Xmas on a wooden hammer bench and will probably spend about £50 on him this year as he'll be 3 and has proper toys now. We'll probably spend less on DS2 as he'll only just be 1.

We're not skint by any means and could spend more but we have a huge family and our two are the only kids so they get spoiled rotten as it is. Ds1 is a Sept baby and Ds2 is early Dec so they've already had loads of new toys not long before Xmas too. We just don't see the point of spending loads of cash on them at this age TBH

[pramsgalore]

depends on what they want, about 100-150 each have 4, but sometimes i will spend more on one because they want one big thing ie dd4 wants an ipad this year, you think unfair well the way i look at it is next year dd3 may want one big thing, so they all get what they want and as they get older things they want cost more and if i said right one get £500 the others get the same 1- i could not afford it and 2- i would not have room for all the plastic rubish they would never play with i don't bother with lots of little stocking fillers, i always get choc coins and a lolly, i just find wrapped pressies that will fit in their stocking out of their pile.

[Oakmaiden]

Golly Saul - do your children not have toys at all then? And no Christmas stocking?

Feels sobered....

[Pawan]

I'm with tigitigi and others - we spend around £20 for each of our 2 boys. And around 10-15 for our three nieces and nephews.

Money is very tight for us, and this is around what we've always spent on them for christmas (less for birthdays - usually 10). They get presents from grandparents, so overall, they are definitely not short of toys/books/games.

Sometimes they manage to value our time more (eg. dh plays cricket with them on request, which doesn't cost anything, and which they love)..... but of course, it doesn't stop them constantly asking for a Nintendo DS - but they won't get one, we simply don't have the money.

Sorry if that sounds smug - but we can't spend what we haven't got. I do wonder what I would do if we had more cash though....

[PumpkinBones]

£150 - £200 on DS1 (5) and £50-£100 on DS2 (1) he will turn 2 not long before Christmas, so will have just had stuff.

DS1 is quite specific with what he likes, and we buy accordingly - rather than just getting "stuff" - I feel more anxious about waste when it comes to the presents other people buy him - sometimes lovely expensive stuff, but it just doesn't get played with. So really I'd rather other people spent less, that is where a lot of the clutter comes from. He is very grateful and appreciative of all his presents - it's just that a lot of stuff won't get played with / used. If that makes sense!

[PumpkinBones]

Should add, DH and I don't buy each other anything, and I make a lot of presents, especially for my family, a lot of whom are really well of, so don't need much, but do appreciate made stuff (chutney, cakes, etc)

[Claw3]

Depends on what they ask for, as they get older almost nothing cost £10 anymore.

Older ones usually ask for ps3 games and clothes, a couple of games alone cost about £40 - £50 each.

My 7 year ds asked for 'a yellow felt tip pen' last year, as his other one had run out, i was rather pissed off with Father Christmas who laughed and told him other boys of his age usually wanted Ps3's!! Cheers FC

This year he has asked for '3 interesting books', the greed of Christmas hasnt got to him yet!

[Oakmaiden]

Interesting Pawan - I guess family does make a difference. My children don't really get presents from extended family, and don't generally get bought toys etc through the rest of the year either, so what they get for Christmas and birthday from us is pretty much all they get at all.

I do tend to bulk it up by buying new school pencil cases and sports equipment that I know they need anyway and giving them as Christmas presents. My daughter got her Brownie uniform for Chriostmas last year.

[Hassled]

£100 per child and it's been that way for years now. £100 is loads.

[worldgonecrazy]

£30 - £40 on the main present (she's getting a junior drum kit this year), probably another £20 on stocking fillers. For grown up children and grandchildren, around £15 - £20 each.

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Around £50 (max £80) per child for birthdays and xmas i.e. 1 main pressie and maybe something smaller.

The are 8 and 4 and I genuinely don't think they need any more, I think they find it a bit overwhelming if they get too much and they don't appreciate the value of what they have got.

Its not about money (we have high household income) but I have seen nephews and neices who get loads of stuff actually getting bored opening presents. I put a chunk of money away in National Savings for them instead.

I suspect when they get older the value of the presents will go up but I don't want to create an expectation that they will always be showered with gifts [victorian parent emoticon]

[BeaWheesht]

Wow. I thought we went overboaard! Ds (5 at xmas) will get about 150/200 spent I'd imagine on bday and xmas presents and dd will maybe get 40 or so (she will be 15m.)

Its dd's 1st bday next month - I have so far spent 20 quid - I don't think ill spend anymore, we have all the toys from when ds was wee.

[MugglesandLuna]

I dont have a budget as such, but each child gets a main present and a sibling present (then clothes and new pyjamas, plus little bits in the stockings). This year DS1 wants a 3DS and DD wants a scooter. DS2 is going to take some thinking.