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?

[Pagwatch]

Yes. And I guess this is especially true at school age. Your own dc only ever come home and tell you about the child in his class with an iPad, a puppy and a quad bike for Christmas. They are less vocal about the kid whose mum knitted him some Lego.

[pipkin35]

For kids being younger, I think this thread is absolutely insane, but maybe things change when they get bigger and start requesting stuff more maybe...?
I actually have more of a block when it comes to what to get them than how much I spend...
I used to have a 'limit' in mind on what I'd spend on OH but not on the kids yet. I suppose the only thing I will do is probably try and spend an equal amount on them both, although I don't even know why that sorta bothers me since they wouldn't have a clue either way but it seems 'fair' in my brain...

[Justfeckinggoogleit]

Just to add, my kids think their friends who live in a very small rented house are rich because they have an Xbox.
And we aren't because we don't.

[Justfeckinggoogleit]

This year our eldest is at high school so may request a mobile, I suspect .

[Claw3]

Justfecking, aha! so your theory is the better off you are, the less you spend? Perhaps thats why you are better off

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Have gone a little overboard with DD this year. Have already bought the Sylvanian families hotel with loads of accessories but got it secondhand for £50. Reckon that will probably be it for her unless I see a couple fo stocking fillers. She is 4 and will have lots of other presents from friends and family.

Haven't really thought about DS yet. He is 7, know he wants a Wii game but will wait and see what he asks for and what we think we can afford is appropriate.

Justfecking have to agree with you on the inverse spend. The person I know who spends the most is a single parent. She does work but isn't fantasically paid, gets tax credits etc. At the other end we have friends who are quite wealthy, currently in the times 100, and they buy hardly anything. Last year they just got their DD some craft stuff. There again most of their family are loaded and spend stupid amounts on their DC each christmas so they do get alot.

[beautifulswan]

I don't think anyone looks a twat, but it does have the ability to make others feel quite dreadful about lack of money, while others are spending up to £1000. I have absolutely zero to spend on Christmas this year. But I guess public forum, don't click etc etc and my lack of money is no bodies problem but my own.

[Claw3]

at knitted Lego!

Thats how this thread seems to have gone, in one corner we have the 'i will make you an x-box out of a cornflake packet' (like my mum) and in the other corner 'you can have an x-box (like me, to make up for the cornflake packets i received as a kid)

[Justfeckinggoogleit]

Every year, without fail, there is a story in the meeja about a family on benefits who are burgled just before Xmas and have two grands worth of absolute tat presents nicked.
And they never have insurance. And I always have a mega judgypants wedgie.

[DedalusDigglesPocketWatch]

This does seem to be the case doesn't it?

My friend I mentioned 'having' to spend 150 each was on the same day complaining that their gas bill was enormous and they were worried about affording Xmas dinner. Different priorities I guess...

[aquos]

£100 per child max.

Usually in the £60 - £80 region.

I do buy second-hand a fair bit, particularly when I suspect it's going to be a short lived fad / craze. ie dds keyboard last year which thankfully I got on eBay for 99p because she's not touched it since Boxing day.

It does get more expensive as they get older. When they were little I could get loads of the plastic tat they loved for £20. Now we are approaching teen years the stuff they would like is £££.

[onehellofaride]

probably around £150 on each and the same on DH everyone else has around £20 each (adults) and £10 (kids).

I do go a little overboard especially as they get alot of presents from family. Last year the room was full and it was overwhelming to me

[mummakaz]

I spend probably around £60-£80 too. I do get a lot for my money though, I always buy in sales or at bootsales (brand new) I got my DD a bratz doll NIB for £1 and my DN a pack of 5 hot wheel cars x3 for £1 each. They don't care where I get it from so neither do I :)

[RustyBear]

DD actually asked the other day if she could have a stocking at Christmas. She is 21.

I stopped doing stockings when the DC started going to bed later than me, but DD says she really misses it.

It's actually a good idea, because she wants her Christmas present to be spending money for her holiday in Septmber, so it will mean she will have something to open on the day.

[alemci]

I would only spend about £60 to £80. Mine are teenagers but I just cannot afford to spend anymore. Last year we bought a tv for them as a joint present which is in the family area and they had presents as well.

2 of them have birthdays before christmas and my dd is 18 in Dec and naturally wants a party so I just don't know. TBH it is so commercial and unecessary and I wouldn't care if no one bought anyone anything in the family.

[ragged]

I have been on MN for 8+ yrs & it interests me how the answer to this question has changed over the years.

8 yrs ago people were saying they'd spend about 80-100quid/child (we were well below the average). There was a peak a few years later (with economic boom) of maybe 150-200/child.

Last year things tightened up unbelievably, which is to say that people were talking about spending 50-70 quid on average (roughly, including stocking fillers); adjusted for inflation, the reported per child spend has plummetted over the 8 yrs. So last year it appears that we actually spent a bit more than average.

This is all self-reported data, so who know what people are REALLY spending; these threads are more about what people are willing to confess to spending. But I think the range of numbers on this particular thread sounds more honest than some of last year's stated numbers :).

Dunno what to suggest is right spend; I've heard that you shouldn't spend more than 2% of your annual income on the whole Xmas shebang (entertainment, gifts for all, etc.). So parcel that out according to the number of kids you have & other expenses you'll have. Friends say that they comfortably spend no more than a tenner per child (6 kids, and an income of about 14k/yr including tax credits). In theory their whole Xmas budget should be no more than 280 quid, so tenner each child is about right for them.

[Pagwatch]

Rustybear

Ds1 got all hoity toity when I did him a stocking at 16. Then, in the run up to last Christmas I said he wouldn't be getting a stocking and he looked at me the way the dog did when we cut his bollocks off.

[theyoungvisiter]

CRIKEY at some of the sums on here!! £300!!!!!

I spend about £50 on each child, which breaks down to something like £30-£40 on a big present and £10-20 on small stuff and stockings. I spend a bit more if they're getting something big and worthwhile - like a bike maybe.

I could afford to spend a bit more but I think that's plenty for the moment - they are 5 and 3. I imagine I'll end up spending a bit more as they get older.

[encyclogirl]

From reading threads last year I learned never to divulge, but apparently tuppence ha'penny and reel of cotton is plenty.

Anything more makes you a chav.

[ben5]

about $100- $150 for each child. This year has been abit more expensive though as we are getting ds1 a surf board Hes starting life surfing soon. We live in Oz

[justcallmemummypig]

We buy one main present each and then a stocking....but i fail to see how anyone could do that with £20 per child. Seriously i want to know exactly what they got their child for that

[PontyMython]

@£300

I don't think I'd spend that much even if I could.

HOWEVER. I do get my DCs a lot. Too much probably. DH and I both came from poor and abusive childhoods and it has undoubtedly coloured our views. For example I have a rule about charity shops - they get loads of stuff 2nd hand (especially since I started volunteering in a charity shop!) but Xmas and birthday presents MUST be new. so sometimes that means they get more, because if the only version of something I want to get them (they are 2 and 4 so not really in the "I want the latest toy" phase) is 2nd hand I'll just give them it before Xmas/birthday.

I recently realised that my DCs probably are materially spoilt. They do have too much stuff. But I'd fallen into the trap of thinking that because I wasn't spending much money I couldn't possibly be spoiling them! But the money was getting a lot of stuff because I'm a very savvy shopper.

We've just started ebaying and it's a mixed blessing - starting to declutter and make money from their old barely-played-with toys, but also buying more because it's so cheap at this time of year!

I've got pretty much everything now so when Xmas season really sets in I can hibernate and avoid the shops. Hopefully.

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

I seem to be in middle with my 'spends' but it feels such a pitance, and a strain to get it together in the first place also. When we were kids we were getting around 1k each. You always want to better what you had as kids and i simply cant :( We do spend much more time with them doing things than my parents did. Simple free things. I hope when they grown up they can see the value in those things too.

[CherryMonster]

i dont have a limit. i buy a main present each, this year not a clue what to get ds1 but he wants an xbox 360 (have explained that if he does get it, it will be pre-owned. he is 12 and fine with this) ds2 is getting a netbook and the girls are getting scooters. then will buy a handful of bits and bobs, clothes, pj's, stocking stuff and a few books and a dvd each. i dont spend equally but i try to make sure they all have a similar number of gifts to open. they dont get much through the year, birthdays all early in year, and only 3 other people buy for them.