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Original poster

How much will you be spending this year on each DC?

92 replies

milk · 18/08/2012 18:55

How much will you be spending this year on each DC? Do you think age matters when deciding how much to spend?

This year my budget for DS's present will be £15 (1.5yo). At the moment I don't see myself spending more as he gets older, as fortunately my parents spoil him with bigger gifts.

OP posts:
liability · 21/08/2012 12:39

It's not so much the money spent but the volume of gifts that can be overwhelming IME. Huge piles of stuff can be a bit much whereas a few carefully chosen, wanted gifts seem to go down better with my dc (and keeps landfill down) although often those few gifts have been just as if not more costly.

katielou2012 · 21/08/2012 12:46

My dd will be 2 in november so ill probably spend about £100 for her birthday and then £200 at christmas, but next year im going to start saving right from January so it will probably be more then. But i have to say £15 sounds quite stingy I cant imagine giving spending £15 on my daughter for xmas especially if you can afford to spend more Hmm

Shinyshoes1 · 21/08/2012 13:19

I have £1300.00 for Christmas but that's to cover EVERYTHING.

I want to get the 2 boys a mini Ipad each when they are released in September but DP is not keen because everything has to be bought from the Apple shop and the Ipads etc don't support flash, plus he think 8GB isn't enough for them. Maybe he has a point so that now takes me back to the drawing board although he has mentioned an Android Tablet.

DD1 will probably get about £100.00 spent on her

SzechuanPalace · 21/08/2012 13:38

All up, probably about £100 on each of them. I could spend more but I think it is enough and we are having a big holiday not long after Christmas that I'd rather spend my money on.

Bought DS2's main present in the January sales last year for half price and am buying DS1 an innotab this year but will buy the innotab 1 not the newly released innotab 2 so will save a bit there.

The £100 will include advent calendar, stocking fillers etc. I expect as they get older that our budget will increase.

Our total Christmas budget is £500, despite being able to afford more I would find more than that excessive. Though if we had a bigger family or a handful of nephews and nieces to buy for, rather than just one, our budget would have to be more.

parabelle · 21/08/2012 13:47

iknowwho Mon 20-Aug-12 22:11:04
I nearly posted about DS's (nintendos) yesterday.
I thought they had gone out of fashion and things had moved on. I went on mine last week for the first time in ages and it felt a bit old school.

I thought they were a bit old fashioned to be honest, but she really wants one. Was hoping the price would come down a bit. Thinking maybe a secondhand one.

SpanishFly · 21/08/2012 14:16

Why would nintendo ds be old-school?! I'm confused. There are new models released all the time, my oldest has asked for the new 3DS XL.

iknowwho · 21/08/2012 18:31

SpanishFly I only used that phrase because I don't see anyone with them anymore or kids asking for them the way they did about 4 or 5 years ago. I thought things had moved on and DS's were out of fashion.

I asked DS2, who is 12, last week if any of his mates still played with theirs and he said no-one bothers with them.
I work with children and no one brings them in anymore where as a few years ago we were tripping over them.
Heck, even my mum and dad don't bother and use the PS3 and they are in their 70's!!
All the kids round here tend to have iPads.
I just felt a bit nostalgic playing Proffessor Leighton after all these years!!

SpanishFly · 21/08/2012 18:48

I see - possibly it's an age thing, cos ALL of my son's pals play with them, and thats what they all want for Xmas! They're all 7ish. Everyone has their nose in one! I'm sure DS would want an iPad if he could get one, but no chance at the age of 7...!

Mosman · 22/08/2012 09:29

Mine are older 12,10 and 8 they will have about £500 each spent on them or they can put the money in the bank to save towards a bigger thing. DD2 wants a MacBook pro do she can jolly well save up for that.
DS will have about £200 but I will save the difference for him.

ObiWan · 22/08/2012 09:36

Shinyshoes1 , I'd heard rumours about the mini iPad, one of mine would like a tablet, but I'm not keen on the Android maze, and an iPad for each child would just be insane.

Is it definitely 8Gb?

fuzzpig · 22/08/2012 09:59

A mini iPad?!? Confused

We got given an old iPad 1 by my insanely generous friend (he gives away gadgets when he upgrades) and we just use it as a family thing - lots of games for all ages but DCs stick to the ones they are allowed on. :)

BiddyPop · 22/08/2012 10:36

At the moment, I have budgeted ?150 for Christmas (including stocking, Santa and present from us for under the tree) and ?100 for her birthday next day. But that is my starting point every year - for basic budgeting purposes.

I know Santa wants to bring a bike this year, we got the last one on sale so I am hoping to do that again. I have already spent ?16 on her stocking but probably won't spend much more on that - maybe another ?10. I think I will be giving her a tracksuit I got on offer from us, so ?13. And I have to get her new Christmas Eve PJs yet, so another ?10ish (cos I don't think I'll have time to sew a pair).

As for her birthday, again, I will probably not spend a lot this year, maybe another ?20-30.

Last year, we spent about ?170 in total on it all, and she was delighted with all she got. She got a very full stocking (I find lots of interesting small things all year), a huge lego set that she loved, a couple of outfits, new PJs, a board game, books, and loads of craft materials. But with her birthday so close, it is tricky trying to balance so much in 2 days and having the chance to get something at other times in the year. So I think that is plenty to spend - regardless of whether we have more to spend or not.

BiddyPop · 22/08/2012 10:41

Oh and I do have a spreadsheet too - it's invaluable!! (I have about 40 people to buy for and need to try to keep the overall cost down, but the initial budget in January is always close to the ?2k mark just for presents and that is too much to spend on everyone by the time Christmas actually comes - and why sales during the year are so helpful!).

TheCunningStunt · 22/08/2012 11:17

Isn't a mini iPad an iPod touchConfused?

fuzzpig · 22/08/2012 11:25

:o

jellybeans · 22/08/2012 11:29

I have 5 DC and don't spend loads, varies by year but it wouldn't be 100s each that is for sure. They seem very happy with what they get. They tend to get more for birthdays but still less than what many of my friends spend.

ObiWan · 22/08/2012 12:39

Noo! The mini iPad is for Apple geeks who are all Appled out! Grin

I guess they saw a gap in the market, with all the people buying ~£200 tablets for children, as a step up from Nintendo DS consoles and things.

We looked at the iPod Touch, but it is very small, too small to play some of the child friendly apps on. The mini Ipad seems a nice size for a five year old.

And you can't beat the App. Store. I love Apple

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