Ipad mini and nothing else?

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

DD1 is 7 (march birthday) and has been asking for an ipad mini for months now. I have explained to her that if she wants it for Christmas that she can but that will be it. MY budget per child is maximum of £250 (I have 4 dc). I can get this in budget as have JL discount so would leave about £15 to buy a couple of extra bits.

My question is does that seem really mean?

She would get the stocking which we say is rom father Christmas for the younger ones and mummy and daddy buy the other presents and fc delivers them. The stocking contains small items such as xmas socks, stickers, chocolate lollipop, pens pencils, maybe a magazine or small book.

She will also get lots of presents from relatives and friends.

My main concern is that it wont look much when her older brothers and younger sister are opening probably twice as many presents. the boys will have 5 or 6 presents, ps3 games, Hollister/superdry etc hoodie as they are teens and her sister is younger and so has a dolls pram baby annabell, garage with cars.

Is she old enough to understand or should I break the budget and spend £30-40 on other stuff she loves such as a handbag, purse, monster high doll.

The budget is there for fairness not for affordability, also I am not comfortable with spending thousands on each child for no reason other than its Christmas.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

I've already bought a hardwearing case for my own ipad mini. DD delights in telling me it's 'my tab'. No she's not getting own one anytime soon.

[fairimum]

we have done the handme down thing with great results, just buy a new hardwearing case to go on it, chiildren thrilled and i def think adults get more out of the more upto date technology that children do... unless teenagers etc who want to be playing games that use the newer technology.

[jamtoast12]

In principal I think its totally fine as a lot of money but on the day I know my dd would be very disappointed if that's all she got. Kids say they understand the money aspect etc but on the day I expect it'll be different.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Obviously there's the alternative to give my DD a hand me down from us, but I'll still have to buy myself a new one and spend the money anyway?

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

ragwort my own DD is only 2 so I won't be spending more than £50-£75 either. But I can see that at some point in the future I'll buy her tablets and computers. If I am not buying her one of these in christmas, she'll still get them anyway. So I don't see it as extravagent to buy one.

[fairimum]

the original ipad mini has been dropped in price to £249, we have just ordered 2 of these for our children and they will only be getting these and their stockings. no need for the new one is hardly any different x

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

Totally agree ragwort.

[Ragwort]

There is a huge range of budgets for Christmas presents on mumsnet and I guess if something is miles out of your own league that it can either appear over generous or miserly - obviously without knowing someone's individual circumstances it is best not to comment.

Personally I would feel uncomfortable spending more than £50-75 on my DS's Christmas presents (he is 12) - its not that we can't afford it, but it is not how we choose to spend our money. But that's a decision that suits our family and as long as no one gets into debt it shouldn't be an issue.

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

Im often told my budget per child is small? Ragwort. I think its a large budget although doesn't go far with teens/older ones. Usually for the girls, who this year are 7 and 4 I get away with spending far less.

I've picked up a coupld of pieces in saisnburys half prie toy sale a sparkly crown for 99p, princess necklace nd clip on earrings 99p, monster high doll set for £11, moshi monsters tin for £4, so even without selling her ds or ipod touch im just about on budget as JL discount is 12.5% on electricals.

One down 3 to go

thanks everyone, and especially for the advice re the longevity of the older ipad mini.

[Mrspebble]

Defo try and sell the other bits, like them unused DS..
Could you buy things of practical use for her to increase presents without too much expense, like a nice lunchbox, socks, pens for school etc. home bargains and poundshop presents.

The old version would be totally fine at that age.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I would do it. I have the original iPad mini and, even if I wasn't skint, there is nothing on the new one that makes me want to update. I'm an Apple fangirl so would be updating like a shot if finances allowed and if it was worth it. She'll get a good few years out of it yet.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Want to add I'm sure it's 3-4 years after they have stopped selling the model before they stop supporting it.

Android doesn't fair much better if you look at samsung's update records. Lots of phones and tablets can't get jelly bean.

I'm sure you'll get a good few years use out of the ipad mini 1. Tbh I have an old 1st or 2nd gen ipod and I let my toddler use it until it got dropped into water.

[Ragwort]

Of course it's fine although amazed at the amount you spend on Christmas presents for your children

My DS (much older than your DD ) wanted a PS3 last Christmas and understood he had to put half towards it and that was all he got from us, he was delighted.

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

She doesn't use the ipod or the ds as shes always stealing ds' s ipad

[fuzzpig]

I have a first gen regular iPad that still works great and can have most games on there (barring a few requiring camera/gyroscope) so as even the first iPad mini is much more recent than that, I'm sure it'll be fine!

If she doesn't remember to charge the iPod, and doesn't play with the DS, are you sure she would really play with an iPad mini once the novelty had worn off?

[wonderingsoul]

they do stop doing updates for the first gen i m pretty sure you will have at least 3-4 years worth there

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

She has an ipod touch. My brother gave it to her when he brought the new version. She rarely remembers to charge it and moans the screen is too small.

It doesn't have to be the latest model my only concern is the rumours that Apple will stop supplying updates for older models. Any truthin that? Will we be stuck in 2-3 yrs time unable to update or download new apps?

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Even if she really wants an ipad, does it have to be the latest one? The old one is now £249. Have to agree that the hudl is very very good.

[notso]

We are having this with DD but she's 13 so I think it's easier, I managed to use my sisters Tesco discount and she let me buy some club card points off her to make it £200. The bargain thread has meant I've been able to get a lot for the leftover money.
However I'll be totally honest when DD was 7 she really wanted an iPod touch which at the time was about £250, DH and I thought long and hard about it but decided it was just too much so she didn't get one. She got one when she was 10, I felt she could appreciate the value of it more then.
I think we 'do' Father Christmas differently to lot's of people though. Here Mums and Dads only buy for non-believers so everything except friends and family presents are from him. Our DC write massive lists and they get a few things from the list and some surprises, so far no-one has ever been bothered when he didn't bring a particular thing.

[WaitMonkey]

Thanks for that. Will have a look for dd. It's a shame she's changed her mind. Maybe if someone makes a decent offer she will agree to sell it.

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

Monkey- Im pretty sure its called fashion story, its a free app and there are a few versions of it. they also do bakery story, disco story, so you can run a bakery or a nightclub, you need to cook items and come back hen they are cooked to display them, same with the clothing one, you order stock according to how many coins you have (from customers buying) and you can make your store bigger, decorate it, get fancier display stands etc. make sure you don't have your password set in the device though as you can buy extra coins and diamonds to buy stuff for your stores.

she did say yes last night and I advertised it on local facebook groups, but this morning she doesn't seem quite so keen to sell it. She's barely used it and I definitely can't see her using it if she has an ipad, so perhaps I should have just sold it and not told her

[WaitMonkey]

Oh, and did you suggest to your dd she sell her ds to help fund the iPad ? Just curious as to what she said.

[WaitMonkey]

Can I just hijack to ask a question, please op, what's the fashion boutique app called please ? DD would love that. Thank you. sorry.

[Dontletthemgetyoudown]

The money thing is more for my older boys. Eg ive told them the maximum budget and if theyd decidee they wanted the ps4 theyd know it would be between the two of them .
.I set the budget as I save throughout the year. But don't always spend it all. Dd2 who is 4 will probably come to jusy undet £100.

Thanks everyone for replying

[CrotchStitch]

I would go for it- DS is 9 and having the new xbox this year and "nothing else" :o
He is perfectly aware what that means and understands that the xbox is mega money expensive. He could have lots of smaller bits instead but his heart is set on the xbox so why try and change it just to spend money on "stuff" he hasn't asked for?
I also agree that within reason you do not need to completely balance the books WRT what you spend on each child (though DS is an only child so it's easy for me to say :o)