Budgets for small children

[Whatabout]

I'll have a three month old baby and a 2.5 year old this Christmas (all being well etc.). What sort of budget do people have for very small children? For the baby it will be one item probably as it will be oblivious and won't "need" anything. I have no idea where to even start! For my 2 year old I was thinking stocking plus two or three other things, playmobil, dinosaurs, crafting things, plus a new outfit?

Stocking will be mainly practical things (new pants / flannel / bubble bath / swimming bag) with some small fun things added it. Does that sound reasonable, or dull?

DD will be 18mo and our budget will be around £250. The stuff we buy will be to last until her 2nd birthday. So some toys geared toward 18 months and some for when she's a bit older.

1st Christmas at 6mo I spent around £100 if you included Christmas Day outfit, cute Christmas t shirts/ pjs and personalised 1st Christmas bauble/ Santa plate (these will be put out every Christmas) etc. Her actual "presents" probably cost about £30.

It sounds fine. Budgets are all subjective anyway. They depend on financial circumstances, preferences and children

I'll have a 1 year old and a 3 year old this Xmas

1year will get a book (already bought) and probably a couple other small things total budget £20 I think

3 year old will get a bike and then a few other bits, probably £100-£150 max in total, which I think is a lot

I will have a one year old and a two year old at christmas and birthday for one of them at that time

I am thinking of wrapping up craft stuff and maybe clothes.

I would like wooden letters to spell out their name in new bedroom so will wrap those.

Then I suppose about 40 ish each. Maybe books and one bigger thing each like an aquadoodle.

My dc still at the stage where they love banging saucepans with big wooden spoons and all of that.

At that age I just got stuff as cheaply as possible, loads of things at car boots, table top sales, baby sales ( nct etc) car boots...

Now DC are older I tend to buy newer stuff and as money is tight I feel more justified as we spent so little early on when she had no idea whether something was new or second hand!

Ours is about £70 max for each small child. It's been plenty so far.

We sale shop a lot though, DS was 3 last year and his main gift was a large toy wooden kitchen for £30.

we spent a lot on our 2 year old last year, way too much (i think somewhere between £120-£150 in the end) especially as she got things from family too and her birthday was about 5 weeks before! This year I'm at a loss of what to get her, but I think I'll focus on the run up to christmas with books and crafts etc I'm really tempted to get her a ball pit but I'm not sure why... we'll probably aim for a £50 budget all in with 1 main present

our new addition will be 9 months so I've set a £50 budget for clothes plus a cute wooden shape sorter from argos.

Probably around £250 total for both (will be 14mths and 3.5) though will endeavour to get their stuff when it's on offer. Rather than spend 100 on plastic stuff I'm hoping to invest in a toy each that will last longer and will have a few yrs play, then add 4-5 presents for eldest, one or two things for baby and stockings made up of dvds, small toys and books I've been buying when I do my food shop. More conscious about cutting down on amount of presents rather than money this year. I do buy early though and spread it out over 5mths. DH and I don't give each anything other than a gift 'from the children'