Christmas presents how much do you spend on DC?

[Adelecarberry87]

A friendly debate - when do you think you've bought enough?
I make sure both DC have the same spent on them but DS is 7 , DD is 2. The amount of presents DD is considerably larger to DS. Even though they have had equal amounts spent on them. I still feel like i haven't got them enough dispite DH saying they have enough.

Myotherusername - I love that pound shop idea. I may steal it.

Rider, feel free :) I was well impressed with myself at the time. The boys really enjoyed it too and felt like they were really getting us surprises. They were more excited about giving those than anything else about Christmas day :) A little tip though, do it as close to Christmas as you can as they struggle to contain the excitement and the secret for too long or they forget where they have hidden the gifts.

Awww yes, I'm going to steal that idea too! :)

Oh I would never say how much....as much as I want and I have fun with it.

I love hearing what everyone's picked out for their kids but I never understand the interest in how much money people have spent.

I don't track spend - I just get what I think they will like and enjoy.

I absolutely love Christmas and I do have a tendency to go over the top.

olivia the £60 - my eldest is almost 12 so not little any more. Yes she has asked for more expensive items but you do realise you don't actually HAVE to get them everything they've asked for?? It's Christmas. It's celebrating the birth of Jesus and spending time together as a family.!£60 can buy loads of age-appropriate gifts (latest cd, dvd, board game etc)

All my DC happened to ask for gifts costing about £125. I haven't started on stocking fillers yet.....FC traditionally brings the a jumper too (no idea how that started!) and as they are older and like brands/need adult sizes that will be about £50 each.

Oh for the days when when all they wanted was a £3.99 light sabre.

DD2 are 4 and 1.

Have brought them a large wooden kitchen as a sharing present, which was circa £140 (brought back in May so can't remember the price) plus spent an extra £80ish each on 'under the tree presents' (6 each), which was more than I planned to spend.

Have not kept count on stocking present price, but everything in there is everyday stuff I would have brought anyway - socks, pants, toothbrushes, pjs, flannels, bubble bath etc plus about £5 each max on choc/glow stars for bedroom ceiling.

I spend about £200 each on the adult dc and then youngest dc 12 gets pretty much whatever she asks for or needs. So this year she needs a new laptop and wants a graphics tablet and then there are games for her wii u and 3ds, specific t shirts, books, art stuff and no doubt other stuff I've forgotten. Last year she wanted an electric piano and piano lessons so she tends to get a high ticket item most years tbh.

Usually I get them 1-3 presents, up to £60 total each, and then spend around another£30-40 each on stockings and a gift from Father Christmas.

This year I've spent a little bit more as one child is getting 1/3 of a console&games from us (1/3 birthday present, 1/3 contributions from other family for both birthday and Christmas). Having the console itself for birthday before Xmas along with one game, and getting the other three games it came with at Christmas.

Other child has also had slightly more spent as had requested clothes and one other item.

Still in at well under £300 between them though.

I don't worry about spending the same on each, just make sure they'll get something they'll like. Try to match number of presents more, but again if one has three and the other two it doesn't really matter. Stocking fillers more important as they bring them in our bed and take turns pulling things out.

About £100 each although i think the youngest (9) will get less as there isn't anything big she has asked for so not spending for the sake of it. Dd9 gets more pressies but dd15 n dd16 get fewer but more expensive ones. They still have a chunter every year though (half light hearted) and I have to explain quality over quantity. Ds (20) is v hard to buy for and hardly gets anything to open but has cash.

Only one ds15 about £400 wanted an xbox one but making him contribute £100 towards it so £300 The rest is made up of some clothes from H&M, chocolate, lynx, Christmas socks etc things that he needs

About £400 each.

We don't really set a budget and I start in August so the cost is spread out. DS1(21) is in the army, sports mad and due to go on a course to become a PTI soon so he wanted sports kit and running stuff. That does come cheap, unfortunately. We've bought him more than he asked for, because we could.

DS2(18) wanted clothes and trainers. They're not cheap either. Most of it I've bought from an American website which is cheaper.

They've got the pyjamas, socks, pants, books, calendar and jelly beans they always get too.

DS19m will be getting 3 or 4 presents, total spend £30-40.

Thanks for your replies guys. I haven't even thought to count parcels each DC has to be honest. They just got two of those big christmas reusable bags each. My average spend varies on the children between 150-200 roughly each depending on what year we have. I'm certainly not looking forward to when they are teeanagers 😣. I'm currenly pregnant with DC3 so next year will be getting three lots.

Lynette ah yes the days of £20 worth of bath toys and plastic cars!
Neither of mine have a big ticket item this year like bike or tech so lots of little things which of course adds up....I think I've spent about £300 on each of them but I've gone a bit mad this year.
Ds1s stocking (he is 12.5) has cost quite a bit this year as he doesn't eat chocolate (!) And has eczema so most smellies are out too.

Those of you who work on the amount spent, what do you do when you buy something that is on offer, Black Friday etc?

For example, I have bought my DM a cashmere jumper for Christmas. It should have been £70ish but was in an M&S 50% off event. Would you still count that as £70 spent or tot it up at £35?

As for DS, we spend a fair bit. I cannot however see the point of setting a budget and "struggling to spend it all" nor the fascination of spending the same amount on DC's of vastly differing ages. It's too much for my little brain to cope with in all honesty, which is why it's probably best I only had the one

I do try and spend the same Tbh but that's my issue from being treated differently from my siblings as a child.
That's being said I haven't this year! Ds1s stocking has cost more than ds2s but ds2s gifts have cost more than ds1s so I guess it evens out.
I have got ds1 a black Friday bargain but I count it as spending £20 not £75 which was the rrp.
Also got him some older star wars ps3 games (they have been out for some time but he won't known that :)) so instead of £40 each they were £15.
Got him some bargain funky t shirts from Amazon for £2.50 each.
His most expensive gift is a Neff gun at £35 - which is the only thing he asked for!

Oh and I don't count gifts or compare costs tbh. If I found what one wanted at half the price that would be great, I wouldn't then add more so yes it would be cheaper. They get a main gift and a stocking full. That might mean one gets more in stocking if smaller things, and one might get double spent on main gift if that's the cost. Like I said this year it's roughly the same each but that's just coincidence.

Doesn't it also depend on how much they get from other people? We both earn decent salaries - I've spent £30 on each of the DCs and another £15 on stocking presents but we have a huge family so grandparents spend £100, lots of aunts and uncles etc.

LibidinousTurkey - I work out the actual amount spent as opposed to the rrp. So I would class the jumper as £35. As we have a strict budget, deals means the kids can get higher value items and remain in budget.

I don't set an amount either,but try to get them an equal amount.Did I'd say is 150 D's 100 ish (euros)
We have a small extended family,and in-laws will only buy practical gifts like prize bonds.

They have about five Sandra gifts each,D's are smaller as its FIFA etc where as dd its barbie and our generation dolls so bigger.

Ahh!!! Autocorrect! Santa not Sandra gifts

We don't have a budget as such, I just try to make sure that they all have the same amount of presents to open in the morning. They have always have their big gift like a bike/scooter/kitchen and then about 7/8 presents in Santa sacks which will range from a Batman bat cave to a set of paints. The dc don't get many toys through the year so we all enjoy a splurge at Christmas!

I've spent £300 on DS this year