Is my budget for the children too stingy?

[BretonStripe]

We have two dc, approaching 3 and 6. We're ok for money, plenty of savings. Have always thought £100 for Christmas is plenty, but am going to struggle this year as dc1 would love an £85 Micro scooter, to replace his battered cheap scooter (which he uses almost daily).

By the time I've bought nice pj's/onesie, pants, books, a bit of Lego and a board game etc my budget is nearly gone, so wouldn't be able to get the scooter.

I grew up fairly poor; council house, Mum struggled to pay rent/didn't have fancy things etc so think I struggle with being spendy sometimes.

What is an average Xmas budget for people who are not poor, but don't want to spend loads? (Can't understand people who have to spend £300+ on each child each year).

Including stocking, I spend about £100, maybe £150 on DD, who is 11, and her list tends to be more ££. DS is still all about the tat. More than that seems excessive to me. Though if they needed a bike midway through the year, I might upgrade to the next size up as a non-birthday/Christmas thing.

I don't think it's stingy but if you can afford it then I would take the clothes out of the gift budget and buy them separately. My dc are almost 3 (he has his birthday just before Christmas)and 6 months and we've probably spent around £200 between them.

We have micro scooters and they are fab. But I see them as necessity, like you say about clothes and PJs. I tend to include only things they won't get normally. I won't make them wait till Christmas or birthday if they have outgrown a bike. Never understood the logic.

I've spent about for £150 each of 2 DS age 7 & 9. Just been doing the wrapping and I think I've gone ott with stuff (esp as they'll also receive very generous gifts from my parents) . But I have gone for all decent quality (I hope).

Biggest single present is a new scooter for DS2 - £100 but hope it will last a few years, and he's used his old one to destruction.

Interesting re above - I haven't included any clothes this year as kids find them boring as presents and I would get stuff as they need it anyway.

PJs/socks/pants are not gifts

They are things kids need. I never understand this. Buy them if you want them to have nice new ones for xmas but don't pretend they are presents. Presents are frivolous things you would LIKE but don't NEED.

I'd be annoyed if my DH bought me functional knickers and socks as a present.

It depends on what they want! My two (3&6) are allowed to ask Santa for 2 things and a surprise. When DC1 was 4 he wanted a transformer, buckaroo and the surprise was some Lego starter set. Last year Santa upgraded his 3wheel microscooter to a two wheel one and he asked also for a marble run. Microscooters are expensive but worth it in my opinion. DC2 now has the 3wheel one (Santa gave some hubcaps in their stocking to upgrade it!) And I will probably sell it for £20 ish in a couple of years. So it will have given 6years plus service!

The two wheel version is excellent and I assume DC1 will have it as there only one for the next 6-7 years or longer (as I can use it too!). We upgrade it as he's 6 but 137cm tall already!

So to answer your question we are lucky enough to not really budget as our children are still young and expectations have been managed and they don't ask for the moon! If you can afford it I would up your budget if you are keen to give your child a micro scooter plus what you would normally buy.

I now set myself a budget for the stocking though as I'm bad at not want to give the kids cheap crap which will clutter my house, they get scheich animals etc. So the stocking -£60 each, Santa presents £60-100. Books, clothing item & a small toy from us £60. They each get £10 to buy each other a present too.

That's shit loads of money but - I earn it! They don't get toys at the weekly shop, they don't get comics from us & we won't buy anything but clothes until their birthdays in the summer. My mum was a widower in a council house so Christmas for me was very different.

If you have always had a budget of £100 per child then surely after six years, it needs to increase with inflation.

We don't have a set budget. It is a main gift and a couple of smaller ones round the tree, as well as the stocking. The stocking has lots of things I would buy anyway (toothbrush, pyjamas, bubble bath etc) so it feels a little mean to include the cost of it in an overall budget. I'll make sure i spend an equal amount but last year it might have been £150 but this year only £100.

If your DS would love the scooter and it fits within your budget I think it would make more sense to get the scooter and less of the other things e.g. Scooter and then a stocking filled with £15 worth of stocking fillers.

I don't have a budget per se but as DD has got older her gifts cost more. And spending lots on presents doesn't mean that the day is all about presents! I've spent roughly £300 this year but that includes:
Santa gift (she is allowed to ask for one thing from Santa) - Playmobil hospital £65
The rest from me:
Uggs
Onesie
Tracksuit
Books
DVDs
Sports bag
Chocolates / sweets

The money doesn't stretch far! Her stocking is made up of little bits from Primark/poundshop. It's not a huge pile of presents.

Xmas day is still about everything else - family, friends, food, games, films, books - it's just that her gifts costs slightly more.

I did mention to ds1 the other day that his pants were looking a bit worn out, and maybe he'd get new ones for Christmas...the sheer horror on his face! "You can't buy me PANTS for CHRISTMAS!" I flipping well can (they'll be posh character ones instead of 8 for £4 jobs).

Interesting some of you mention generous GP's; both my parents are dead, and the inlaws are...err...frugal shall we say (but super kind and helpful so I don't care) so no "big" presents from anywhere else.

Guess we should use the logic that if they really want something, and it's not ridiculous, and we can afford it, go for it...

P.s CRad my dh bought me a Kenwood Chef one year...he almost became my exH!

We don't have a budget really but just buy whatever our DC's would like. We don't necessarily spend exactly the same on each of them.It all evens out over the years. However we can afford it and don't make a big fuss at birthdays. Christmas is definitely the main event of the year for us. It is the only time that all 6 of our adult DDs are here together for a number of days so we like to make the most of it. Everyone's approach is different and I don't think it matters how much or how little you spend.

For the first time this year, we haven't worried about cost, we have bought what the children have asked for and have spent a lot on them. Dd, a tablet and ds an X box. They don't get much through the year and are good children. Last year, ds main present was £35, so we don't make a habit of over spending at Christmas, but I know how much he would love an Xbox and am willing to splash out while we can afford it.
If you can afford it, buy the scooter he would love. You say he uses the old one daily, so he is certainly getting his money's worth from it. You could always spend a bit less at birthday time to even it out a bit.

I give quite a lot of things wiggle room Breton

Long live the days when they're happy with a 9.99 playmobile set!

Thats fine OP, you don't need to spend loads on Christmas etc because everyone else is. If your stingy, then I am a complete tight wad

Because I''m spending £50 on my 17yo DD this year, I'm poor and a single parent.

If you can afford it, I'd say it's fine to go over-budget on stuff they 'need' - assuming he won't need an £85 scooter next year.

For the past couple of years, I've budgeted 150 each (8 and 11 now) but that's crept up since they were tiny.

I don't think you have to get too tied up in spending the same on them, particularly if one is a lot younger. We get ours what they need/want at the time. So one year someone will have a bike and someone else will want something cheaper. Everybody gets enough to make them happy and it all evens out in the end.

£100-150 per child total (small children) as that covers most good quality scooters, bikes, tablets and dolls houses at this age. However, we tend to give just 1-2 presents (1 set of GP tend to go overboard, the other GPs are much more sensible). If what they want is only £50, then that's what we spend. We don't try to add extra to hit a target, at least not at this age (under 10s). It'll even up over time.

Financially we are (very) well off, though it's probably not obvious to outsiders, but we don't like to spoil them.

I have to be very careful with our spend, so I know I am probably going to be called stingy on this thread. I do give my DC necessities (clothes, PJs) as part of their presents but this is a treat as they usually wear hand-me-downs. I also give them essentials like toothbrushes and shampoo in their stockings, though I try to balance them out with fun presents - in my view it gives them more gifts to open even if some of them are less exciting (though they do get surprisingly excited by a bottle of bubble bath which is wrapped up for them to open!)

I gather things up over the course of the year to try and avoid as much expense in December, which helps a bit, and I do have a strict limit for each child that I spend. I think I'm doing ok so far as each year my DD has told me "Mum, this is the best Christmas ever!!!" Hopefully this year will be too...

I'm giving mine each - one big present (playmobil, approx £40), one annual (£7), one cuddly toy (£10), some walking boots (£22), some pyjamas (£15) and a joint DVD (Planet Earth 2, £20). Plus they will get a stocking with little things in like chocolates, socks/pants, tangerine, lego minifigure, notebook and so on. About £10 each.

So I think that comes to about £100 each.

Re socks/pants - I buy them as I know both my DCs absolute love getting new socks and pants!

Mine are mainly adults now, so figures are a bit meaningless but we did everything they needed first as we weren't well off and it killed two birds, iyswim.
They'd have educational pressie from gp's and clothes from the others,
then we'd get the big present, a couple of smaller presents and stocking fillers.

I get to chat with my customers for long periods of time, and have a very wide client base - ranging from very affluent, to people who receive financial assistance. Inevitably we will chat about presents on the run up to Christmas.

What I have noticed is that the more affluent the family, the less is spent on gifts for the kids at Christmas. People at the lower end of the pay scale, are more likely to spend a larger proportion of their finances on Christmas gifts for the kids. Also, my less affluent clients are more likely to splurge on items bought with credit, and pay it up later in the year, whereas the richer people will buy cheaper/fewer items, and buy them outright.

Interestingly, I noticed that the OP mentions 'sticking money in the kids savings,' which is not usually a thing that my customers on less money would mention doing. I think it really illustrates a difference in priorities between people in different wage brackets, and from different backgrounds. Neither are necessarily wrong.

Though your children are small, I think if you could afford more that would be better.

Get the Pjs and board game which are not so much like presents, then the scooter. Perhaps a family member would give the lego. What about a stocking? That might mean £150 each. If you really cannot afford more then the scooter. The board game is for the family I should think and you could just get that for everyone.

I'm probably about £209-£250 each plus new iPhone contract, but contracts are up and it's the same cost as old ones! Teens and everything is so much more expensive plus parcels are smaller, so it looks like nothing! Some of the budget has gone on clothes which they would have needed anyway. I'm on my own and skint but been buying bits for last few months and in sales.

Bumps, thats fine but OPs DS clearly doesn't want pants for christmas!

Go on OP, if you have the money, you aren't getting into debt or sticking it on cards then let him have the scooter!

I'm sure he would rather that than character pants!

Yes we get one board game every xmas as a family present. Socks and pants in stockings but not as presents!

Budget goes up with age so the baby will get about £30? 6 year old DD £60 and other DC about £150.

Thats more than usual as I don't have to do stockings this year as they are at their dads xmas eve.

2DC, 11 and 7. About £50 each. I would include clothes, but stuff like football shirts and branded onesies with their favourite football club.
I found the whole buying for the sake of buying very uncomfortable. Buying without need or even much want. My children love Christmas even though they don't get huge expensive gifts.