Do you feel the need to buy more if you get a Christmas bargain?

[InEveryDreamHomeAHeartache]

Apologies if this thread appears somewhere else; I created it and it seemed to disappear!

I love the Christmas bargain thread and have got some great deals from it and the summer sales.

I am just curious as to whether people feel chuffed when they have got a good bargain and leave it at that or end up buying more presents because they know what they really spent.

For example, I bought DS girlfriend 2 presents that full price should have been £30 (which is about what I would normally spend) but got them for £13. My head is telling me I don’t need to get her anything else but I feel guilty that I haven’t really spent a lot.

Just wondering really what all you other lovely mumsnetters do?

It depends who the present is for. If it's for my children, I'll probably get them something else, but for anyone else, no.

No i don't feel the need to buy more but I do not set limits for people so I buy something i think they would like. We have very few people to buy for and I think if we set budgets I would feel under so much pressure to spend that amount.

I always spend the same whether I have managed to find bargains or not. I think this is fair as normally there is an agreed or at least mutually recognised present budget for each person which they will reciprocate (obviously not talking about my own DC). I think getting someone a bargain and not passing on the saving to them through getting them another gift too isn't really in the spirit of things.

I think you have to consider more than the monetary value.

I’m a sahm so money is tighter for me than for my best friend who earns a lot but is time poor. I’m not miffed by her dashing off an amazon order in her lunch break in December and paying premium prices and extra postage. But to give her a gift of the same value I invest time that she doesn’t have.

There are obvious bargains (discontinued lines, last year’s packaging, etc) and less obvious bargains (Argos 3-4-2). I think it would be poor form to give my friend’s ds a bigger gift than she gives my ds. Maintaining a perception of equality is important and it would be just as crass of me to make a display of my wealth of time, as it would be for her to treat my child to a lavish gift I can’t reciprocate.

Some people appreciate a thoughtful gift irrespective of cost whereas for others the monetary cost is reflective of status (this is certainly true in business). I spent months tracking down a tatty second hand copy of a book my gran loved as a girl. It cost me a couple of quid. On the other hand my mil gets great pleasure out of checking the price of her gifts. I bought her a book that in her local book shop would have cost three times the price I paid by comparing prices online and watching for a discount code. It would have diminished her pleasure to know the actual price.

My kids get more if I get a bargain, other people don't.

I would be worried about embarrassing someone with a present worth a lot (even if I got it for less).

Not at all. If I get a bargain then i won't spend more even on my own dc. Otherwise one could get presents worth much more or lots more for the same amount which wouldn't be fair

I think it depends on what the gifts are. I tend to buy most gifts in the sale but I don’t buy tat, only good quality. I never get the same thought and effort back so I don’t feel bad. I suppose if I had agreed with other people to spend a certain amount then I would.
However I also think that it can devalue the gift you have given. If you have a main present and buy lots of other bits to make up the price, the ‘main’ present won’t look as good, or they’ll think you haven’t spent much. For example if I bought a dress for a friends kid that was originally £30 reduced to £5 in the sale and gave lots of other bits, the dress wouldn’t seem as nice. But if I gave the dress on it’s own it would seem that I spent all the money on it. Am not sure if that makes any sense to anyone

I used to give so much to people because I had got things in the sale. I wouldn’t just buy it cos it was in the sale, I’d look out for things specific to them. Now I don’t bother because I don’t get the same effort back.

I don’t have a lot to buy for but have set budgets so if someone’s budget was £30 and I got them a £30 item that was reduced to £ 10 then I would still spend another £20 on them .

I think it depends on the item. For mine and dh mum's I bought an Ollie and Nic bag and purse each. I spent £20ish each. We usually spend around £30-40 each so probably won't get anything else as its a nice gift in itself and RRP is way above our usual budget.

For my girls I tend to buy more as its a bargain e.g. I've bought second hand shopkin dolls full price these are £15.99 each I got 3 for the same price on eBay. They won't mind the lack of packaging and 3 dolls are more fun to play with than 1. I stick to a money budget and try and get the best quality and best value gifts I can. As they've got older the piles have got smaller but they don't mind as I've still got them well planned and thought out gifts :)

No, for me it is what it is. I buy throughout the year and most of the stuff I buy tends to be in sales or on special offer anyway.

I wouldn't (except maybe for DD) there's a danger of the recipient thinking you've spent more than you have and then matching that budget the following year, it's easy for gift giving to escalate. I set a budget for each person and stick to it quite closely, but I wouldn't buy them more because I got a 3 for 2 deal, used Boots points etc.