Babies first Christmas budget?

[lizzyttc2017]

I've just finished shopping shopping for my little girl who will be 7 months this Christmas. I spent £150 in total but she did need some new toys as she only really has rattles and tethers. I know everybody's financial situation is different and it doesn't even matter what other people are doing but is this an acceptable (not too extreme) amount to spend? Just want to make myself feel better and not like a crazy Christmas lady who has spent too much on a baby who won't even get it 😂

DD will be 7 months at Christmas and ive spent £55 and wont spend anymore but family members have gone mad and bought loads. No idea where its all going to go and I wish they had reigned it in a bit.

This is another one of those posts that appear at this time of year for which there is no right or wrong answer.

However from my own experience. My eldest was 9 months and we spent around £80 on a few toys and clothes. Then when ds came along he was 7 months old and we just got him a small token gift, think it was around £10 as he had inherited a lot from his sister and so those toys we had saved for him we just wrapped up. Then we DD2 came along she was almost 4 months old and again just wrapped a few bits we had saved from her siblings.

Now they are 9,7 & 6 and this is the first year I've spent almost £150 per child although those finances are mixed with our money and money sent to me by family.

I've spent about £30 so far for our baby's 1st Christmas. A toy basket from My1stYears and a book. I will get a few bits of clothes and a cuddly toy nearer the time. All in, it will probably come to about £60.

But she has 3 older sisters so will never be short of hand me downs.

I’ve spent about £70 on my 6mo and I’m done. That was actually more than I’d intended to spend but I gave in to buying a jumperoo which was on offer! So she’s got that and some stuff to go in a stocking (I have 2 older kids so for their benefit really!)

If she has older siblings I'd get a couple of toys to wrap but at that age they grow out of toys very quickly so no way would I spend that much on toys. Better put it in savings to buy things she actually will need and use in the future.

Crickey, I feel really surprised reading through this. I was planning to spend about a tenner on my 6 month old.

I think £150 is too much to spend at Christmas for any child at any age though, to be honest. Different upbringings I guess!

It's our DS first christmas and we're buying him very little tbh!

We could afford it, but we're already struggling to come up with a list for family to buy, they have asked us to provide a list btw, we'd never just hand out a list without being asked!

I'm not a fan of buying for the sake of buying, but likely we'll buy something cheap so he's got something to unwrap, but that's about it!

£20 on 8 month old. He doesn't play with his toys enough yet so no point in buying more!

It's our babies first Christmas too and we've got a mix of bits that will last her over the year like a music set and a shape sorter, a few new clothes, some teethers and some weaning items that she needs anyway.

Main present is a ball pit that she can use til she's about 3. Our budget is a bit higher than yours but that's mostly cause we live abroad and unfortunately things are just more expensive here.

She won't give a shit but might find the paper tasty.

We got memorable first Christmas toys for our two They're both still loved and cherished - the most appealing and most expensive bears we could afford ever. Grumbly is still in DS1s moving boxes as he moves for work quite frequently. Churchill is on DS2s window ledge in his first time buyer home.

Snappy still sits on the shelf in my bedroom. He's as old as me.

You can't go wrong with a genuine, old fashioned teddy bear to last forever.

I also want to add that although DD won't have the foggiest idea of what Christmas is, she loves being included in family social events and couldn't wait to join in at family mealtimes. So, if we're all opening our presents, she definitely has to have some to open too (although I'll have to watch her constantly as I know she'll try to eat the wrapping paper).