How much do you spend on your children’s Christmas presents?

[Twinklz]

How much do you spend on your children at chritmas?

I think I may have gone a little overboard in the hundreds.

It depends on what they want. I don’t chose an amount.

Any amount that you spend is irrelevant as it doesn’t give any information about your available income

If you spend £1000 and can afford it without really noticing then that not my choice but no problem

If you spend £20 that you can’t afford and is going to create financial stress/difficulties, then that might be too much

If I tell you how much I spent that’s going to tell you nothing

If you fucked up and spent too much is there anything you can do to help now? Any expensive presents that the kids barely registered that you could quietly return?

2 DC and one SDC. Eldest got around £350 each, youngest was around £250 because his birthday is very close to Christmas so got the same for both combined. Already talked about it being less next year, they got a main present and then of course you feel obliged to buy a load of crap to bulk it out which is just unnecessary. Youngest hasn't touched his new stuff since boxing day. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It's all relative though isn't it. £500 to someone who can afford it is absolutely fine, however if you can't and you spend £500 on a credit card that you'll still be repaying come next Christmas then yes it's too much.

Yes, of course it depends on income.

For us it varies as it depends on what they want and how much I've been able to save up.

About £200 each (3 children.) I spread it out over a couple of months and we don't really miss it. We could spend more but they don't need any more, they have what they need and ask for. If we couldn't afford it then they would have less.

We have 3 dcs, age 4, 9 and 11. I’ve probably spent between £200-£300 each, for a gift off us, santa and their stockings, but I don’t tend to add it up or equal it out, as long as they get the same number of gifts in their stocking and off santa.

I do try to go for quality over quantity, so their stocking items i tend to buy throughout the year when I see stuff they like. A reading book, dvd, notebook/ stationery, socks, torch, nail varnish, gadgets etc. Spreads the cost and I can usually buy decent stuff in sales (paper chase amazon etc.)

The main gift tends to be bought much closer to Christmas, managed to get good deals this year as they had a Fitbit kids / vtech watch off us, which were a good price around Black Friday.

Dd (9) tends to be the wildcard, as she asks for random stuff she’s seen on adverts near Christmas and it’s tricky separating out what she really wants against what’s a whim. Older ds is easy to budget for as it’s always new footy kit / astros. Younger ds has so far asked for one gift off santa.

I also get them all an eBay ‘preloved’ gift off us, which they love. Dd had a Lego friends set, which is discontinued (and was £100 when new!), ds1 has three footy tops (Barcelona, Real Madrid and PSG) and ds2 had a wooden train track tunnel bridge, which goes with all the track he inherited off ds1. All of them came to £65.

It was £200 ish but then just before Christmas he decided to start guitar lessons in the New Year. New teacher at school who he adores. We decided to bite the bullet so spent an extra £100 on a guitar. We’d have bought it anyway but the timing meant it went under the tree.

I spent around £350 each on dds 10 and 6. They've been playing with pretty much all the toys since Christmas day. There's been a few they haven't liked so much but the majority has been loved. It's been so nice to see them playing happily together. I do think they had way too much, openong took ages and they would have been happy with less so cutting it down for next year.

I've set up an Amazon top up direct debit for £3 a week that's what i would spend on a coffee or a bus fare I could walk. So then it doesn't hit so hard in November/December. Also getting a tin you can't open without a tin opener and a regular jar to save £1-2 in each one plus put in any money from things I've sold.

So you spent more than you can afford?
I’m not being snarky - I’m just wondering what you want?
People are going to list how much they spent - is that going to reassure you?
I thought you might be looking for some advice or something ?

Probably £2-300 each. Two ds’s and that was three main presents, plus a stocking each. Ds2 got a new TV, so that’s something he will get a lot of use of (and won’t be using the laptop for Netflix anymore!) Ds1 got new jeans and shoes, good quality ones that he really wanted and will wear loads (he’s pretty much done growing, so they should last). And one or two other things. I try to go for quality over quantity, and avoid anything faddy (not so easy when they’re smaller though!) But any amount is “too much” if you really can’t afford it.

We spent around £140 - £180 each on our dc (9, 8 & 6).

About £30-£40 of that was on the stocking.

They each had 12/13 presents under the tree (inc 1 from Father Christmas).

Felt about right this year!

They also get a lot from family members as well.

Could spend ££££££s but around £80-100. One DD, age 8.

She gets a couple of gifts from my family, and sweet FA from DH’s.

I spent about £350 on DS1 and £65 on DS2.

I don't set a budget, just buy things they want / I think they'll like. I don't get piles of stuff and no point buying stuff for the sake of it to hit a particular number.

Spent about £900 on 6yo DS but he'd been asking for his iPhone X since last Christmas!

Why does a 9 year old need an iPhone X ? Seriously, there are cheaper alternatives out there that do the same thing if not better. I just don't get it.

Sorry I misread, I correct myself. Why does a 6 year old need an iPhone X ?!

That’s pretty fucked up.

Spent about £50-70 per person, like I do each Christmas. DD has enough stuff already so I don't go overboard!

It varies depending on how much money we can afford and what they want.

DD wanted a £16 tool box.
DS wanted a £200 Xbox One.

We could afford both so they got them along with about £100 extra including stockings each.

In the past we've spent less.

£150 on the 5 year old and £50 on the 1 year old.

More than I initially intended but I think realistically the budgets creep up as they get older.

I think it’s really important to put a lot of thought into setting a budget - maybe even more important than sticking to it I think it’s very easy to get carried away in December by the intensity of the spend-spend-spend messages, the perceptions of what’s happening in other homes, the threads on mumsnet, etc.
if you’ve put a bit of thought into the ages and stages of your dc, into what you can realistically afford, into the messages and values you want to pass on, then it’s easier to hold your ground in the December madness. And if you find yourself, as I did, spending a bit more than planned, you can check whether you hadn’t taken a relevant factor into account or whether you’re just losing the run of yourself. Hope that makes sense.

What you decide to spend only has to make sense for your family.

About £30 each on stocking stuff and about £70-130 each on main presents