How much do you spend on each child?

[BirthdayKake]

I have five DC. At Christmas they'll be 11, 8, 7, 3 and nearly 6 months.

Just wondering how much people spend? Thanks :)

It depends on what DS (10) wants or needs. Last year he had a MacBook Pro, Beats headphones, Harry Potter lego etc so that was an expensive Christmas!

This year we’re going to Australia so we won’t be able to transport much. He wants an Apple Watch so we’ll probably spend less than £500 all in and most extras will be things he needs for his holiday anyway like clothes.

DS is an only child so we don’t have to try and match our spending and obviously the budget doesn’t have to stretch to multiple children. We do buy for immediate family but only 2 friends and don’t buy for aunties/ uncles etc or have any grandparents left.

I'd love to know how people manage to spend just £100 on their kids. I spend over that on each relative.
A decent toy is £30-50 each mine are only babies too and minimum is about £350/400 just to get some decent toys, an outfit or two and a main present

broken good for you that you are able to afford multiple gifts for your entire family that will all be used and appreciated.

Kids just don't need 10+ "decent" toys in one day. It's vulgar.

Wow I can't believe how much some people spend! I spend about £80 on each and thought that was a lot. The things they love are often the cheapest things. I can't imagine what on earth I'd get them for £500.

@broken1982
What is your gross income if you don’t mind? I would never spend over £100 on relative and vice versa.

I don't find it at all vulgar, it's better than wasting your money on tat. Christmas and santa is so magical, it's not a case of quantity over quality so it's not that I'm buying stuff for the sake of it. I buy educational toys, books etc but they aren't cheap. I am a housekeeper at a local carehome. £16k before tax. I save, I deny myself things to be able to get my children/family lovely things for Christmas.
Oh and reading back my original post, I didn't at all mean for it to sound as it did..I was genuinely asking how its done £100 a child. One child's outfit of bottoms, a top, shoes, cardigan even in primark is about £20 alone

But people aren't necessarily wasting their money on tat if they spend 100 or less.

E.g.

Ds (4) last Xmas got -
Imaginext Barman play set with a couple of additional figurines
A couple of books (a fact one with beautiful pics and a couple of fiction ones)
A new set of pjs
A hat and scarf
Two wooden puzzle games
A Playmobil set
A torch, magnet, and magnifying glass
Two long sleeved tops
Some little chocolates for his stocking
Some mini hot wheel cars for his stocking

We definitely did not spend more than 85quid. If that.

Batman not barman!! Haha

@Bernadette that seems to add up to more than £85 sorry.
Batman set around £30 plus extra figures £5
Three books £10
Pjs £5
Hat and scarf £7
Two wooden puzzles £8
Playmobil set £8-10
Torch magnet and magnifier £8-10
Two tops £8
Chocolates £1
Mini cars £2-3

And those were conservative estimates. So you either got massive bargains or maybe spent more than you thought?

I appreciate it isn’t into the high hundreds though!!!

Broken
Your spending on Christmas is bonkers to me when you are on a low wage but each to their own.

So to clarify, my kids get books bought for them all year. They have over (I counted roughly when we moved internationally) over 3000 books (and it is growing). Plus I buy them clothes as and when needed. And my older son plays two musical instruments at a reasonably high level so a lot of money is spent on instruments, lessons, orchestra etc.

For Christmas the 7 year old will have about 100-120 pounds spent on him. The 2 year old will have about 50-75 pounds spent on him. Books, games etc. They also both have December and January birthdays so have a similar amount spent on them then.

I guess this is relative. If the 300 pounds being spent on a 2 year old includes a year’s worth of clothes, then that’s a different thing. We are both high earners (our family income is 200K+) so my logic is that our kids don’t go without- they get a UK holiday or two a year (or a European city break) and one holiday abroad every other year. They have tons of books and toys so for the ‘big occasions’ like Christmas and birthdays they either get a ‘big’ present like a bike/scooter and some books or just a small set of presents with board games, books and maybe some art and music stuff (for the older one).
I also do that much reviled thing of a Christmas Eve box. New matching PJs, a hot chocolate sachet, a Christmas book and a cuddly toy. I am pretty sure the 7 year old has sussed out the truth about FC but is keeping it going heroically for his much younger sibling.

I buy a lot second hand (ie lots of boxed, full LEGO sets for around 15% of their original cost) and probably spend around £150 each total (including stockings). Like a pp though we have a big family and they receive a lot from others too (a lot of which I end up choosing as they ask me for ideas).

It depends on what they want. Toys were much cheaper than computers and phones so it's definitely increased over the years. 😬

It was £250 per child (3) to include stockings. Last year was only £120 due to house buying but should go back to normal due do careful budgeting.

That's my point isadora...i could say easily every year I'm only spending £100 but you really don't get much for that these days. I thought that we a lot of £85 too but I suppose that could be done with second hand or mega bargain hunting.
Lego...so I'm told but I like to treat people (too bloody much sometimes) my parents would typically get a main gift of perhaps £150 each then other bits and bobs such as Yankee candles/a bottle of their favourite alcohol/of course some obligitary tat from the grandkids. But then I have a problem receiving. I beg people to buy me a box of chocolates for Christmas and that's it but I'm from a family who have always given generously for occasions. I think it runs in the family to enjoy giving

Sadly my lovely mother passed away this year so I'm not sure whether that will save me a couple of hundred or I'll just end up spending that on the kids. We will see

Also might I add that I live north so my wage is average for a 40 hour per job. It would of course be classed as a low wage further down south

4dc aged 15,10,7,3 budget is £100 each and that is for everything including stockings, christmas eve box (pjs and book) and tree presents.

For those that say older kids cost more, they don't really. Yes my 3yr old would be happy with £1 slime, but my 15yr old has said she doesn't need or want anything and would rather we sent the money to charity. And that's not because we spend loads on her the rest of the year either because we don't.

Dds 13 and 16 somewhere between 500-700.
Normally involves new tech, this year dd1 has asked for a new iPad, hers is about 4 years old so seems fair enough.

About £50 each but they have autumn / winter birthdays, my family is huge and my mother in law is a shopaholic. I'm very lucky really, she asks for a list for each and sticks to it.
DS is getting a micro scooter and vtech watch plus some lego sets from her and
DD is having a laptop.

Also to cut down on stuff we are taking the kids to a theme park hotel in the winter as their birthday presents.

One DS aged 16. He has anything between 700-1000 pounds depending on what he wants

We spend around 1.25% of our annual take home pay on our kids (2) Xmas presents.

Mine are 1 and 4. This year I'm aiming for around £100 each as last year was ridiculous. I think I ended up spending around £700 on toys/books/clothes. Dd was only six months and just wanted to eat wrapping paper and ds was happy playing with the contents of his stocking. We were still unwrapping stuff on New Year's Day.

Dh and I have fairly large extended families and so they get around £300 each plus 20 or so presents on top of what we buy.

I am going to do their bedroom up (hasn't been decorated since circa 1965) and get them bunk beds this autumn/winter. I thought could get some Christmassy duvets/small Christmas tree for the room on top of their presents and we do a Christmas box with a new board game/books so I'm sure they'll get plenty. Oh and ds has already ear marked the two playmobil advent calendars he wants, one for him and one for his sister.