People with two or more children, do you set a budget per child?

[Loobieloo27]

Hi just that really i have a ds7 and dd4 and struggling.

The things ds wants are expensive tech whereas dd still enjoys toys.

Do you have a budget per child or do you have same amount of presents? Dont want it to seem unfair and one have more then another gift wise but ds would easily be more expensive.

I try and do approximate number of gifts, not value although this is getting harder as the older DCs want Apple watches and AirPods and the younger wants lol dolls and colouring pens

I have a budget per child that I won't spend over but as we do the want, need, wear, read thing (plus a board game and a calendar) they get the same number of things to open.

They also get the same number of items in their stocking as they are fairly similar but appropriate for the child ie socks, shower gel, a wee puzzle etc.

I find that the eldest (almost a teen) is most expensive and that this year the baby (who will be apprx 3 months) will have a token amount spent on him. I usually don't spend the full budget on DD (7) but I'm sure I will as she grows.

The biggest two compile a list of things they would like in December but they know that Santa will pick from the list and won't bring ridiculously expensive things like carbon wheels for bikes. 😂

No
Mine are older now but I never had a pet child budget
I buy them what they want and it works out
One year one might want something for £15 and the other £150
If you start placing a financial value on what they get it becomes about money instead of thoughtfulness

Yes we do,we have 5DC and I try to spend the same on each of them for presents and stocking fillers.

I’ve got 2 DC. I buy each of them a similar number of big presents, but the baby (18 months old) has a few big things that cost say £25/30 each, whereas the big presents for my 4-year old cost more like £50 each. I think cost wise, the baby’s presents will be half that of the older one, but the piles will be similar size

Mine are 5 and 3 so I do same number of presents but not necessarily the same price. I'm guessing as they get older and have a better understanding of the cost that this may change

My DC were the same age as yours last year. And the 7 year old wanted a switch.

So we bought the switch as a family present, knowing that the eldest would use it more BUT we wanted to save arguments as the youngest got older and also wanted to play on it.

Its worked really well. For over 6 months DS1 played loads more than DS2. But when DS2 became interested he could play without DS1 stropping because its "his".

As a general rule I dont budget nor do I spend the same on each of them. They do get the same number of presents and the same number of big/small presents.

They get equivalent gifts, but the cost can vary. We don't buy stuff to make it 'equal'.

We stick to around £200 each for my partners 3 older children as they all want branded clothes and trainers etc. But probably about half of that on my dd as shes only 18 months old. My step children stay at their mums xmas eve so our dd will open her presents on her own with us and the older ones will have theirs when they come over after lunch