How much do you spend on children that aren't your own?

[BeccaBloomwood]

We do a secret santa for the adult family members which takes a lot of the financial stress away, but we still have a lot of children to buy for.

Excluding our own children, we have 13 children to buy for including nieces and nephews.

I was going to suggest to family friends the possibility of just exchanging a chocolate santa or little sweet treat this year, however they got in touch with us first to ask for suggestions and I suppose I was too embarassed to suggest the above in case they thought I was cheap

Is £10 for a gift for a family friend's child too cheap? Last year we received lovely gifts from them which seemed rubbish compared to what we got them, but we are trying quite hard to save money for an upcoming expense in the New Year so my budget isn't great.

How much would you spend on nieces and nephews? I was thinking £20? We also have 3 birthdays coming up before Christmas and 1 in early January so that doesn't help 😂

Finally, would you appreciate a £10 giftcard in lieue of a present? I don't want to pick something that will never be used and thought a giftcard might be a better option as the parents can chose something they will use or put it towards a bigger present? I was thinking Waterstones vouchers because who doesn't love books?!?

Thanks 😊

[MaverickDanger]

Niece and nephew - normally £20 each but they are in Australia so you’re looking at another £20 for postage.

Nephew - £25

Godson & his sister - £10-15 each with overseas postage at about £15

2x friends’ children - £10 each plus postage at about £5 each.

[ilovetea14]

I have 14 niece's and nephews to buy for I give €20 each except for god daughters they get €50. Also have two birthdays in November and 4 in December. During the year I buy cards and put money in them when I have it, that way not a big expense all at once.

[Floralnomad]

We have a great niece / nephew that we buy for and spend about £20 on each and a couple of friends children that I do the same for .

[DelurkingAJ]

Goddaughter about £15
One of DS2’s godfathers sends BOTH DSs Xmas (and birthday!) presents so I buy for their daughter, again about £15.
One niece about £50 but DSis buys for both my DSs. Very new nephew we will probably spend similar on the same basis.

[Ragwort]

We only have one DN now under 18 - £20 in an envelope - Christmas shopping done .

[dillydallydollydaydream7]

8 nieces and nephews. The three older ones (14, 16 & 18) £10 cash; 5 younger ones (3-7 years) £10 spent on present, usually pyjamas. We rarely see the majority of them

Godson - £10 gift, his mum set the limit for that one

Goddaughter - £30 - see her all the time, her mum often picks up things for my two DD's when she's shopping for GD, as do I for GD when shopping for my DD's

DH's godson and brother - decided with his mum not to do Christmas presents as our kids and theirs hers get a lot for Christmas so we've decided to just do birthdays instead

[thaegumathteth]

6 nieces and nephews and usually spend £25-£30 on each of them. They're between 8-14.

One 14 year old family friend usually about £15 on him

Neighbours kids £40 or so between the 2 of them not always evenly split just depends what I see that they'll like BUT these neighbours. Very close with dd though not 'just' neighbours

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

£0

Send about £50 to my godchild but that's it. I do decent birthday presents but not Christmas. It's a dreadful waste of money spread out across a lot of children at a small value.
They get Santa, parents, grandparents and godparents. That's more than enough for any child in my honest opinion. My mum put her foot down when we were kids around the time of Live Aid and it all stopped with extended family. None of us have started it as adults with your own families.

If we visit anyone we bring family gifts like confectionary or a game or similar. Not that's an option this year🎊🤬

[loubieloo4]

We got our nieces and nephews gift cards then locked them in a maze box, all of the kids loved it. That and a selection box. You can buy the maze boxes cheaply on eBay/Amazon.

[Mustbethewine]

I have zero nieces or nephews and all my cousins are grown but SIL is in a relationship with a man who has a son and we spend around £20 on him.

[elliejjtiny]

I usually spend 5 pounds each on nieces/nephews. I don't buy for friends children.

[MovinOnUp]

£10 on each child.
But I try to buy offers so the value is more.

[BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze]

We spend about £40 each on nieces/nephews. Maybe £10 - £20 on other children but we don’t have as many as you to buy for.
But more importantly, I would be gutted if anyone spent more on us than they could afford. My kids would be more than happy with a chocolate Santa. A gift card is also lovely as they get to choose. They usually get a few amazon vouchers which are always appreciated as there’s such a wide variety of choice on there.

[Bikingbear]

I buy for 5 nieces & nephews and 2 friends. Rightly or wrongly they get varying amounts, for various reasons, the kids of single parent gets more than the others.

However yes I'd be happy with a voucher or even a tenner in a card. As kids get older it becomes more difficult to buy for them. Gone are the days of being able to buy a teen a CD or DVD, streaming has killed off those ideas.
If you feel you want them to have something to open I'd be tempted to stick a card in with a £1 selection box or matchmakers.

[Bikingbear]

My kids don’t really get much in return for those we buy for, mine are now teens and no one in my family really bothers buying for them. My kids have nieces and nephews so we buy for them and get nothing in return.

That doesn't make sense. Your kids have nieces and nephews... surely for your kids to have nieces and nephews, they are either your grandchildren or their dads grandchildren. Ill assume they are on their dads side. Surely the nieces and nephews mum would buy her half / step siblings a gift.
If they get nothing in return, I'd tell their Dad to sort the gifts or just stop buying.

[Parbor]

One sil has a strict £15 budget per child. To the extent that if something costs £13 she makes me find something else for the other £2 (pils are the same)
Other sil has a flexible £20ish budget
My sister’s children get a lot spent on them, probably £50-60. She always spoilt my older two as they were the only ones for a long time. Now I like to spoil hers.

Godchildren up to around £30

[Hope4theBestPlan4theWorst]

I used to buy for a couple of friends children but we all agreed a couple of years ago that we wouldn't do it anymore, (I don't think I was very popular saying it but it was getting out of hand) so I literally have my 2 cousins children (3 children) other than my own.

I think £10 is fine. I also try to get things on boots 3-4-2 deal aswell but as they get older I'm sure I might revert to getting a bit of chocolate and then a gift card so they can choose something.

My DP has an 14 yr old godson and he's getting an iTunes voucher for some music as he loves that.

[kowari]

I wouldn't buy for anyone other than close family down to cousins, and I don't buy for all of those, just the ones I see regularly. £10-15 for adults, more for children, but the only children are my DS and nephew so far.

[kowari]

Just to add, I've spent £20 on my nephew.

[princesspeppax]

We spend £15 on each child (we buy for 8) and every year we get each one Pyjamas, a little toy, selection box

[IceFrost]

I spend £15 ish on friends kids ... but Iv cut that down to 4 kids instead of 7 this year and I have no niece or nephews yet.

My brother spends about £40-£50 each on my two so I will do the same when his come.

[cloverbug]

What about doing a secret Santa between the children? I think it's perfectly fine to suggest doing something like that, it would likely be a relief to everyone else.

[Bikingbear]

Cloverbug Secret Santa probably wouldn't work. The 13 children probably don't all know each other, her side, his side, then friends kids, some will be siblings who already buy for each other.

[Oreservoir]

Covid is the perfect excuse for me to send vouchers this year.
I have a lot to buy for so they will get £10 each.

[Bikingbear]

Op I notice you mention Waterstones vouchers, look at National Book Tokens, can be used in most book shops inc Waterstones but not restricted to Waterstones.

I've done vouchers before for Lego shop and Book tokens but this year I'm going for money for the teens then they aren't restricted in what they buy.