if you have 2 or more kids, do you spend the same amount of money on them at christmas?

[beautifuldays]

or do you get them what they want (within reason!) even if one wants something costing £50 and one wants something that costs a tenner?

have just realised i have spent about £80 on ds's presents (he is 3.5) and about £30 on dd (she's only 11 months). am feeling a bit guilty, but should i? it seems silly to buy stuff for the sake of it, what does everyone else do?

not if they ont know! My teenagers know and therefroe is pend the same but at that age they dont get jealous - and a little bit older they on ly get jealousbecuase of the size of the presents!

cant type in false nails.

this year I have spent about £50 on ds1 and £30 on ds2, but ds2 is only 8 weeks so won't have any idea. and like you say it's pointless just buying stuff for the sake of it. most of ds2's is clothes anyway.

I think when they're older I would even it out a bit, but when they're too little to know then there is no point. It's not about how much you spend anyway, it's about them enjoying it- which they will

I probably spend a bit more on ds1 because he is able to tell me what he likes, but I just tend to pick things up as and when. Why the guilt? There's no neeeeeed

No I dont evaluate them in terms of their monetary value iyswim. I give my children presents of equal want-iness iyswim rather than equal cost.

I know that doesn't make sense!

I had the same realisation the other day, spent £40 on DS (14 months) and £70 on DD (5 years). I had a momentary ponder as to whether I should go and get him something else for the difference then thought would be spending for the sake of it as he dosent have a clue.

glad it's not just me

just sudddenly felt a pang of guilt as it is dd's first christmas, have got her a ragdoll and the rest has come from nct nearly new sales, dh said to me last night "aren't you buying her anything else? it's not fair?" but tbh there is nothing else she needs, and we are proper skint.

I don't think the actual cost of the presents is that important. For example if I got DS1's present half price, and therefore had spent more on DS2, I wouldn't feel it necessary to get DS1 something else to make up for it. As long as they both bet something they really want, it doesn't matter too much.
Having said that, coincidentally this year we're spending the exact same amount on them because their main presents cost the same and we're getting two of a lot of things such as Ben 10 watches, binoculars etc so there's no fighting.

They spend more time playing with the wrapping paper than whats inside

No - not now, and certainly not at that age.

When ds1 was 18 months we put away a lot of his baby toys in the loft.

12 months later when ds2 was 8 months we wrapped up said toys for ds2 for Christmas!

Cheapskates or what?

And we still managed to end up with a house full of toys!

I spend the same on my two but certainly when my were as young as yours, beautifuldays, I didn't. I think by the time DS2 got to 2 it even up because he was able to give some idea of what he might like and he had developed his own tastes. Before that he was pretty happy with his brother's hand-me-downs that were taken out of storage and were new to him.

Either buy clothes to make up the difference and to give something for your DD to rip open or put some money aside for the summer so that you can get her something new then. She will have changed so much by then and she might appreciate something to play with outside.

Alternatively put the balance in her savings account if it really bothers you. However, I wouldn't feel guilty as the DC don't know or care at that age.

I get what I think suits them and don't think about the cost being the same.