What's your budget for your DC?

[crymeout]

Hi all,

I just wondered how much you're budgeting for your DC's this year? Obviously the cost of living has gone up so it might be less for us. Usually budget £500 for presents and stockings for 2DC (age 3&5) but I think that DP is thinking more in the £300/350 range (for both of them). Also, do you split the budget equally or that they have the same amount to open? TIA.

no, dont 'tell' me what Im refering too especially when you are wrong

It was 'buy it now' but has sold out now.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/barbie-cutie-reveal-doll-/385068291758?nma=true&si=%252FcR%252B18PptK3CsLjhdHoHVZvnmHs%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Its entirely to do with privilage, if you have the privilage to pay £32 instead of £18 because you can simply afford to witout recourse of course your are privilaged.

On what planet do you think being able to afford to by thing at RRP when you could buy cheaper but just dont want to bother isnt straight up finacial privilage?

Also your argument of 'they are £32 not £40' can apply to your PP where the convosation was about £40 doll, you changed the RRP of the convosation not me.

Aiming for around £500-£600 for 2DC.
I get a lot second-hand and typically go a little overboard though.

We're a working class family on less than 30k a year but I save hard through the year for Christmas and I budget a lot so we can have some comfort at Christmas. Every spare bit of money I can muster goes in my Christmas savings.

LOL what a lame excuse, do you HONESTLY think I sit here all day searching through the deep web for hidden deals?

They are right there usually first page if you dont just walk into Smyths and pay full price, it takes less effort than going all the way to the shops.

It took LESS than 2 minutes to find and report back that one Ebay yesterday litrally the time it took google shopping to load and me to type in the 'barbie reveal cutie' and set the pricer to 'under £30' and £17.99 was the FIRST one up.

Lazy excuse to try and cover the fact that you dont have to worry about money so much that you can actively choose to waste it.

Its fine to be rich and throw away money away (its your money after all) but it was YOU who come here attacking those with lower budgets claiming it can't be done then claiming I'm wrong/lying and even attempting desperately to moral shame us by claiming we must be buying stolen goods then again trying to shame us because we must have more time than you (nah love) - you ARE privilaged get off your middle class throne.

It would have took you less time to google the deal than to come on here attacking us in the first place.

We have 2 adult dd and dd3 who is 16.
This year we are cutting way back and they will have a stocking each ( alcohol, chocolate,cooking bits etc) for each adult and dd3 (make up,perfume etc) and then a token gift each as no one needs anything and we have done lots together this year as our treat.
Previously spent £1500 on them all together

I've never spent more than £150 unless for a specific item eg a laptop for school. It's fine to give unequal gifts too as long as another year a different child gets the big present eg mine got laptops on different years

Interestingly from personal observation, income isn't a factor as much as you think with presents. Those like us with higher incomes often limit gifts more

about £150 each we don’t always spend that much but there’s a limit to prevent over spending and as they’re getting older it gives them an idea of the sort of things they can ask for.

I agree @gogohmm. We've always been comfortably off but have never spent anything like £500 per child. I think possibly because we were brought up in not very well off families and valued whatever we were given, which is probably also partly why we are comfortable now.
Each to their own obviously but I'd much rather put a lot of thought rather than money into presents. Our DCs have always had stockings (which we are not allowed to stop now even tho they are grown up) even now they will say these were/are their favourite bit of Christmas

I usually spend between £150-£200 on each of my children. Budget includes a stocking also

But is that because if you have a high income or have come from a high income family, family may spend more too. And also if you have a higher income big days out/holidays are more common. Eg to take them to legoland would cost £75 in train fare, £50 for travel lodge, £10 for bus from travel lodge to legoland plus the tickets. So this was a massive treat when we went, whereas if you can afford to drive and have more disposable income a day out like that is more attainable. More experiences means less need for stuff. Spending £200+ on a pile of presents that can be enjoyed throughout the year seems better value for money than 1 day out if you have very little disposable income.

This is a nice idea.

You certainly wont get trashed by me. We are arou d the same mark with our 3. Dont do big birthdays either.

I spent far too much every year when DC were wee (we're talking approx £750-1000 each) but have gradually pulled back the budget as they've got older.

Now I have DGS though I'm trying to rein in my tendency to go overboard. I've given DD a budget for a main gift of £75 but I'll still buy bits like pjs, a book etc so his budget is £100-125.

DD1 now that she has DGS has been relegated to an adult budget of £75, DD2 will get about £200 but with savvy shopping (I don't play full price for anything) she'll have around £300-350 worth of gifts. DS will be around £300 but he's still technically a child at 14 & his pile won't be huge.

Please note I understand plenty are struggling...i don't want to be blasted for assuming everyone can afford £x. This post relates to the high number of people who consciously choose to limit Xmas spend and seem horrified at any spend over £50 😂

One thing I don't understand with the 'we've never spent over £100/£200 each for dc on principle' brigade, as if spending over that is terribly lower class and/or excessive.

For younger dc, totally. Easy to do.

But for older dc and teens - do yours not have any big ticket items? A bike, gaming device, laptop, phone etc? For people who have 'higher incomes' as many have proudly declared, it seems unlikely they don't.

This year for instance our oldest two are having an upgraded x box each (£450 each). By the time we add on stockings and several other wrapped gifts, we'll easily hit £800 each. Last year was new bikes, similar amount.

They're not spoilt, at all, they absolutely don't have piles and piles of gifts. They're lovely, grateful teens who appreciate all they get. But if I'm spending £500 on a bike or computer, I'm damn well going to get the joy of presenting it in beautiful paper, laying it under the tree and getting the additional joy/wow factor of it being received at Xmas! So we time it accordingly for big or expensive items.

It's not 'noble' for want of a better word to severely limit your spend at Xmas if you're just buying stuff through the year instead. Dc who get £1000 spent on them at Xmas aren't going to be more spoilt than those who get it in March!

But for older dc and teens - do yours not have any big ticket items? A bike, gaming device, laptop, phone etc? For people who have 'higher incomes' as many have proudly declared, it seems unlikely they don't.
We are on a lower single income but DS has always had second hand bikes, except for his first Aldi balance bike. Second hand iPad, second hand £100 phone. He may need a new tablet or laptop for sixth form but we will look at refurbished first.

You lucky you can afford to spend that much... I have a teen an no I have never spent anywhere near that much as I dont have that much to spend.

Also why do you need 2 xboxs? the entire point that they are gaming consoles your meant to play together.

His xbox was 'second hand' off ebay but BNIB with games and cost £60.

His samsung smartphone was 2nd hand hand me down but you wouldnt know.

He had a fitbit from the argos sale which was down to £25 (one behind the new one, right at the launch of the new upgraded model).

He has had a gaming set (keyboard, headphones etc...) also secondhand BNIB for £12.

He got his gaming computer (not for xmas) as a hand me down from his childfree more well off uncle who works building gaming PCs.

You can’t compare what you paid 8 years ago. Even refurbished you would pay more than £60 now.

The price of tech bought years ago goes down not up, if I was to buy the exact same thing refurbished now it would be £40 (I just check) not 'more than £60'.

LetsGoNorth, I entirely agree. I find it quite... Judgemental? When people who are well off make these statements. It's entirely different if like other posters on here your budget doesn't allow for a higher budget- we are fortunate to be on a fairly high household income for our area (not 'high' by mumsnet standards! But by normal life standards it definitely is). So we spend more because we can. But as you say, the kids don't get things through the year- they may get the odd treat here and there but our main spending on them is Christmas, because like you I enjoy presenting everything in a festive way, making it all pretty and everyone enjoying that they recieve the things as a gift.

I also find it quite judgemental that people assume it's lower earners who spend more, when actually growing up in poverty- no, that didn't happen, when I was a child, I had very little in comparison to friends who were from wealthier families- my mum saved year round for Christmas and birthdays, the rest of the year our clothes were all hand me downs and we didn't get any toys etc because it wasn't affordable. We knew if we wanted something it HAD to go on our Christmas or birthday list and even then we probably wouldn't get it. My mum refused to get into debt for Christmas and taught us that if you can't afford it, you can't have it, which I am passing on to my own children now.

Also why do you need 2 xboxs? the entire point that they are gaming consoles your meant to play together

That's really not 'the entire point' at all! I'm sure many do share but ime more have individual devices.

Everyone I know with a dc that games has gone through a gradual progression - starting out with a shared device in a main living area and progressing to an individual xbox/PS in their room, at sometime during teen years usually.

Except of course on many MN threads, where 14 year olds have one 30 minute supervised Xbox session a week, on Sundays, in the lounge, on the Xbox that 3 teenagers share nicely. But that's not my rl experience 🤷🏻‍♀️

Buying an Xbox 360 8 years ago isn’t equivalent to buying an Xbox 360 now. It’s laughable you think it is. They are out of date, you can’t play Xbox one/series X games on Xbox 360 and new games e.g. FIFA 22 or even FIFA 21 aren’t available on Xbox 360. For a fair comparison you would need to look at more recent models, which are more than £60, even refurbished.