Is a bike a Christmas present or a every day essential?

[WeavedLentils]

I think it's an essential item that gets replaced as needed when children grow. Likes shoes and stuff.My friend thinks I'm mad to buy DD anew bike so close to Christmas and give it her now.

Depends what they use it for, if they need it to go to school or something then it’s an essential item, if it’s just for fun then Christmas/birthday present.

Great Christmas present. I still remember getting a bike for Christmas when I was about 10 many years ago.

I always think Christmas is a rubbish time for getting bikes. The weather is awful for so long afterwards they never get to play with their Christmas present very much!

You and your friend have different ideas, and that’s okay, but I feel like you do.

Depends on how much money you have I would say. If funds are limited then surely you can see why people would need to make an expensive item like a bike a Christmas present rather than a “just because”. It could mean any Christmas presents then have to be very small and child might be disappointed.

I don’t think you can call it an essential unless it’s used for getting to school or similar.

It's a Christmas or birthday present or both.

Christmas or birthday present as a big purchase

If you can afford to just replace... fine.

Others need to give as present

I agree with you and would just replace as needed

I've got a dc with a close-to-Christmas birthday, so for us a bike or scooter was a "summer present", as felt like they'd get more use of it at that time of year, and it stopped them going almost a whole year without a present.

It depends on your finances I think - for a lot of people it's a "big" present so it would be a birthday or Christmas buy.

Its absolutely a Christmas (or a birthday) present.

Only exception is if you are an adult using it for community to work.

Unless having a bike is an absolute necessity due to where you live, then it is a present. Most people wouldn't spend that much money on something unless it is for a birthday or Christmas present. A lot of people would struggle to afford it anyway, so anything big like that would have to be for an occasion.

A new bike is a wonderful Christmas present.

Mine still remember getting their bikes.

I think you're removing potential joy by making it a run of the mill thing! Get a ribbon on the handles, cover it in a bedsheet, mark a trail out to the shed...

I have no idea what a kids bike costs but a new bike sounds like a perfectly reasonable Christmas present to me.

We always replaced them when needed, we didn’t give them for birthdays or Xmas.

We had this a few years ago- I think it’s awful as a present because it is something they technically need, but we couldn’t afford not to give it as a Christmas present:( Same this year ds’ phone is in a heap- he’d be thrilled with it as a Christmas present but it’s making me feel blue that we can’t just get him one and then do the proper Christmas surprise thing!

I think it depends if it'd for travel or fun. It's already November, if its just for fun I'd wait until Christmas.

We did a bit of both.
DDS first bike was £5 from a car boot
2nd bike my mum bought her for Xmas
3rd bike Xmas present
4th bike I bought the day before her cycling proficiency, as her old bike was too small.

But surely that principle applies to everything you buy for a child - new toys could be deemed essential and need to be replaced as their developmental needs change as they grow older. Ditto books. It's stuff they need (at least a baseline amount) and it doesn't last forever. So what does that leave left to buy as presents?

A new bike under the tree is one of my fondest memories of Christmas as a child and my own DD is having one this year!

It's both. But then I'm of the opinion that anything new this time of year gets wrapped as a present. Working class background and mindset I suppose.

Depends on finances too. We were lucky enough to be able to provide bikes as every day essentials. But otherwise they would have been Christmas presents.

I wouldn't consider a bike an essential item no.

Birthday/a Christmas present here. It isn’t a need(unless they use it for sport or to get to and from school for example), it’s a want.

My eldest dc doesn’t cycle at all so you can live without!

I'm on the fence on this one I think. Ideally birthday or Christmas present for sure - so yes I'd probably wait to replace one if it were practical to do so. However ours were heavily used for getting around / school commute and acquired second hand apart from the very first (not counting the 2nd hand tagalong bike that preceded it!). The younger one also used the bikes his sister had had.

So the only bike that was ever a present, was a 5th birthday present for the eldest. I wanted to buy it in the summer but her father insisted it could wait for her October birthday. Guess when she learnt to ride? The next summer of course. Mitigating factor, we grew up in a milder climate. But I could still predict the problem of getting a bike in the autumn...

Most recent bike purchase was a good second hand bike as a going-to-uni gift since they still need access to a bike at home.

Agreed. You could use use the essential logic on pretty much 80% of what is under most Christmas trees.

A bike is great Christmas present and I'd definitely be waiting for Xmas day to replace it.

We cycle a lot as a family so if my kid grew out of their bike in, say, June we wouldn't want to wait until Christmas. November though, I probably would!