Their list is so expensive!

[flowerygloves]

So - we have exchanged the kid's lists. Ours were encouraged to aim for about £10-20 per gift with say 2 things at £50 ish for grandma and grandad.

One of my siblings has sent a list and EVERYTHING on it is £50 + should I ask for lower cost ideas? Or is £50 what you need to spend nowadays on 13 year olds to get anything decent?

We set a budget for nieces/nephews in my family but nobody sticks to it. The budget is £15 per child. I spend £40 per child, my brother has 3 kids which means there’s £120ish spent between his kids, my sister has two and it means there’s £80ish spent between her two. I have one child and they both spend more on her, my sister has spent £300 on her this Christmas and my brother has spent around £150. We don’t buy for the adults, only the children.

I would reply and ask her if they’d like gift vouchers in place of gifts as their chosen gifts are outside your budget range. I told my brother and sister this year that I didn’t have a lot of extra money to buy Christmas presents for the kids but they took that as me being broke and ended up buying my child extra gifts because of it, which is honestly a huge help.

This would be messed up! I’m the only one of my siblings to have one child. Some of the others have 4. We always spend a similar amount per kid so I spend almost four times what my kid gets back. Never dreamed of asking for more expensive gifts to balance it out.

Never have we given lists to other people. And the £50 for grandparents to spend ? Ive 15 grandchildren i could not spend that.Buy them what you want and spend what you want .

Dont spend more than you want to/ can do - it’s possible they haven’t really thought about the prices before sending this list. My son is 11 and he loves getting cash as he can then put it all together to get something big. Do a voucher/ cash and don’t stress about it.

Things are so expensive these days. I’m not sure £15-£20 is that realistic anymore to get anything decent for nieces and nephews, depending how close you are.

I expect my close uncles/aunts spent about £20 in late 90s/early 2000s so that’s more like £40 just with inflation now.

Anything lower than that I’d just get a voucher.

@LGB87 really? You don't think anything under £20 would be "decent".
Where do you shop? Harrods?

Most family members ask for lists of what the kids want.
I’ve sent a load of ideas on a whats app chat to everyone with ideas. Most are on 2 for £15 or £20 from Argos though.

I get your point but generally it’s more that the family members don’t want to actually think for themselves and make the effort to go look for something than parents being grabby.
I’ve shopped for my 2 kids now for 5 different people- it’s lovely they want to buy them something but it’s mentally exhausting on top of my own shopping and I’d rather they just got them a selection box and left me alone at this point 🙈😂

3 presents on teen ds list for under £20

nike sweat wristbands
nike sweat headband
nike water bottle

Suggest you stop the gift-giving, the children don't NEED this stuff they WANT this stuff. Save yourself the £20 x 3 or whatever it is. I get gifts for DM, DMIL and each of our 5 children. That is it. Nobody else, or their kids. We live in a consumer-driven society. They don't need this clutter or cheap gifts. Don't get sucked in.

No - there are deffo things below £50 . She needs to be more assertive with her kids / less entitled !

Or , as you say give vouchers .
My kids never got / get everything they asked for plus they would always get a few things not on there eg toiletries etc

We do about £10 each, I know I could afford more but my sisters probably can't. I usually send cash or a voucher and a box of chocolates so they have gift to unwrap. You are totally reasonable not to want to spend £50 per child, but maybe you do need to let them know your budget.