To be delighted about what I have spent so far 😅

[Positivenancy]

Feeling quite delighted to have most of the dc’s shopping done and under €500 so far! I can tend to go crazy at Christmas 😬

I have spent €436 so far. And I have bought

DD11
Jumper
Nike leggings
Sephora goodies -bath bombs, lip gloss, hair oil, travel containers.
Initialled Glass cup
Small panda bag for accessories
Panda Teddy
Sanitary wear bag
Slushy maker
New York jigsaw
Eiffel Tower puzzle
Socks
MGA miniverse set
Full length Mirror for her bedroom
clothes rail for her bedroom
Small panda ornament
Panda hair towel
Panda face mitt
Nintendo sports game
Nintendo sports accessory pack

DS9
Hoody
Lion teddy
Elephant teddy
Football pen Holder
Vbucks voucher
Fidget popper game
Darts board

I still have a good bit to get for DS though he is getting a PlayStation (second hand) and a game and couple of Lego sets.

DD is pretty much done I might pop into primark and get some baskets for the bottom shelf of the clothes rail and pjs etc

Have you totalled your spend so far?

Sorry but bragging about spending so much is in poor taste. We all have different budgets but using the context that's it's not very much is unreasonable

I'm reasonably far on too. I save all year for Christmas and prefer to be done with buying stuff by December as we have so much on that month I don't want to deal with any Christmas shopping.

I try to budget around £200 a DC, but the balance of it shifts depending on what they want. DD2 is only 2 so last couple of years she hasn't really got as much as we've already got all the 'big ticket' baby stuff. But this year she's getting a micro scooter like her sister has so that was £130 already! Whereas DD1 doesn't actually want any 'big' things this year, so she has more smaller stuff.

DD1 (5)

2 x Pokemon plushies for her collection
Slime-making kit
Weird facts book
Various story books
How to draw book
Junior Scrabble
Science Lab kit
Mini cake-baking kit
Couple of Lego sets
Gems and fossils set
Craft stuff
Apple Pencil cheap dupe for her to do drawing on the tablet, she's very into drawing and creating
Stocking with various bits and bobs

DD2 (2)

Micro-scooter
Happyland Farm set
Some mess-free colouring books
Couple of story books
Some bath toys
A cuddly or two
Stocking and bits

I've spent £450 so far so maybe slightly over but I build in some buffer! Also DD1's birthday is Feb so I often hold some stuff back for that if it looks like too much when it's all together

Christmases were always a big thing when I was a kid, I was an only child so I probably did get more than a lot of people. But we can afford it and budget for it and we really love Christmas. It's my favourite time of year.

We don't have much extended family gifting now sadly. Only one living grandparent for my kids.

The only question I'd have for parents who buy mountains of presents is does anyone else buy for your DC?
We only get a couple of presents but a big part of Christmas is opening gifts from each loved one - grandparents, aunts/uncles, godparents, and a number of friends! Those gifts wouldn't be remotely so meaningful if they'd had an enormous pile from us.

We do stockings from santa, but are clear that each bigger gift is from someone who lovingly chose it and paid for it.

I wouldn’t call what I bought a “mountain” but yes my dc get gifts from their grandparents and their uncle. That’s it. But those gifts are never under the tree on Christmas morning. They are given them when we visit on Christmas evening or Stephen’s Day.

Fair enough - we are very lucky that our DC get presents from at least 10 people and with many sent from far, they are under the tree.

That sounds truly lovely, sadly we don’t have any extended family so most gifts are from us.

Hi there :)

so you do! Will take your word for it 🫣

I shared a little after (I think?) what I was doing with my own which isn’t what the op is doing. And I actually said how proud I was about it ;)…which was the subject!

We all do things differently as there isn’t one same situation or way to think/do it all. Certainly no perfect, well researched advice either.

Good evening 🌺