Lower budget parents (£150 ish per child) - what are you buying?

[AllYearsAround]

We tend to spend around £150 per child, not a strict budget but feels about the right amount for us.
Interested to know what others with a similar budget buy! It always seems like very much on the low side by Mumsnet standards.

Mine:
Teen - a couple of Star Wars lego sets
Jeans and a shirt
Dressing gown
An under 16s driving lesson
Stocking with sweets, toiletries etc
£20 cash

Tween - squishmallow
Beyblade set
A fitness/activity tracker
Top and trousers
Ticket to a theatre show
Sewing kit
Comic subscription
Stocking with sweets, hair bobbles, earrings

Kiddo - squishmallow
Art set
Baby doll
Board game
Ticket to a theatre show
Teddy
Dress
Book
Stocking with sweets, bath stuff

I think it would be a struggle to find a child happy to open just one gift on Xmas morning.

Not the poster in question, but we have several consoles as me and DP and big into playing games.

Consoles have never been individual presents; we get them when we can afford them if we really want them, and they are family items. It's a big part of our bonding as a family, and a big part of our down time as individuals.

I think people have wildly different amounts to spend and that some people get those things second hand &/or would give kids money to save up to get them.

We have paid anything from £30-over £300 for kids bikes so far. If we can get a good one cheaply second hand we will happily do that as OH is good with servicing, replacing parts etc.

I see your edit. Not everyone has family who'd be willing to split for big gifts.

Mine have bikes when they need them during the year and no we don't have any consoles. It's just a different way of buying things

Oh my days- my dd has 2 American Girl dolls that cost just on £400 alone. Have spent £600 so far on the 2 dolls, a loungefly bag and purse and a few other things and it looks like nothing. Her list comes to approx £1400 but she’s got no chance 😂 I don’t know anyone who only spends £50/100/150, you can’t get much for that when they’re older.

runs away…

They had a second hand ps3 as a joint present one year. Can't remember how much it cost, but as a joint present it used a joint budget. And there was enough for a couple of small individual things too.

Bikes were usually 2nd hand/hand me downs and when they needed them, not for Christmas. But tbh I can't remember the last time they rode a bike.

It's really not that deep. People just thought it was a strange question. It's rather odd for someone in the UK to not be familiar with this concept. Adverts, movies, TV shows, everywhere, show children waking up to multiple presents. Even if that wasn't your experience growing, how are you not aware that many (most?) other children get more than one present at Christmas?

Well no. Which is why I don't think people are wrong for spending £100s if they want to.

And actually. We've never spent £150 on a joint gift.

Well, this thread made me Google what a yoto was having never heard of it.

I now desperately want to get one for DS!

It's refreshing to see that this year £150 is considered high spend on Mumsnet, and I do genuinely mean that.

I was reading an article yesterday, Cost of Christmas has TRIPLED in the past 30 years to £1,800 with Brits now spending an average 290 PER CENT more on parties, food, decorations and gifts
People spent £229 on Christmas in 1993 – equivalent of £464 in today's money
That is compared with £1,811.70 this year, study by MoneySuperMarket reveals

I personally feel pressured by other peoples spends, in my friendshjp group, the adults are buying their teens/tweens all the popular skin care, hair care, makeup, accessories etc which alone could easily be £300, plus perfume, designer clothes, jewellery, and lego amongst other things. Id say £500 is a fair guide.

I certainly couldn't budget £500 per child, I wouldn't ever spend £500 on myself for gifts like that, so to me it does sound excessive spending that much on a child. I have spent between £150 and £200 on the older ones, and even to me that feels like more than I would like. The younger ones are around £80 as you do seem to get more for your money under the double digit age groups.

I think I’m lucky that my teens have never been into high end brands, they are happy to wear reasonably priced clothing and don’t want the latest trends, neither are into make up or expensive skin care. I can’t see how it could be easy to spend £500+ but this year I’ve struggled to spend £150-£200.

We will spend more in days out, eating out and eating in around the Christmas period, we get more out of experiences rather than expensive gifts.

When they were younger we used to spend less than that and get loads. I've always bought alot second hand.

I havent actually counted up how much I've spent but here's what dds have and I think its around that.

Dd1 (16)
Living dead doll from vinted.
Band hoodie and tshirt - aliexpress
Various manga books - secondhand
Jewellery from claires (5 for £5 sale)
Gremlins Fugglers - the entertainer using discount code.
ETA bag and pin badges - aliexpress
Cards against humanity game - charity shop.

And I'm looking for a retro furby for her.

Dd2 (12)
Arianna Grande perfume - amazon discount
Various books from her wishlist- secondhand
Hair accessories- claires 5 for £5 sale
Makeup - Elf & revolution sales
Poundland/lidl knockoff sol de jenero scents
Olivia Rodrigo merch - aliexpress
Noah Kahn merch - aliexpress
Gracie Abrams merch - aliexpress
Taylor Swift poster book - HMV
Llama plushie - vinted
Exploding minions game - amazon discounted.

Then they will both get some edible stuff!

In theory we have a £50 budget per kid (more ideological than practical reasons), but once again I have spent double, second guessing myself, trying to keep things equal, trying to get it right, sigh.
They both have £10 stockings; fidgets, bathbomb, fake snow and some sweets.

Dd8:
Squishmallow (£9)
Bitzee (£25)
Stich n style sewing machine (£17.50)
Watch and pendant set (£12)
Slime donuts (£8)
Fav character t-shirt (£14.50)

Dd5:
Squishmallow (£9)
Mama surprise guinea pig (£42)
Sleeping beauty lego (£35)
Princess Jigsaw (£4)
Gabby slime kit (£7.50)
Aurora doll plus outfits (£16

No, not just one present. One present from mum and dad. Then a present from uncles, aunts, grandma, etc. So lots of presents. From different people.

Mine are between 12 and 17 and I reckon I spend around £100-£150 each. Compared to their friends they really don’t get much — two or three ‘main’ presents totalling about £60 then a stocking worth about £60 because I buy them nice stuff like makeup and books, not tat. Even a jellycat toy is £15!

Usually there’s a joint present for the family too, like a board game.

Their friends are getting laptops, Uggs, expensive branded hoodies, phones, show tickets worth £100s… It must add up to around £800 per child easily.

My point is, spending £150 total on a teen really isn’t that extravagant.

If you have loads of people buying your kids' presents then lucky you to have such a cheap Christmas 😂

You must have been pretty isolated to have never seen photos like this though

No, it is not "tradition" in the UK to get just one present from your parents as a child. Not in working-class families anyway. It could be some Christian families are like that, but the ones I know still give more than one present to their children on Christmas day.

No it's not. I agree. But people on here always claim you can't spend less than £x on a teen. And every year I spend less than that amount. Despite having teens.

It is possible. And my teens have never complained, and have always been more than happy with what they get.

Tonies for grandchild.

I think OP summed this up neatly as “cultural differences” although I think it is more a combination of class differences, smaller families, the decline in the extended family and increased consumerism.

Aside from budget constraints, people who give one gift might do so because:

1. They celebrate with extended families so everyone gets lots of presents (and the parents likewise have to buy lots of gifts for extended family - this was my experience growing up, not in the UK btw)
2. They buy their DC things that they “need” over the course of the year so it doesn’t matter if Christmas gifts aren’t as numerous or expensive.

People who give their DC multiple gifts seem to do so because:

1. They don’t celebrate with extended family but want to replicate their childhood experience of having piles of gifts to open from when they used to celebrate with extended family, with the number/size of gifts being more important than the monetary value.
2. They save up to give things that are needed (e.g. bicycle, clothes, books) at Christmas time instead of over the course of the year - PP have noted this is typical of the working class.
3. They grew up with parents who gave piles of gifts (possibly because of 1 or 2 above).
4. They’ve bought into all the advertising around Christmas and feel the pressure to keep up with what they perceive to be societal norms/expectations, even if it creates financial pressures.
5. Because they can afford it and want to. And if they already give their DC lots of things during the course of the year, it ups the ante and increases expectations for Christmas, hence the £500+ budgets.

So the answer to whether £150 is a big budget or not really depends on each person’s individual context and choice/ideology, even if affordability isn’t a factor. But if it were up to my DC, they would 100% take whatever they can get in cash (deposited in the bank to earn 5% interest) 😂

The ultimate answer! Thank you.
Yes, in our case there is always at least 8 adults around, so between 4 and 8 presents, plus a stocking.
Giving more than one present would be seen as spoiling them.
In that picture someone shared above, all those presents aren't for that one girl! They're for the whole fam.

I'd spend the same regardless of how many people are buying for dc. We don't have a big family and I'm NC with most of them although they still insist on sending money for dc. I tend to buy a main present then some smaller ones. Stockings are actual stockings not sacks or pillowcases and contain chocolates, sweets, candy cane, plushie and money from aforementioned relatives. Things they can open without me before they descend on my bed in Christmas morning. Main presents go in sacks and Father Christmas leaves one each under the tree.

We spend around that.
My late teen and adult children have just asked for cash which I don’t really like giving for Christmas (though I don’t mind for birthdays). But one is at university and one is saving for a car so they’ll get £100 each and a stocking of edible treats/toiletries plus a couple of small items. Perfume (dupe) and a cushion for one and earrings and something else for the other.

They’ve always had to save to buy big ticket items, when one got a PlayStation for example they got money towards it from us and other family members rather than us buying it outright for them.

My 8 year old is getting some roller skates (£8 secondhand from vinted), a good remote control car (£60), a basketball (£4) and some books (£15 ish - still have one to buy). Plus a stocking and a squishmallow from Father Christmas.

My 5 year old is getting a tablet (£58), some Pokemon beyblade type things (£12) a volleyball (£5) and some books (around £18 I expect although haven’t bought them all yet). And a stocking and a squishmallow from Father Christmas.

To answer from of the other points made throughout the thread:

They have 8 other people who buy for them ranging from my auntie who gives them a bottle of bubble bath to their grandparents who spend up to about £30. As a result they get a lot of stuff to open. I probably would spend a little more if they only received from us.

I buy clothes and shoes that they need throughout the year, any branded stuff the older ones want they get money towards. Or I get it on vinted. Haven’t bought any clothing for the eldest for a couple of years now though.

Bikes and scooters etc are presents, not just bought as needed. We do go slightly over budget sometimes though for these if needed as they are used every day to get to school/college/work.

I don’t buy stuff through the year much, they often get a book from the school book fair but we mostly use the library. We usually buy the younger ones an activity book when we go on holiday and then buy a toy or souvenir too. Aside from that it’s really birthdays and Christmas only. And an egg at Easter.