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

Low budget 🙈 I'm spending around that but only because teens want branded shoes etc this year and they are pricey. I didn't consider it low though. I miss the dolls and toy car days 😅

I'm not sure they do any longer - got ours last year and the best deal was £85 each (but included headphones and protective jacket). ETA - this may have also included the first month of the yoto club.

I think £150 is an okay budget if you're not getting a 'main present' (and probably not for teenagers!).

But eg, this year my DS6 needs a new bike which wipes that out completely - do I just not get him anything else? He's got five other presents from us (a book, a Star Wars Lego set, a gravitrax set, a national geographic fossil dig kit and a schleich dinosaur set which unbelievably adds up to over £100), plus a stocking. I don't think this constitutes a massive pile, but things are just expensive 🤷‍♀️

My DD8 wanted a double pushchair for her dolls - there are not many that are tall enough for her age group, so the one I needed to get was £75, plus the rain covers and cosy toes took this up to £110 in total. Then a similar amount and range of things as DS and it all just adds up.

I try to stay low budget because they get through the year and ds birthday is late November so he's already had gifts.

This year 9yo has:
Theatre tickets
Kindle (Black Friday deal, big reader!)
Headphones (£8 from TikTok shop)
Art supplies
Stocking with things like sweets, Moisturiser, socks

4 yo has:
A metal detector
A book
Toy train he's desperate for
Craft things
Stocking will be sweets, socks, bath bomb

They get gifts from aunties/uncles, grandma, friends etc so end up with too many!
We also do experiences- agreed with my DB and SIL we're do £10-20 presents then something nice rather than loads of gifts so we're having a joint day out to an event where they'll see Santa with cousins (and the puppy is coming for extra cuteness!), a little Christmas tea party with a few friends and cousins.

I agree. And of course, not everyone has other people buying for their children.

DS8

• 2x bigger jurassic world dinosaurs £25&35
• Generic plastic dinosaurs £10
• second hand schliech farm set £50 for a few sets bundle
• revenue rapters game (like hungry hippos) £15
• dinosaur track (second hand) £12
• playmobil zoo (second hand) £15

DD5

• moana doll £15
• fairy flyer £15
• hello kitty Teddy £8
• art box £10
• cat vet kit £10
• rainbow track £20
• scooter £18
• kids camara (second hand) £20
• magnetic tiles £30

Has the cost of Christmas really tripled?

I was reading on the BBC News pages earlier back in 1982 the ZX Spectrum was £175.
Then I plugged that into the Bank of England inflation calculator £610 😲
And it needed a tape player. And was probably the driver for lots of second TVs in lots of houses.

And I'm thinking an Xbox X at £500 is wild.

I guess we don't spend a lot, although we could afford to. They will get gifts from grandparents and other family too.

For my 7yr old:

Roller skates
Watch (inexpensive one)
Book
Slippers
2nd hand hatchimals bundle
Watercolours
Lip balms

For my 9yr old:
2nd hand Lego (I could afford new, but he won't care)
Books
Watch
Dressing gown
Fancy yoyo

That's well under £100 each I think. I will probably add something else.

But some years they get scooters, bikes, kindle etc. I don't feel any pressure to spend a certain amount if there's nothing they really want or need.

It is so dependent on age though! I can still get away with it for my just turned 12 year old. Her most expensive present is a pair of fluffy crocs (£35). She's also got some Nike Pro leggings (£15 in sale), Sol de Janeiro (£20), a knock off White Fox hoodie (£15) and various other bits for her stocking.

My 17 year old DD however wants expensive make up (£35 Charlotte Tilbury bronzer), clothes from Urban Outfitters (£35 joggers and £50 hoodie) and perfume (Gucci Floral £55). £150 really doesn't go far.

I don't consider that we buy any tat. Most of their presents are functional in some way and we don't really buy stuff throughout the year.

There are a few similar comments up thread, to the effect that people are shocked that £150 is considered low budget.

If you can, please put a new toy in one of the many Christmas donation boxes in most supermarkets. There are so many people now who can only dream of having £150 to spend on each of their children.

My daughter is 9 and every birthday and Christmas for about the last 4 years all she's asked for is Robux and slime so you'd think it would be a fairly cheap one 😅

Her first couple of Christmases I spent hardly anything, I just bought her some books I think, as she didn't need anything and was far too young to want anything. I do spend more than I should now, probably because I grew up in very abject circumstances and like to give my daughter everything I didn't have. I buy a lot second hand though and she's good with that, she enjoys browsing Vinted with me sometimes. My best buy ever was a big wooden pirate ship from facebook marketplace for Christmas one year (she loved Ten Little Pirates), she had great fun with that and I enjoyed passing it on again for a other kid. It was amazing quality.