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

Indeed! I have bought DS a Lego castle. It cost me £90... It was much cheaper when he was smaller. Everything else is the same really, but the Lego costs so bloody much more!

I got loads of good stuff like playmobil, duplo, happy land second hand from Facebook when my children were pre-school age.

I don’t think that’s a low budget at all. I will probably not even spend £100 on my youngest as we have all the big toys already.

he will get:
1-2 Tonie figures
kids umbrella (keeps asking for it)
whistle (also keeps asking for it)
Couple of books
xmas pjs

older DD:
xmas pjs
glittery skirt
guiness book of records
sushi making kit (on sale at WH Smith)
some craft bits
a game
taylor Swift eras tour book (from a relative)

Kid 1- newly minted teenager is getting:

4x4 Rubik’s cube from FC- he still pretends for the sake of the little sibling
A board game- Sounds Fishy (from us)
Books (from grandparents)
Sweatshirt (from my sister)
Tickets to a sporting event from us.

Younger kiddo is getting
Science set from FC
Lego x 2 (with money from grandparents)
Books (from us)
Board Game (from us)
Clothes from my sister or a second science kit he wanted.

We don’t do stockings.

So our spend is definitely under 150 but once you add the grandparents (both sets) and my sister into it, probably another 120 or so.
They don’t live in the same country as us so they just usually send us the money so we can get something that the kids would like.

I paid £560 for tickets for both my daughters (12&9) to see Olivia Rodrigo at hype park, I'll be obviously going too, bloody ticket resales!

this is not normal for me but they get very little else as our extended family don't buy them gifts and no grandparents sadly.

They'll get a stocking and a few bits which total up to about £50-60. I think £150 is about right, no need to be astonished!

sorry that’s just insane! I can afford to if I wanted to, but I would never. I don’t have the space for all this junk either and I don’t believe children get more joy out of having 40 presents.

I couldn't afford it and I don't have the space for 40 presents!

People saying they spend about £50, are you buying all second hand items?

Yes i was a big ebayer when my kids were young. And then sold their stuff on as well. Worked really well.

My budget is around £70 per DC.

DS2 often wants big, expensive lego sets. He'll have a look for a good black Friday deal, and if it's over my budget my mum and I buy it between us.

No idea what DS1 wants this year! Probably some kind of gaming gadget.

Yeah we're low budget
DD13 if getting:
hair curling wand
primark boots
Harry Potter hot choc set
Home made advent calendar with choc and a quiz with a clue every day. The clues tell her where to find her main present on the 25th. It's a bit daft but fun and only costs me £1 for the choc coins.
Stocking presents, mainly facepacks
Homemde socks & pyjamas-another tradition but nice to make eveyone close a pair of woolly socks.
Photobook of all the stuff we've done this year.

No where near £150 because we just don't have that kind of money. Lots of love though 💛

How old are your DC though?

We’re spending around that. Dd still little so easy enough to please.

Cosy napper - she asked for one last year and then again for her birthday and I didn’t get it as I think they’re so expensive for what is essentially a sleeping bag (which she has no real need for) but she brought it up again this time when the topic of presents came up, and the one she wanted was reduced - so £30 for that

£30 for a school role play set - got the idea from another thread on here, she’s going to love it.

2 Disney princess dolls for £7 each from Argos

Board game she wanted - £12 (I might get another one too, waiting to see if we get asked for gift suggestions from other family first)

Some dressing up stuff from Vinted, one was new still with tags and one no tags but perfect condition. £15 for both.

Couple of books, mix of new and charity shop finds

Couple of jigsaws from charity shop

A new card for her Yoto player but paid for with ‘points’ so free essentially

Think I’ve spent another £10-£15 on stocking bits - lip balm, hair clips and ties, a mini torch, different shape post its, some glitter pens, new toothbrush (it’s tradition!), bath bombs, Christmas snap etc. Will add chocolates and obligatory satsuma.

I spend around £150 per child, I have 3 but 2 are adults. Usually around £100 on main present(s) and £50 on stocking presents. Had always worked well. Occasionally had a more expensive year.

I've actually spent different amounts on my two DC this year. Usually we average about £70 each, but my youngest is getting a yoto to match her brother so her total is more like £100 this time. Also this year I discovered Mumsnet and the Christmas forum 😂 Amazing how much you can spend on bargains! Plus we're home together for the first time this year and I think the excitement of not having to go anywhere has made me click happy.

3 year old has

• yoto player bundle (adventure jacket, headphones and cards)
• Polly pocket (charity shop find)
• Lego (eBay)
• doll with 'car seat' and some accessories (marketplace)
• book
• some sweet treats for stocking
• mini umbrella

5 year old has

• Lego (eBay)
• yoto card bundle
• 2 board games (charity shop)
• book
• world records book from his birth year (charity find!)
• phlat ball
• airplane launcher toy
• sweet treats for stocking

So far I have some makeup and facemasks for teen, I'll also be buying clothes for her that she's chosen online, and a book about fashion design/ photography. 8 yr old wants mostly specialist craft items, I already have animal themed pyjamas, bedding set, and started on stocking fillers like a mini gratitude notebook (also animal themed).

What do you get for £50? Genuinely interested

We spend about £75-100 each child
6yo- knex, game for his switch, pjs, yoto card, science kit, hoodie, board game, monster truck set, dressing up outfit
3yo- hotwheels car set, jigsaws, board game, dressing up outfit, bluey set, game for switch, pjs, yoto card, hoodie
Joint present- hotwheels car garage I got on FB marketplace
They'll also get presents from grandparents and aunties ect

Yeah but the older ones, even a pair of shoes costs that amount. Are you all just giving one item from a charity shop to the teenagers?

I feel like I’m spending way more than others. I haven’t bought anything yet so I’m open to all tips this year.

I would like to know this too.

For those who spend around £50 at Christmas, how much do you spend on Birthdays ? what about phones, bikes and those bigger things that children want ?

Same!
mine are grown up now with children of their own, and even now they still get £100 roughly each, trainers, make up clothes perfume, and grand children too, boys like football kits and Lego, so that’s like £150 each for them!

DD is 12 and whereas I used to spend around £120-150 all in on her eight to ten years ago, it’s much more difficult now.

When she was small I did a stocking for around £15-20, plus one big present (eg wooden train set, play kitchen etc) for around £60; then around another £40 in smaller things - a few bath toys, books, Happyland things, novelties and so on. I’d also usually get some Christmas pyjamas, some advent/Christmas Eve things and probably a Christmas dress from eBay within that budget, too.

Around 5 years ago it got much more difficult to come in at that budget. It’s not just that older kids want more expensive stuff and little kid stuff is cheaper, though of course there is that too. It’s that there’s been significant inflation since then; I reckon I’d find it a lot harder to spend the same amounts even if DD was still little and still liked little kid toys.

We notice food prices/cost of living going up, but there’s been a lot of inflation generally as well. Ten years ago £150 was a generous amount, I always felt DD got a good amount of nice things, and I used to be bang in the middle of the ranges of the “Christmas spend” threads. In the last few years I’ve noticed that £150 is getting towards the bottom end of the spending ranges on these threads.

I can’t help thinking that the competitive underspend posters are really missing the point. £50 would buy you hardly anything these days at current prices. Unless you are really struggling for money, to actively decide to spend £50 is a bit Scroogey IMO. Even £150, a perfectly fine amount, is still not exactly wondrous piles of stuff in the current financial climate. I find it difficult to keep the spend below £200 these days, and Christmas clothes, etc. are certainly not included in that any more. And I really have never been a big spender on DD at Christmas - most other parents I know seem to spend far far more! My sisters have always spent more like £350-500 on each of their kids, and they aren’t especially well off (not sure how they do it tbh..)

Also here for the £50 update. And be interested to see that work for teenagers as even non branded clothes and shoes are usually more than this!

About the same (edited to add my budget is max £75 on average so slightly above the bracket you're questioning so my answer may not really be relevant)

We're not at the phone stage (only my 5th Christmas as a parent), and managed to get all the bikes second hand or even as hand me downs so far!

It'll end eventually but so far so good.