Realistic only child Christmas budget

[BulbsAndLampsDiffer]

I am just trying to gauge if I am being reasonable. I haveone child age 7. Single parent. Average to low income. I am looking at budgets for Christmas presents. Is £400 to much. For context I buy them very little in the way of toys all year as I prefer to go out and do stuff. Child does not have any technology at mine so was looking to buy a switch. So with this in mind only leaves around £150 for other gifts.
Christmas events are not in this budget.

For clarity their dad will buy them stuff for their house.

I don’t think £400 is excessive especially as it includes an expensive item/main gift. I think a switch is a lovely gift for that age range. Despite good intentions of limited tech I think a previous poster is correct that it can leave them behind. The switch is also great for family games!

400 seems like insanity to me to be honest although with stuff like bikes, scooters or tech I can see how the odd year that would happen

I think it depends on your income / appetite - everyone is different - but we rarely spend more than £50 on Christmas presents for DC. One from Santa and one from us. This year we will be buying a science kit (£30) and probably some craft kit things as she’s quite arty (£20 max). She will get 1 gift from other family members - circa 6 - which is plenty for 5 years old.

I think £400 for a child of 7 is far too much. £150 seems about right to me. £100 for main gift and £50 for stocking. I could afford more but don't think it does DC good to spoil them. Also if they go into school saying all the things they have been given other DC who have parents that can't afford so much money might think Santa doesn't like them much.

We save monthly into separate Xmas account and then work out what we can afford .
Setting a figure then buying seems an expensive way round ?

Santa only buys a couple of low value items in our house, our child knows that the other presents are from us, and the wider family. When you start buying technology like game consoles, £100 doesnt cover it for the main gift. It sounds like OP is planning on using most of the budget to buy the switch and a few games, the games brand new can cost anywhere between £20-£40. I don't think this is spoiling her child.

I am intrigued to know if this is all you buy them throughout the year, as if I was to just to get two new things they would get bored before next Christmas rolled around.

Santa only gets one gift for this reason and they know what is from santa.

Any advise on what to get a 7 year old for around £100 to last them the year?

Only child here, age 7

Last year she asked for a Barbie House & I got one second hand with loads of dolls and accessories for £30! Put a few bits in a stocking too. That was pretty much her sorted (she gets at least 6 other pressies from family).

The year before she got a bike, again second hand for £120 (a nice Isla Bike)

She’s never asked for a Switch / iPad etc

Do they really do this though? My dc are preteens now but they have never come home from school saying Jimmy had X for Christmas. I think it’s a myth.

We have always told ours that we send money to Santa but to be honest, as above they’ve never questioned how much Santa has brought them or brought their friends.

I think whilst a budget of £100 can do well for a pre-schooler/young child it is much more difficult as they get older- a video game alone is £50, specific figures can be £35+. Whilst you have to cut your cloth accordingly I think it’s naive to say £100 is plenty. For me personally it’s more important to teach them that some people have more, some have less, such is life.

My child is younger but I budget around £100-£150 for a big present, then extra for stocking stuff, a book, something to wear and a few other bits. So probably £150-200 max.

I'm not averse to gifting stuff I've got secondhand.

£400 if you're on a low income seems a lot to me. We're not on low income and spend about £150 per child. We must be tight but our kids are always happy with what they get.

I have got big ticket items in the past but this year mine are getting £100 each spent on them at Xmas and that’s fine.

If I was on a low income I would spend probably half that.

£400 is a lot for one child, but it depends on what you can afford and how much you value Christmas gifts. If you want to spend that on them, go for it! If I had an only child I probably would too.
DH and I are on fairly decent wages and we will probably spend about that between 2 children, but they do tend to get treats through the year too and not just at xmas.

Sounds reasonable to me. We'll be spending a bit more than that on our 7 year old but that's mostly because she needs a new bike so that's £300 before we get anything else. We're not big on screens, she doesn't have access to phones or tablets but she's really into music so I've found an MP3 player that's compatible with Spotify but it's stupidly expensive for what it is. Like £115 if I remember correctly. We were thinking she could use an old laptop to make playlists and put them on her MP3 player, very interested to hear if anyone's used something good for this!

Probably less on the 3 year old, maybe £300ish. He also needs a new bike but he's not as eagle eyed and skeptical as his big sister so it can be second hand without him asking why it's got scratches on if the elves made it at the North pole.....

A nice Lego set from you. Art supplies, Pokémon Uno card game, Rubics cube, character drinking bottle, football and football socks, magnetic chess set, a couple of books, jigsaw puzzle, stickers, roller skates, character slippers, yo-yo, kaleidoscope, selection pack, chocolate Santa.

Single parent fairly high earner - I spend about £200 and then £100 on the stocking, but her dad gets her presents too - so probably £400-500 all in. Don’t spend what you cant afford though. Kids don’t care, they care about your love

So you children can have say a Switch or a nice bike etc because other children can't have one? Don't get me wrong, our budgets are no where near OPs but saying they can't have a one off special item you can afford cos someone else can seems unfair

we all have different situations & budgets & as kids get older it becomes more expensive.

mine are getting bikes - built & collection slots are extra so about £280 and thatd one gift. They have no family to buy for them so i’ve always spent a bit more on christmas and birthdays (less gifts at birthday as party or trip out etc) i buy early and when on offer or with discoura when i can and i don’t set a specific budget. But i’d guess about £300 more on gifts based on what i have already and on a list to buy. My teenager will get a mac book (exam year) so nearly £1k before any other gifts but they only ask for a few smaller things each and don’t expect or demand more. If i couldn’t afford it i wouldn’t spend it clearly. I know people who spend over £2000 even on younger and others who do the “something you want, need, wear & read” and thats it and each to their own. No one has to justify the amount they chose to spend on their own children but i would only spend what i can afford personally.

I tended to give things like a bike or a kayak as a birthday gift as summer birthdays. My kids didn't have Switches or X boxes or mobile phones until they were 15. They focused on a lot of sports (swimming competitively so training several times each week, both boys in rugby and football teams both in school and for their clubs, both did karate, 1 did ice skating/ice hockey the other did kayaking) and playing music 1 did electric guitar and the other drums. One did a bit of skate boarding too the other did running and Aquathlons competitively. They both did chess clubs, went to Scouts and made Lego so not a lot of time left for gaming.

We’ve come in around the £150 mark up to now, not including activities and extras like that.

She’s 5 now and it’s probably going to be more like £250 - £300 this year - just based on what we’ve already spent plus the big thing she’s asked for (which we’re happy to get and think will get a lot of use) and a few other things which I want to get her.

Feels a lot but I’m always quite considered in my buying and everything she gets from us tends to be something that lasts and is used for a long time (there’s toys she got for her 2nd birthday that still get almost daily play for example). It just so happens that there’s a few things that have come up this year that are going to total a higher amount. I’m sure once tech becomes a thing the budget will reflect that again.

Her big request we might end up getting second hand, I’m waiting to see what deals come up on Black Friday but leaning towards second hand if I can find one in good enough condition.

You should do whatever suits you, your child and your budget - articles are written by people who gob off for money, often about stuff they know nothing about - and they wouldn’t even follow their own advice if they wanted to buy a switch.

DD8 is getting a Switch for Christmas, so we will have a similar sort of budget - I'm getting the OLED one rather than the Switch 2, and hopefully will get a Black Friday discount. I will get a few books and little craft sets in addition.

Your child , your budget , if you can afford it then do it . We never had a set budget when ours were children and still don’t some years I spend a lot other years I don’t , it depends what they would like .