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.

We also do a gift at Birthday but usually only about £25. She will get 5-6 other gifts on both those occasions (ie my parents, sister, partner parents maybe her / my friends) which adds up to quite a lot of stuff. The only things we really buy are books, pencils or paints during the year when these run out. She doesn’t seem bored and I still feel like we have way too much stuff but I hate clutter 🤪 She does occasionally get money from my dad when he sees here £5 or something which she can spend on whatever she wants but she tends to save it and has to be reminded that she has cash when she wants something. I don’t know I worry we might be a bit tight when I read the other replies here. She doesn’t really get to watch TV so she never really asks for anything so I think she doesn’t know what she’s missing. I suspect we are in for a shock given she’s started school this year and this might change! 😂

Don’t buy a switch

I think it is a lot to spend.

It’s a lot for a 7 year old.

In our house, we buy a main gift plus a couple of other bits. Father Christmas fills the sack left by their beds. I spend no more than £100 on the Father Christmas gifts - actually it's typically more like £70.

We don't have a set budget for the main gift - it depends on what they want and how flush we're feeling at the time. A couple of years they've had expensive tech gifts, other years it's been under £100.

We've always told them FC can't bring animals and the elves can't make electronics. They know that any more expensive items would come from mum and dad. This manages their expectations, vs thinking FC can bring anything they like.

They're only seven, and they're not missing out by not having the same electronics as their friends. Quite often having one, especially so young, isn't really a positive for kids as they often take time away from other more enjoyable and calmer activities.

If you’re getting a switch look at cex they have a five year warranty and have always been great for us

I have 3 dc and I’m on my own. Their dad spends around £30 each.
This year I’ve spent £240 on my youngest and £300 on the older two on main gifts. Stockings for us are just small bits so they won’t be more than £20 each. I also do a Christmas box for December 1st. This has new pjs, a Christmas book, some Christmas crafts and hot chocolate.
Spend what you can afford. A switch and then some smaller bits sounds like a great Christmas to me.

That's an insane amount. We never spend more than £50 on anyone at Christmas.

It’s a lot but most of it is an expensive games console so less outlandish.
Lots of kids do get an expensive games console and then £150-£200 of other gifts. Have a few kids over just after Christmas and you’ll know that’s definitely true. But on mumsnet nobody spends more than £10 in charity shop for Xmas.

If it's in your budget, go for it! You don't need approval from anyone - there's no right or wrong amount to spend on your child at Christmas.

The mistake you've made is asking Mumsnet, where any child receiving more than a tangerine and a 20 pence piece in a tatty stocking is horrifically and disgustingly spoilt with financially irresponsible parents and probably responsible for the 2008 financial crisis.

But your theory doesn’t work , you could spend a tenner and there will be a child at school who still feels sad as they got nothing. Or you could have bought it all second hand so it seems a lot but didn’t cost a lot.

This thread has me wondering, for all the people who say £50/75 or a tangerine and a book. When do your DC get a bike or big Lego set or even tech for older kids? Do you go big for birthdays? Or just buy them through the year?

Obviously if it's beyond reach financially then they might not have those things at all but I'm perplexed by the idea that it's somehow spoiling kids to get them a DS or a bike....

I always think this. One medium size Lego set = £45. Plus a couple of books, some sweets for their stocking, and you are easily over £50/£75.

@swissmeringue I agree. I spent about £130 on a lego train last year alone.

If your son of 7 loves Nintendo,they buy it for him.The play value is amazing.Family can join in! Yes,they are not cheap.I have had my Nintendo for years & still love it! I would not buy him additional presents that's in my opinion more than enough!

@Kellogs4 and then about the same again in batteries 🤣

They are good but we had to invest in rechargeables in large quantities.

7 figure income household here and I don’t spend that much on my kids.
At age 7, at most £100

I am sure your children are fine and don't really want for anything.

This thread has me wondering, for all the people who say £50/75 or a tangerine and a book. When do your DC get a bike or big Lego set or even tech for older kids? Do you go big for birthdays? Or just buy them through the year

Many people shop secondhand

Last year DD wanted a Barbie house and I got one from Facebook marketplace for £30 including loads of accessories, Barbies, a Barbie car etc. Then I got a few other small bits too. So I only spent £75ish on her total yet she still had a huge pile to unwrap!

Her bike was secondhand too so a £400 IslaBikes was £100 ish

I don’t think it’s too much. My budget for mine (I have 2) has been £400 each since around that age, might have been £300/50 at 7 (but inflation anyway!) we’ve increased it gradually over the years, mine are teens now so going to £500.

Similarly we don’t tend to buy anything outside of Christmas and birthday, so their tech like phones etc come out of this budget, and they usually have some necessities in there like books and hobby equipment.

As I am sure has been said it’s only too much if a) you can’t afford it b) you’re being wasteful and things aren’t getting used c) your child isn’t grateful.

Right, but I’m sure they have the bikes, the tech, the clothes, the books etc that other people gift at Christmas. I’m sure the end result is the same (or more likely more for your kids).

Is it the case that people only ever give their kids things at Christmas? I don’t know how this person operates. unless you’re giving some kind of ‘expected to last for years’ gift, £400 is excessive IMO. Big ticket items have always been birthday and Christmas present combined. For what it’s worth my DH thinks I’m stingy and I buy second hand anything if I can

With all due respect, as a 7 figure household do you really feel you’re in a position to judge how other people manage their money? You are clearly in a vastly different situation. I very much expect your children have more than most, for people with less income wrapping necessities can make it part of the Christmas experience, it extends the purpose to utilise the spend. If you have a lot of money, gifts have a very different meaning.

The OP asked what people think is a reasonable budget for a 7 yr old. I don’t think in any world (including mine) a 7 yr old having £400 of presents is reasonable. I’m not ‘judging’ (that’s you in fact) I’m sharing a view