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.

So your 7 year old didn’t have £400 worth of stuff? You don’t know what that £400 is spent on so how can you can’t determine if it is too much. If it was a long list of toys it would be more reasonable to critique, but monetary spend in isolation says very little.

No my 7 yr old didn’t have £400 of stuff given through the year, let alone at Christmas. You do you though

So your 7 year old hasn't had new lego or a bike or clothes are you frugal as a hobby?

Right so they didn’t get £400 spent on them through hobbies, trips, days out, stuff for their bedroom, clothes and then toys etc (because yes lots of people use their Christmas budget on those things because they are valued as gifts).

I know the MN middle classes love to relish in the tacky overspend of the lower classes, but what you fail to recognise is how presents are valued differently from people with different backgrounds. If you don’t have to worry about money or never want for anything (be that as a child or adult) your experience of getting presents will be very different.

I just loathe the snobbery shown towards people who enjoy giving their children presents when they get little else in the year, probably have fewer experiences through the year and thus value Christmas differently, you are judging people through your own privileged experience. You [as a collective] do it with such an air of self-righteousness and superiority, and usually the same champagne socialists who harp on about supporting society but then are so ignorant.

I’m not ‘relishing any kind of tacky overspend’. I’m not being a snob. I’m being bloody realistic. You are however being a total twit

You give a kid of that age £400 of presents and you’ll inject the wrong kind of attitude into them. Plus they’ll appreciate a thoughtful / fun smaller gift. A 7year old is magical and easily pleased by loving parents and time spent on a fun board game. Quantum of spend is irrelevant

yes we go on trips and holidays - as do people of all sorts of budgets. But higher income does not necessarily mean I shower them with ‘stuff’ all year.

you know nothing of my background or experience. Your post is replete with assumptions and reverse snobbery -but obviously that’s okay. I have been on a stringent budget in the not too distant past - £40pw after bills left - so I am alive to what life can be like.

But I don’t need to justify having a view. OP asked for inputs. My input is no less valid than your input.

You are judging though you are saying a child doesn't need 100s on them to be happy a small magical gift will do ? What are you going to do when your kid wants an iPad or sports kit or games console ?

Yes the op asked a question you gave your opinion but I do think your reply was loaded, with a bit of judgement.

@Coffeeishot You say no dear - it’s easier than you think, particularly when they don’t build up an expectation of having hundreds spent!

You give a kid of that age £400 of presents and you’ll inject the wrong kind of attitude into them
not necessarily it depends how you’ve bought them up .

I think £400 is plenty.

For my 5 year old also only child it depends.
If he needed something more expensive like a bike or tech related I don’t mind spending more. But I wouldn’t spend for the sake of it. This Christmas he already has a bike that still fits and he’s not ready for games console yet, so it will be a cheaper Xmas. Probably £150-200.

I do buy throughout the year though. As I don’t think he a) needs to wait months to get things like beach/ garden stuff/ craft/ books so they are bought as needed b) I prefer he don’t get loads of xmas gifts, so no need to bulk them out.

You give a kid of that age £400 worth of presents and you'll object the wrong attitude in them? This is the stance I can't comprehend. My 7 year old is very bright, she has pocket money every week which is tied to her chores at home yet she still doesn't really have any concept of cost and value. The idea that I'm spoiling a kid by giving her a bike, a jumper, a couple of books and a water bottle for Christmas is absolutely wild. Yet that's what I will be spending £400 on, hardly profligate.

It very much depends

sone years you end up spending more than others - the switch will be something that should last years and give huge pleasure too

that with a couple or games and a few socking fillers sounds fine to me

yes kids don’t have to have anything but they don’t need to be left out to teach them how to value things , to avoid them getting spoilt

i rather think that kids who only get at Christmas are less spoilt than those getting £30 or something every month - they learn patience I guess

You earn over a million pounds? Well sorry you have income of over a million?

it that’s the case, the lifestyle they are living will more than make up for the less than £100 present/spend as they wil have luxury in other ways.

£400 on one child seems high to me. I’m a single parent to two with a really decent income and I don’t usually spend this much.

Mine get one big present each from me (eg switch) and then a much smaller stocking with things like chocolate, bath bomb, new socks, book etc in.

They also get one present each from their dad and some of my family. So have plenty to unwrap.

Invariably the favourite thing is the tree chocolates which my parents sneak onto the tree in whichever house we’re at without the kids noticing. Cost about £2. Regularly listed as the favourite gift 😂

Thing is - mine are grown but always had less stuff then their peers ( as we had less cash) but we still did get things like games consoles which you can’t get ( even second hand ) for £100 / so even a decade ago I was spending that kind of money on Christmas gifts at least for some years

or a bike - that’s more than 100 - I got one for 50 second hand for a birthday present once but only because I had a mate who could fix it up

so a bike, essential clothes and a book and a stocking and it’s a few hundred already

and if that’s all that is spent on your child over the year it’s not much

most kids have have things like games consoles and bikes and if they don’t come as Christmas they are getting that kind of money spent at other times of the year. I can’t think of a kid round with no bike and electric games gadget once they get to about 7 or 8

in other words I smell some creativity with the truth in some of these replies

They don’t get 400 spent but do get a big gift like a switch - which retails for around 400 with a game …..

They get one big gift - not one gift which costs £400. Hope that helps.

Spend what you can afford.

Your example of a big gift was a switch which costs 400?

I have two children ages 8 and 14 and usually end up spending £500 each on gifts from DH and I and then around £50 on their stockings. I think £400 is fine, it's your money and like you said it doesn't go very far nowadays!

This is such a weird thing to be trying to start a row with a stranger on the internet about???!!!

I gave an example of a switch because that is what the op is talking about. But I buy my kids a different big present each year, don’t spend £400 and have once previously bought one of them a switch.

A quick look on Amazon would show you plenty of choices of switch for around £200 so not sure why you think I’m buying one for £400????

My kids are good kids life in general when you become an adult is shitty and hard. I want my kids to have good Christmases and good memories of childhood. I don't buy them much during the year but I spoil them rotten at Christmas and stuff is really expensive now games consoles, phones, specific branded clothes, trainers etc. They know not to ask for this stuff throughout the year so I don't feel like they're spoilt in general but everyone should be spoilt occasionally. Its Christmas 🎄

Spend what you want and sod the people who say otherwise.

I always spend more than that, and my child isn’t spoiled, doesn’t ask for more, doesn’t even actually give me a list of things he wants for Christmas at all. Whether you spend 5 or 5k your child will learn to appreciate things if you teach them to.

@curious79 You give a kid of that age £400 of presents and you’ll inject the wrong kind of attitude into them.

For a start, children around 7 do not know the monetary value of a gift. We easily spend £200-£400 each year at Christmas depending on what we want to buy. Last year my child got an isla bike, plus a couple of other smaller bits, must have spent £400 with the bike being the bulk of it. This year when I asked him what he wants for christmas, his answer was simply "you mummy". He has never has a long list of gifts. We choose to spend money, because we want to, but he is not materialistic at all or ever shown spoilt behaviour or a bad attitude to gifts.

A £400 Switch 2 is a silly price for a 7 year old IMO - but it looks like you're going to get the first version which is much cheaper.

I would get some games for it (Argos have 2 for £20 right now I think) then just some little things like a board game, books, jigsaw puzzle, something to make - things you can do together that don't involve a screen basically.

I used to get quite a few bits off ebay because DS didn't care if things were new or not and generally spent £1-200. As you're looking to get the older Switch you might be able to get a really good bundle with games on ebay for quite cheap, but it depends if you mind secondhand.

It's the Switch 2 that is £400.