How much to spend on your kids Xmas presents

[Kissesandcakes23]

I know this is probably asked every year but I am wondering what people's plans are now with the cost of living crisis.

Last year I went overboard and I really don't want to do that but I also don't want to be stingy. I know my kids aged 4 and 7 will be happy no matter what but the mum guilt of giving them likely less this year is hard to accept.

In our house Father Christmas only brings the stocking so if it can’t fit in a stocking Father Christmas can’t bring it (stops them asking for new consoles/ bikes / expensive big gifts from Father Christmas).
i don’t tend to have an amount i spend on each child, i just listen throughout the year or ask them what they want and try to get that for them regardless of price- for example if DD asks for some art stuff and DS asks for a bike -the bike is more expensive but they have both gotten what they asked for so are happy regardless of price difference.
Kids don’t care how much something costs its the object they want 🤷🏻‍♀️.

I budget £120 each for presents (including stockings and santa sack).

With 3 kids and then the cost of food, activities and other stuff at xmas it all adds up quick.

You’ve explained this perfectly.

My christmases started in the 70s big piles of gifts but catered to my siblings and making my narcissistic mother look good to the neighbours. Yes I got lots of stuff but as the only girl I got things like dolls, I really fucking hate dolls, they creep me out always have but I was still bombarded with them while my brothers got fun stuff like board games, tonker trucks, scalelextric. I can literally count on one hand the number of gifts I actually liked or wanted.

Then I hit 10yo and christmases were very different, there was no money for presents, plenty of money for nights out multiple nights a week, new outfits for mother, fags, she opted to work Christmas Day because Boxing Day was an annual night out she couldn’t miss, same with NY eve. I will never forget Christmas that year, one my brothers got a bike chain, puncture kit to fix the bike my DF found in a skip & Now tape & £15, my other brother got a brand new bike, a video game thing and new trainers and other bits, and I got the same top and skirt I got for my birthday and had worn multiple times rewrapped up so I had something to open. That set the president for future christmases.

My DDs have had the WOW factor every Christmas and it’s majorly important to me that they get everything they ask for. They always get more but I limit their Santa lists so I know regardless of what our finances are I can always make sure the 4 things they have asked Santa for are covered.

Mine both have a birthday in November and I often feel like if they had June birthdays they would get bigger Christmas presents because there would’ve been a bigger gap. I have been known to go smaller at Christmas and then do something like a new bike at the start of the Easter holidays because we live rurally and they spend a lot of time outside for giving them a bike in the middle of December when it’s basically just a permanent hurricane and rain where we live isn’t much of a gift!
This year my youngest has asked for a 3-D printer which are about £170, with the filament et cetera it’s probably gonna come in just over £200 so that will be his birthday present in its entirety maybe with a couple of little extras. He’s more likely to get things like books as he’s a huge reader, games puzzles et cetera for Christmas to get him through winter my older one is a teenager and he will be turning 13 in November he has asked for an Xbox and he has always been promised that he could get one when he was 13 so that’s a big present therefore Christmas will probably be similarly things like books clothes, maybe a Lego set. In reality are probably spend more on their birthdays and a bit less at Christmas., But once you do all the extras Christmas is pretty expensive. There was a child in my son School who got £3000 spent on him every birthday and Christmas. And I knew other people who do literally four presents. Again we had another friend whose kid got an iPad from Father Christmas and another kid who just got their stocking from Father Christmas with things like fluffy socks and sweets in it and couldn’t understand why Santa would bring such a big present to one kid and just a stocking to another (their big presence were from their parents as their parents wanted them to know that they had been gifted them through hard work). It’s minefield! I would say at Christmas I will probably spend about £300 each once I’ve been stocking Christmas pyjamas, Christmas Eve box et cetera.

The DC get to pick one present each and then we choose 4 for each of them. Then a stocking.

How many presents are you buying your children?!
I think the poster you originally quoted said 4 presents plus a stocking. So not just 4 presents.

Mine get a stocking that includes everything from pencils, pens, body sprays, expensive branded socks for the teen, cheap perfume, hair clips, a book, snacks, a fizzy drink... I probably spend between £50 - £100 on each stocking.
Then they get three presents under the tree from us, a fancy book or book set, an outfit or item of clothing they want and then a main present. This year my youngest has asked for a desk, my middle child an expensive perfume and my eldest a video game. For clothing my youngest will get a pretty dress, my middle child some trainers and my eldest a football shirt.
Including stockings it will come to between £150-£200 each.

We used to do 6 books each and about £50-60 each on gifts. Now it's £80 (as cash) and maybe a couple of books plus a small stocking (chocolate, pens, blutack, sellotape kind of thing). Stocking probably costs £10-15 tops. They're early/mid teens.

We do smaller stockings maybe like 10/15 cheap presents its main purpose is so me and dad have time to wake up properly have a cup of tea before going downstairs where they will have one main present and then maybe another 30 medium to small presents. I think im misunderstanding what others mean when they say they're buying their children 4 presents. I just imagined their children walking down the stairs to just 4 presents 1 being a single book 1 being a jumper and then 2 other presents but if people are putting piles of presents in a stocking aswell thats completely different to a child having 4 presents to unwrap

I totally get that mum guilt! It’s such a tricky balance. I think meaningful, keepsake gifts feel far more special than lots of expensive things.

We have 2 DD 10 and 12, we spend approximately £500 on each child. But we don't really buy for anyone else apart from them and me and DH, and they don't have much wider family. We can easily afford it, we aren't sacrificing elsewhere to pay for it.

Mine are 4 and 6. Definitely less than £100 each spent. They get presents from my parents too (about £50 per parent) so that’s plenty.

Why is 4 presents not enough?!

4 presents are opened in about 10 mins in this house!

Ive 5 children.
The older 4 have 500 pounds each.
Baby has just turned one maybe around 250 it depends what i pick up.
This is something we can afford,we will also do a few Christmas day trips and the polar express.
They will get 100 pounds each of my Dm&step dad.
And 25pounds each of DHs dad.
Dd7 will turn 8 the week before and she will get 250 pound budget for her birthday.
And this year me and DH have a budget of 250 pound to send on each other.

Budget this year is £200 each, including stocking, 1st December box (always a new Christmas book, sometimes a little craft set from the works or Christmas socks etc. - fully aware my extravagant and materialistic ways are the cause of moral decline of the nation according to some on Mumsnet!) and main gifts.
It’s a ceiling rather than a target though, my main concern is making sure things are broadly equal between the kids (ages 7 and 4).

why is 1 present not enough?

I save a bit every month from January. I’ve got 2 boys aged 14 & 18. I spend on average £300-400 on the each. It’s harder as they get older as things like want/like are expensive.

£100 for our 2 year old. Her birthday is very close to Christmas so £100 for that too. We do a mix of vinted/second hand stuff and one or two 'big items'. This year she is getting a Tonies box (£60-70) and then everything else is smaller i.e. stickers, a gruffalo top, puzzles, books. Her family will be getting Tonies figurines.

I have 4 kids aged 7 - 15.

We dont do stockings.

We have a budget of £120-£150.

It is enough. I haven’t commented on how others do things.

Regarding the number of presents doesn't quality over quantity come in?
People are imagining a bleak pile of 4 presents, but if that included a games console the child really wanted surely that is better than a massive pile of presents but no games console as the parents decided to buy lots of smaller things as they think a big pile of presents looks better on social media.

Probably £750. God sounds like a lot written down but an iPhone £500 or Xbox £500. I always buy essentials too - underwear, socks, pyjamas. Vinted was amazing last year - bulked up the gifts with designer pressies that were really cheap. I also buy gifts for through the year - theatre ticket, a voucher for a day at the zoo etc.

I have never or would I ever take a photo of my kids presents and put them on social media. Im recreating Christmases I had as a kid as I remember them so fondly walking downstairs to a pile of presents that was in the 90s no social media then either

So you're not going to buy them any games and accessories for the games console any chocolates, clothes. Because just them things have taken you over 4 presents

Our stocking aren't enormous in size. But they have 10 presents in, anything from a pack of hair clips, to watercolour pencils, to nike socks, then another 10 edible treats wrapped up too. We open these first thing and then we open the three main presents under the tree after church.
Are the 30 presents you mention including things like socks or a Terry's Chocolate orange that I would put in the stocking?