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.

We only exchange cards and chocolate oranges because we buy things throughout the year. Like you need a jumper in March - you get your jumper in March. With dc being small, we bought toys when asked. We have a tree though.

we spend about £150-£200 on DS 6 and £100 on DS 2 including stockings. I start shopping in September to spread the cost as it’s DP birthday in December too so makes it very expensive. My sons are still young so we can get away with spending a lot less than if they were teenagers!

I think this is fair enough.

My DC1(12) has asked for a games console this year, and understands it is going to be basically the full budget. Yes, he will get some extra things too, probably more than four. But he will have far fewer presents to open than his brother, who wants more, cheaper things.

This is the first year there will be a visible difference - I normally like to make them equal by quantity (and overall size) as well as price. But he's made that decision, and is happy with it.

SO, you are right - there is a big difference between someone who says they are doing "four" presents, and one of them is a huge tech item plus accessories, one of them is e.g a bundle of five different art supplies, one is a lego set that will take days to build, etc. And someone who does the stupid poem, and gets one book, one jumper, a new toothbrush and a tonie.

It can be i use presents like that to try and make the presents around the same amout to open with the younger kids so they may be in a stocking they may be in the living room.

This is literally the opposite off what we do obviously i buy my kids clothes throughout the year as they need them but i wouldn't just buy them a toy everytime they want one. I think this is why Christmas is so special because its not just another day they don't get toys and whatever they want every week.

I find a lot of these figures absurd. £100. I think that is a lot

You can't get very much for £100 these days

Depends on income, age of children and what they get at other times of year.

There was someone up thread who'd always spent £200, and had done for the last 20 years.
I never figured out if the children were now adults or if she had a load of children who had tons of hand me downs

Here’s a list of what I bought my kids last Christmas.

DC1: end grain chopping board £39.99, Hot Wheels Switch game £22.99, small box of chocolates £3, book £7.26, Hot Wheels socks £9, Lego set £17.99 totalling £100.23.

DC2: gaming dice £29.99, framed Stranger Things poster £15.95, box of chocolates £8, D&D book £20.99, Rubik’s cube £7.71, small Rubik’s cube £3.99, pencil case with pens £13.19 totalling £99.82.

DC3: Lego Switch game £24.99, Lego set £29.99, PC speakers £9.49, book £4.64, Squishmallow £5.72, book of Fortune Tellers £8.27, Switch controller £25.99 totalling £109.99.

DC4: Pokémon Switch game £41.95, Lego set £17.10, laptop case £17.99, book £6.98, plushie £6.99, set of pens £5.69, board game £13.49 totalling £110.19.

That’s £419.33 in total across four children. They each got 6 or 7 presents to open including Switch games and Lego sets. In 2024, I spent £415.37 and in 2023, I spent £404.10.

None of my kids have ever complained that they don’t get enough for Christmas and I’ve been using the same budget of £100 since they were very young. I don’t think it’s necessary to spend hundreds per child and I can’t afford it either.

Do you do stockings as well?
Also is there other family giving presents?

I think that's a really well spent £100pp!

I don't think that anyone has a negative word to say about someone with £100 to spend, and who makes the most of it like that.

I think the criticism is for people who buy their children as little as possible, and practical items they need (e.g. books and clothes, rather than switch games and lego) as a badge of honour of how joylessly they do xmas, when they could afford a lot more.

(You can probably see how easy it would be to spend a lot more that though - a new release switch game, a bigger lego set, a trendy brand speedcube rather than standard rubix cube - you could easily double those costs while buying the same things.)

My four year old doesn't have extended family.
So I am going to do £100 from gifts from mum and dad. She doesn't have grandparents and will get token gifts from two aunties.
And then she will get a £150 gift from Santa.
Nothing brought for the sake of it and will be considered purchases. Can't stand the huge piles for Christmas.

Mine are now adults , I have 2 with a 6 yr age gap . My rules have always been the same

1. we don’t spend what we don’t have to spare so no credit cards
2. we don’t price match on a yearly basis
3. we buy what they want / we think they would like
4. there is no set budget

so based on the above I’ve spent anything from £75 to £000s at various times

We don’t really have a budget, but I also don’t buy excessively. A lot of things I will pick up on sale if I think my DD might like it, or she’s pointed it out. It tends to be one more expensive item, then the rest are all <£20 each. How much we spend really varies each year!

Only the two youngest get stockings and that’s included in this cost. They also get a present from their grandparents and maybe three or four from uncles and aunts - things like books or games.

But where did the switch, pc and laptop come from. Do you randomly buy them expensive electronics throughout the year. My kids get very little unless its birthday or Christmas

We’re high earners and don’t budget as such, but I’d never spend hundreds on one item. Eg if DS (7) gets a new bike for Christmas I ask the DGPs to chip in.

We get a lot second hand on eBay eg old Star Wars Lego sets and Thomas the Tank Engine Brio when he was younger.

This year he’s mentioned a scooter and is in to Harry Potter for the first time, so we’ll likely do Harry Potter costume, Lego and a scooter if he’s still keen, but some from us, some from the DGPs and some from Father Christmas. Then my DSis will get him something like Guinness World Records. He gets plenty but I’d rather save for him in the long term than go all out on tonnes of stuff.

Stocking £50 and main present £100

Switch was a joint present to all four DCs a few years ago back. PCs and laptops were bought for school use and weren’t Christmas or birthday presents.

Being curious how old is DC1?
Thats a random combination of gifts, the chopping board sounds very grown up but the hotwheels game very tween.

Its sort of one of those things if you have 4 kids in a house, big ticket items like consoles can be shared and things like bikes and scooters can be handed down.

But if you only have one child who wants a console then its a whole console for one child, same amount of money

He’s 22! Still likes Lego though. The Hot Wheels stuff was a bit of a joke as he works in motorsport.

I don’t know how much difference it makes with one child versus several. I’m sure lots of children have their own Switch or other console rather than having to share one with siblings. And my kids all have their own phones, iPads, bikes etc.

Hope he's been putting the chopping board to good use 😀 all makes sense!

Your budget for Christmas is £100, a child, fair enough, are phones and other big ticket items Birthday rather than Christmas or randomly as required?

All kids seem to have big ticket items. I don't think there is a right or wrong, people just do things differently. But I also think people need to look at the big picture not just the snippets that is Christmas.

I only listed the presents from last year in response to a couple of people saying you couldn’t get much for £100.

The chopping board is very lovely though, it puts my plastic ones to shame! DS1 is a keen cook and he likes to have high quality gear. He was a rare student with a £100 Japanese knife and a cast iron skillet where everyone else had an air fryer!

He sounds a right foodie.
Everyone told me airfryers are great. And now I think they are a waste of space, and a pain to wash. Wish I had a cast iron skillet lol.

But back to the £100 thing, its clearly not a huge amount if you are buying big ticket items, bike, consoles or phones, even on the second hand market it could be stretching the £100 budget.

It a good amount for a young child if your only buying toys or like you a few things for young adults.

10 years ago it would have covered a large kids lego set, but now some of the kids ones are over £150, the Hogwarts sections or some of the Star Wars sets.

Gererally £500 for DS17 and DD14. We're going to America next year so they are having $200 each then the rest as present budget. But they dont get bought big stuff through the year... they get pocket money but if they want something bigger then they wait for Christmas/Birthdays