How much are you spending on Christmas presents?

[SouthMumof2]

My children 11 & 13 have given me their Christmas lists which consist of 3D printer £300, laptop £400 and daughter wants a Lego set that’s £260 and a phone upgrade…when did life get so expensive! What’s everyone else’s children asking for / getting realistically?

If that's too expensive for you then why not tell them. I usually didn't less than one hundred pounds on my children as that's what I could afford. They wouldn't ask for expensive presents, probably as they knew they wouldn't get them. They rarely asked for anything specific, I'd usually buy them something I chose. For many people I'm sure they have the same budget as you, for others that would be too much.

11 seems young for a phone/laptop. Are they actually expecting to be bought these things?
I asked for a Gameboy every year for years knowing fine well I’d never get one!
We have bought expensive gifts but it’s not an annual occurrence and was always a bit of a surprise rather than something they’ve put on a list.

Which child is requesting which item? Assuming each child is requesting two of these four "big" items, they'd get one each (not both), plus a couple of smaller items.

DD is 13. When she was younger we used to spend no more than £120-150 all in (including stocking, one main big toy present, and some other presents including Christmas clothes). Now it’s usually more like £250-300 for everything, including stocking and all presents, mainly because she has to wait until Christmas or birthday for “expensive” clothes (eg. trainers, branded coats, etc.) or computer things. I wouldn’t spend that amount of money on one item or go over £300, even though we could probably afford it.

DD gets one of our phones second-hand when we need to upgrade, never as a present. I hope I don’t sound like a Scrooge, because I know lots of people give new phones and things like that. I just can’t quite justify to myself spending so much money on gadgets for a young teenager!

DS got a Bambu 3D printer for his bday last week and has used it every day so far! It was £150ish and works really well and really easy to use. We nearly didn’t get it but pleased we did!

Xmas will be smaller presents probably as we tend to do biggies for bdays. Kids 11, 9 & 4. Both the oldest want/need bikes.