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Christmas

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Original poster

how much have you spent on presents per kid?

208 replies

JaceyBee · 02/12/2009 21:33

am going through finances with dh and he was to learn I have spent £300 on presents for the kids, we have 2 so is roughly £150 each, this includes all presents from 'santa' and under tree presents from us. this will be it now though!

Does this sound v excessive to you? How much do you roughly spend per dc?

OP posts:
plumpud · 02/12/2009 22:27

I do £150 for each .. 3 DC's.. but I put away weekly over the year to cover this... makes it a lot less of a sting.

Hulababy · 02/12/2009 22:40

£100-150 on DD

Original poster
JaceyBee · 02/12/2009 22:53

I think where I messed up is having too big santa sacks for them, the first xmas we had ds my mum turned up with a fucking great big material sack and now dd has one the same and I feel I have to fill them.

I know some people just do small stockings and fill them from the pound shop and stuff, but I guess we tend to do what our parents did for us when we were kids and my parents did the big sack thing. Shame they were a lot better off than we are now though!

OP posts:
HerBeatitude · 02/12/2009 22:55

It depends on your income and outgoings, whether it is excessive.

If your income is £30 per week, it is excessive.

If it is £3million per annum, you are mean.

HTH.

TidyBush · 02/12/2009 23:13

We've spent more than usual this year as both DDs (15 and 12) are having a laptop each (2 x £350) so they will also each only get an itunes card (2 x £15 cards for £20 bought in Clintons a couple of months ago) and a selection box (1/2 price in Morrisons last week).

I did feel quite guilty in terms of the quantity of stuff they'll have. We usually spend around £150 - £200 each on a main present plus a ton of crap, but we have a rather complicated family so they don't get much from them just a small gift and some ££s from each set of GPs and money put into a savings account from my SIL.

However,when I asked DD2 if she remembered what she had last year she couldn't think of one thing, even though they'd had a Wii between them and they both use it every day .

Looking back the only Christmas present I remember getting was a bike. Other than that I just remember that Christmas was the one day my DM wore an apron whilst cooking and that we had an illuminated musical church that lit up when wound up that I lurved so much .

cat64 · 02/12/2009 23:20

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Portofino · 02/12/2009 23:24

We've spent about 200 euros on dd (5) but that will be spread over St Nicolas (this weekend!) and Xmas day. It helps only having the one of course!

MedusaHead · 02/12/2009 23:33

I usually spend about £100 for each DC (aged 3 and 5), but since last Christmas I have discovered Ebay so even though I've bought them loads of stuff it's been much cheaper as it's second hand. Because they're so young they'll never know.

lockets · 02/12/2009 23:47

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SolosScrapingUpForXmas · 02/12/2009 23:48

So far...nowt.
I'm busy making them personalised blankets and Dd wants a 'princess' dress(gold)so I'm going to try to knock one up for her. Ds will get a book so I'm guessing I'll be spending about £10 on Ds and £4 on Dd as I have an old gold coloured outfit from years ago that I'll cut up for her dress. The only deviation will be if I can get a cheap PAYG phone for Ds and the only reason I'm even considering that is because the school payphone takes his 'emergency' money and I can't hear him.

SolosScrapingUpForXmas · 02/12/2009 23:50

Oh and Ds is 11 and Dd will be 3 on Boxing day(no idea what to give her for that either) and the only presents they'll get otherwise is from my Mum and brother and possibly their god mothers.

Clary · 02/12/2009 23:54

That's more than we spend but if you can afford it why not?

We spend about £70+ per child usually (3 DC) but are credit-crunch-tastic this year (both have taken redundancy) and so I have been bargain hunting.

DD's list for example using a Littlewoods offer and some vouchers I found, has cost about £40 max.

BlackLetterDay · 03/12/2009 00:00

So far have spent £65 on dd(6) and £30 on ds(3) will buy them some more things when dp gets paid next week. Rather pleased though as used the very code for £30 off £60 twice so what I have bought so far should have cost £170, we don't have loads of people buying for them either. Just token presents from rellies really.

mamas12 · 03/12/2009 00:07

Jaceybee a good tip for you, do what I did last year and will be doing again this year.
I too have a large stocking and a small bank a/c so I decided to take it in at the sides.
Run it under the machine both sides and it gives the same illusion of being full but with fewer presents in.
The kids didn't notice, and if they do say something the answer I have ready is ' it looks smaller because you've grown'!

It looks like I spend a lot more than everyone else on this thread. I've had this conversation before, it's because I don't really spend on them through the year and I love spoinling them at xmas becasue I never was. So I suppose I'm trying to recreate/reinvent a part of my childhood I never had.

bumpybecky · 03/12/2009 00:22

I've been very strict with my budget spreadsheet this year [geek]

Total budget was £ 400 spilt as £20 per person (4 DC, DH and me) and then £ 280 for joint family present (Wii, games and accesories). I have £17.42 left to spend......

BloodRedTulips · 03/12/2009 10:19

a lot.

but we've had a shitty year and we've had a few shitty christmas' before so i felt everyone deserved to be spoilt.

mine would be happy with less so it's not that i pander to spoilt little brats, it's simple that the money was there (for once) and dp and i like spoiling them at christmas.

Ineedsomesleep · 03/12/2009 11:40

Overheard a woman arguing with her DH the other day. She was insisting that £1,000 was the minimum they could spend on their DS, he was trying to persuade her to spend less.

IMoveTheStarsForNoOne · 03/12/2009 11:42

About £35 - £45, don't see the point in spending any more - he's 2.

family will prob spend £20 - £30 each too, and he's just had his birthday so we're drowning in plastic crap here!

Bucharest · 03/12/2009 11:48

About £300.

But as we are in the arse end of nowhere with no shops etc for the rest of the year, she doesn't get anything throughout the year.

NightShoe · 03/12/2009 11:52

About £250 on DD (3.5). Mainly on a kitted out dolls house. I;m of the opinion that if you can afford it then go for it, how much or how little you spend is irrelevant.

Jem27 · 03/12/2009 12:00

DD is 11 and we spend around £140 each year on her, DS is only four months so around £40 for him.

Bomper · 03/12/2009 12:02

We have three children (12, 9 and 5) and spend £100 on each. That's more than enough IMHO!!

bratnav · 03/12/2009 12:10

We have 3 DDs (5,6 and 7) and DS (3 mo) we are spending £50 per DD and about £15 on DS this year as that is what we can afford. Last year we spent over £150 per DD because we could afford it then.

The 'right' amount of money to spend is what you can afford IMHO.

StrictlyKatty · 03/12/2009 12:16

Just added it all up at DS will get about £450 spent on him by DH and I

He's an only and his birthday is the 7th of Jan so he will get less for that.

MillyMollyMoo · 03/12/2009 12:19

It's really tough, I think I've spent £200 on DC1 and DC3 and bugger all so far on DC2 because all she wants is something I don't want to buy her.

Still their piles look tiny in comparrison to when I could fill the living room would £100 each