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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:
Druidmama · 03/12/2009 15:45

DD1 is 3yrs, DD2 is 8mths and they've had about £25 each...lots of second hand and homemade stuff. DD2 is mainly getting a waldorf doll to stop her legging it with DD1's all the time, then stocking bits. DD1 is getting the paperpod dolls house (I got it half price months ago) which my artist DH is doing up as a country cottage for her...then relatives are each getting her a room of furniture!

birdofthenorth · 03/12/2009 15:54

There was a study I read a while ago (maybe done by Argos?) that suggested parents spend £50 more on boys than on girls at Xmas... partly because boys like electronics and great big boxes more than girls do, traditionally.

The pay gap starts early!

fluffy123 · 03/12/2009 15:57

to Druidmama, you can not put a monetary value on a gift like that. Your daughter is a very lucky girl.

PeachyDrapedInSparklyTinsel · 03/12/2009 16:01

It'snot a pay gap birdof, its what the gifts cost and what they ask for.

ofcourse I have no girls, though I suspect that if ds4 had been female he would have been immersed in far more frills (as the only girl in 7 grandkids) than any house could support lol

yangymac · 03/12/2009 16:05

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FanjolinaJolie · 03/12/2009 16:10

We spend £40 - £60 on each child and about the same on each other.

IMO that is more than enough

ruddynorah · 03/12/2009 16:20

£50 on dd age 3 (plus another £50 from her great grandma)

£10 on ds age 12 days today(!!)

MarioChristmas · 03/12/2009 16:37

DS1 (8) - about £80 plus another £20 on his stocking.

DS2 (2) - £45 on an ELC Garage and a few books for his stocking

DD (1) - £40 on a wheely bug and a doll.

I have got some new Pyjamas, dressing gowns and slippers fro each child too.

herbietea · 03/12/2009 16:53

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biggirlsdontcry · 03/12/2009 17:23

we have spent about £600 on each of ours
ds is 10yrs & dd will be 4yrs during xmas week , we too save up all through the year as xmas is a huge event in our house .

jellybeans · 03/12/2009 17:25

I have spent somewhere between £50-£80 on each (5) and think that is enough. I spend more on birthdays sometimes but hate too much materialism.

SpawnChorus · 03/12/2009 17:28

We have three DC, but one of them is only a couple of months old. We'll spend about £40-50 on the four and three yr olds and about £10-20 on their stockings. The baby will be getting nothing because he's SO NORTY.

ijustwanttoaskaquestion · 03/12/2009 17:32

I think the "cost" goes up as they get older - we have probably spent about £60 so far, but no stocking fillers yet (surprisingly expensive) on DD, not actually bought very much with our money mind! She is only four so actually pretty easy, no requests for playsttions, wii's etc, but am bracing myself for that to start soon.

My eldest DD has cost us a fortune over the years. She is 19 now and left home - I keep asking her what she wants, she just says, "oh there is nothing i want" um, well that is because her DP is probably going to indulge her yet again, im typing on her cast off lap top that he bought her two years ago - it was a DS last year, this year an iphone!! Lucky girl - and lucky us else we would have been getting those impossible requests. I think the most we ever spent was £400 on a guitar and amp - you know, she used it about three times , its upstairs with broken strings!!!

I'm also very lucky to have a very generous mum who gave us £150 to go and splash on DD2 the other day - we were like we wont be able to spend that! oh yeah?? Two shops, ten minutes = gone!!! For our money we bought some lego sets (good value for money and will last) and the super indulgent pressie of this year - a buiscit the dog, fur real animatronic puppy, its amazing, but came with a £100 price ticket - i was but actually coudlnt contain myself when we bought it - it actually cost more than our actual dog!!! but it is just soooooooo cool!

We are actually quite broke this year (again!!!) so wont be buying each other any presents so our total spend of our own money on xmas presents will probably be about £150 for both DDs. Will be miserly scrooges and not be doing neices and nephews this year. Will do my friends baby and thats it.

FabIsVeryHappy · 03/12/2009 17:34

I am guessing each child has had about £50 spent on them and then DH is making them something and the final cost for that will be at least £400.

DisElfchanted3 · 03/12/2009 17:35

about £20 on DD (1)

and about £60 each on thee boys 3&5.

Marne · 03/12/2009 17:35

at 600.00 each, though i could easily spend that if dh would let me .

I have also got the dd's a duvet cover each as they needed them anyway and things like tooth brushes to go in their stockings.

I could easily spend more on dd2 as this is the first year she has really played with anything, she has ASD and has been through so much this year and made me so proud, i keep seeing things that would help her development and speech as well as her imagintive play, i had to drag myself out of ELC today as i really wanted to buy her a cassette player and electric guitar, the trouble is if i buy more for dd2 i have to buy more for dd1 and she's harder to buy for. So just window shopping for me as i have spent too much already .

ijustwanttoaskaquestion · 03/12/2009 17:36

*druidmother that sounds like just the perfect present - so personal - im quite enviouws, ive tried doing crafty stuff, it comes out a right mess .

I think there is way to much pressure to spend spend spend actually - this year more than others i have noticed that everything seems to just be mega money. And ive been doing this present malarky for 19 years!

wheelsonthebus · 03/12/2009 17:38

£50 max per child

ijustwanttoaskaquestion · 03/12/2009 17:38

I think £600 each is excessive actually, if there is something specific that they absolutely really want then OK, but to just buy buy buy just to make a big deal so much devalues things i think. My DP indulges my DD ALL the time, it drives me nuts and we can't afford it - and it really does devalue what she gets - me no like it.

Marne · 03/12/2009 17:44

ijustwant- my dh is the opposite, he would happily just buy the girls a colouring book for x-mas . I also think its ok to spend a lot if they want something like a Wii or a bike but i don't think i could spend 600.00 on plastic tat (i havn't got the room and it wouldn't get played with).

biggirlsdontcry · 03/12/2009 17:56

yes i agree it is a lot but trust me dh would spend a lot more than this if i let him , ds has asked for the new psp 3000 & four games etc & dd want a wii etc so they have both asked for consoles , plus we buy the same amount of gifts for them both so there will be no comparing on xmas morn , plus their birthdays are in December & January so they have a long year to wait for new toys at xmas time .

WeWishYouALUCKYChristmas · 03/12/2009 18:30

DD1 (3.5 yrs) £50 all in, main 'santa' pressie and stocking from us.

DD2 (20 months) £35 all in. As above.

I met a woman this week who told me she spent over £1000 on her 9 year old last year ( she has 2 kids).

Pleased to see the average on this thread is around £50 per child.

Chandon · 03/12/2009 18:30

about 30-40 per child (they are 5 and 7)(mainly lego or playmobil).

They get most excited about stockings (some pokemon figures, a compass, some match attack cards and some sweets, a novelty pen and a tangerine should do the trick! )

SantasKinkyKnickers0nMaHead · 03/12/2009 18:33

Honestly?.....

£3 odd on dd on some learning books from a mnetter

£2 on ds for some hand puppets.

Sagacious · 03/12/2009 18:42

dcs get a satsuma (value) and a quart of hazelnuts (loose)

And they're bloody gratefull (or they're sent up t'chimney)