How much do you spend on DC's birthday gifts ?

[Lonelybunny]

How much is reasonable ? We are skint basically and I have 3 birthdays coming up for a 8,6 and 1 yr old. How many and how much is adequate ://

You do what you can with what you have.

Some years we've had plenty and they've had gifts worth up to £100, other years it's been £20 or less.

Ours are pretty much grown up now but they have always been made to understand that sometimes money is tight and that bills have to take priority, especially as 4 of their birthdays are in the 6 weeks after Christmas

Family tradition that has been developed in our house, more so since the recession, is that the birthday person chooses what's for dinner and what kind of cake I bake. These get remembered more than the gift IMO. It's just about making their day special, and that doesn't cost anything

Do you mean your own DC?

We have recently put in a £100 limit for our 3 as we found our spending was getting OTT.

For other children the limit is £10 and I re-gift any duplicates/unsuitable gifts we get to save waste/money. I also buy things when I see them on offer in the supermarket so have a stash of half price pressies for parties etc.

I tend to spend between £30-50 on the DCs and only buy them one present each for birthdays and Christmas. They get so much from family and we live in a small flat with limited storage.

Yes for my DC. Thing is we don't really see family and probably can't afford a party this year so they won't get many presents from elsewhere ifswim

I just spent £8 each for my twins on a rucksack they'll need for school and a packet of Haribos. They were quite happy with that. I could have spent more, but I didn't see the point as they were not bothered and I find buying things for the sake of birthdays/christmas pointless. Better to teach them to buy things when they need them I think. I know that makes me sound like a miserable old scrooge. I don't care!

Kids really don't understand the value of money in my experience... so don't put a number on it, just find out what they are really into. Also everyone thinks that kids talk about what they got for their birthdays but my experience is that almost none of them know what their friends actually got.

I would spend £5 on the 1yo & no more than £40 on the 6yo. Maybe £60 on the 8yo?

I have friends who see that as outrageious, they never spent £10 on their DC (maybe £15 on the adults & teens).

Dd had an icecream for her 2nd birthday (that was our total gift). It seemed like plenty, honest.

Agree - pound shop stuff for 1 year old.

If you can afford circa £40 for the others then that would be more than enough. (disclaimer, I am tight but also pretty well off)

When ds was younger we would usually just but something small because grandma would give him the contents of a small toyshop.
These days it varies - last year it was a new handheld games console and a game: this year I have no idea!

When ours were babies I spent around £5 or less. I once built a castle out of cardboard boxes, and regularly bought second hand.

Now they are older we spend around £20-£30 each. If relatives were not giving I would spend £10 of it on a few small things to make up numbers.

We still buy second hand!