How much do you spend on toddler/children at Christmas ?

[MichelleOR84]

I’m curious ! Really random question in October 😂🤦‍♀️.

Also , do you spend accordingly to your income or do you over or under spend ?

my dd is 2 and I've spent £200 this year, last year was less. some on here might think its alot but bar the odd small, cheap thing here and there I dont buy things for her apart from birthday and christmas

We are in a fortunate position to be able to spend what we want at Christmas; we have decent disposable income, but we don't go too mad.

DS is only 3, so we haven't had many Christmases with him so far. I can't remember what we gave him for his first Christmas (when he was still a baby) but I'm 99% sure it was just a few smallish things. Since then he's had a main present and stocking fillers. For his second Christmas, we gave him a play kitchen and for his third Christmas, we gave him a balance bike - I think each item was about £50-£60 but with a few stocking presents and extras it did all add up.

I expect as he gets older the main present might get more expensive We want to get him a proper bike with pedals this Christmas and will probably spend more than we did on the balance bike.

DC2 is here now but won't get much for her first Christmas. She will have all DS's toys to play with as she gets older but I'm sure I'll want to buy her some things of her own, too - we'll see how much I end up spending now there are two to buy for!

PS We do buy him little things through the year eg a few garden toys in the summer, I got him a sand pit at the start of lockdown, but it wasn't hugely expensive.

I don't really tot it up, but I'd imagine we spend £150-200 on DD(4). It'd be more if she needed a big thing (like a bike) but we tend to buy her things like that when she needs them, rather than waiting for Christmas.

We're comfortable financially, not wealthy, but money isn't one of the things we worry about day to day (anymore).

I should also point out that I have quite a big family and DS has always been thoroughly spoiled by everyone at Christmas and birthdays, so I don't feel the need to go too crazy myself - I tend to think it's all too much otherwise, especially for a young child.

My DD is 2 and this will be her third Christmas. We spent about £20 on a door bouncer for her first Xmas. Her second Xmas we filled her a personalized stocking that she got as an Xmas gift on her first Xmas. I'm not sure exactly how much we spent but I'd imagine it was about £30? Possibly less. This year we are just doing a stocking again.

We aren't Christian and DD will be getting lots of presents from other family members. We are also saving to buy a house so we don't have spare cash for expensive presents.

About £100 on Christmas because we buy a big ticket thing (so scooter last year, bike this) and about £20-30 on birthdays - last year everything came from the charity shop for DD's birthday! She only gets odd bits through the year - a jigsaw, new craft stuff to replace supplies, books (mostly charity shop purchases) and I try to eke out birthday & Christmas money and vouchers throughout the year for new clothes. We could afford to spend more but I'd rather spend it on activities or classes than on toys while she's little.

I'm sure my MIL thinks we're a bit tight though.

So far I have spent £8 on a second hand wooden activity cube for my DD's first Christmas. Will get her a few other bits like a personalised stocking and a walker she can push around and the rest of her presents will just be things she already has wrapped up. She will have no idea what is going on so not going to go nuts.
I would imagine as she gets older I will probably spend around £200 depending on the gift. If she needs a bike or laptop then obviously it will be more.

Spent £58 on DS this year so far he's 2, just want to get another few bits so maybe another £10-£15.
Last year we spent around £30. His first Christmas we bought him a toy that cost £15 he was only 4 months old then.
Family and friends buy him presents too and give him money for his savings account.

It’s babies first Xmas this year. I have just bought a few things but it adds up.

We have no family buying so they are all 6+ months toys as he hasn’t anything apart from rattles and soft toys so far. So things like shape sorter, some play wooden bricks, some music shakers etc. I’m tempted to order him a pikler climbing triangle as well. He will be 8 months

I spend according to income. So currently that's around £200 per child, give ir take a couple of tens of pounds. Children aged 3, 5 and 8. But thats not piles of gifts, its just that their gifts are a bit more expensive as I try to buy things that are ethically produced and will last. That includes stockings. If we couldn't afford that much,they would have less.

We spent about £100 on his birthday but that was because we bought one specific big item.

He’ll be getting less for Christmas. I’ve accumulated a few toys which I’ve got stashed and I think he’ll just get those. Baby won’t get anything for Christmas as he’ll only be a month old.

Sadly as DS gets older and starts wanting electronics and branded clothing, I think it’s going to get a lot more expensive!

I've spent about £40-£50 per child this year. A book, a schleich animal, a bit of playmobil and a wooden puzzle. Might add some felt tips as theirs are drying up.

No where near what I could spend but they don't need more stuff. A few quality bits is enough.

The other factor is that we don't have space for the toys we have, let alone more 🙈

Around £200 ish each, they're 5 and 6.

We do 150 each roughly. 50 for main item eg balance bike for 2 year old this year then 100 on bits such as clothes, a book, stocking bits etc. Dh and I spend 150 on each other too because a. We still believe in the magic b. Christmas is for all in our house and c. We barely buy ourselves anything through the year

Normally we spend between £50 and £100 each but getting a Nintendo switch between them this year so it will be more. Probably spend about £20 each on top of the switch.

I spend on average about £150-£200 on school age nieces and nephews.

About £50 on adult nieces and nephews

My siblings need to stop having children

DC4 will probably have about £150 in total but that’s more because DC1 and DC2 are old enough to question why he doesn’t have a stocking or gifts otherwise. Apart from a few small toys, I’m planning on things like new wellies to bulk it out.

We have spent just under £300 this year. That includes all her presents, some clothes, all Christmas activities/elf related items, advent calendar and fillings plus Christmas eve box items like family PJs etc.

On toy gifts alone I think we were about £160 give or take. £50 or so on clothes related gifts.

DS is only 2.5 so this will be his third Christmas. We bought him practically nothing for his first Christmas, then last year spent about £75, mainly on a toy kitchen and food from lidl.

We have a fairly high income and spend on him throughout the year as he is developing and changing so much it would be too long to wait for Christmas and birthday to come round. Eg we bought him a balance bike in the summer - would have missed out on so much time riding it if we’d waited until Christmas, and he wasn’t interested at all near his birthday in spring. Suspect this will change as he gets older. I’ll have a newborn this Christmas too and not buying anything for her!

My DS has just turned 2. I have a budget of £50-60 for each birthday and Christmas. This year I'm planning on an Ikea toy kitchen but I also have a £30 voucher for Ikea so will buy a few bits for the kitchen too. If I didn't have the voucher I would stick to the budget above.

I don't tot it up but about £250 on Xmas 5 year old and £500 maybe on 15 year old.
Largely depends what they want really. Last year 15 year old wanted a coat for £120 as it was expensive I said it needed to be her Xmas pressie.
This year she wants iPad/laptop so that means spending much more than £500 that id normally spend.
5 year old wants various dolls as always, plus some other little bits.

Dd will be 2.5 at Christmas and so far she’s had £80 spent on her. Expecting another baby next month and they will have a teddy or age appropriate toy bought for them so maybe £10-£20.

I think it's impossible to compare as so many parents have different ways of doing it. We've always spent about £200 oer child at Christmas, but every year we include in this lots of things we'd buy anyway - pants, vests, socks, pjs, slippers, dressing gowns, an outfit or two etc etc. These are usually mixed in with their Father Christmas Sacks, along with food items, toys and replenishables (arts and crafts etc) So that massively bumps up the cost.

Also, it needs to be compared to how much you spent over the year. I had a friend who would always make a point that she never spent more than £100 per child at Christmas and only ever did the "something you need, something to read" thing. All well abs good, except every week when she'd pop into town she'd pick something new up for her son. Whether that was a £4 magazine, new book or a toy she'd seen reduced (this could be more - £10-15). Whereas, if I saw something I thought my dc would like, I'd buy it and put it away in a box to give at Christmas.

So whilst she was very virtuous in only spending £75 to £100 at Christmas, if you added in the other 50 weeks of a year at £5 each -that's £250 + the £75 at Christmas, she spent over the course of the year way more than me! And that was just on toys. That didn't include clothes or things the child needed over the year.

And finally it's easy to spend not much when children are little, as toys are relatively cheap. We'll easily spend £800 on my daughter this Christmas, but that does include a set of driving lessons and a phone upgrade. So really, things she would have got anyway, just we make anything expensive double up as a Christmas gift.