Pram costs- what’s reasonable

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I have offered to buy my daughter and son in law a pram for their baby. I bought pram for my older daughter and cot and furniture to a similar value for my son and his wife. My budget is £1000, which I thought was generous. She’s come back saying she wants a particular one at £1800, which quite frankly I think is ridiculous ! I’d appreciate thoughts/ maybe I’m out of touch !

Both my buggies/prams were second hand and under £60 each. £1000 is mental as is £1800.

£1000 is plenty. We got an excellent pram that's done two children and top of the range car seat for way under that. She's going for style over substance and with someone else's money.

Ours was just over £1k seven years ago (Uppababy) so I'm not surprised at £1800, especially if that includes all the bells and whistles.

As everyone has said, just nicely tell her your budget and she can decide what to do from there. Ours was used day in day out on both maternity leaves and every weekend after that across two children, finally retired around the time eldest turned six. Never regretted a penny, it was by far our best baby buy.

Just say "no worries, we have 1k set aside to match what we gave to your brother, so let us know when you've settled on one, and we will send you the grand towards it"

(Out and About Nipper all-terrain pram, £400 and £300-odd for the car seat). That pram is an absolute workhorse. Two kids, daily dog walks, woodland, beaches. I do enjoy watching people with some of the expensive 'fancy' monstrosities struggling to get up a kerb though

We paid £250 for ours (new) 13 years ago, but even then a full travel system get up was around £800, so it doesn't shock me they are nearly 2k now.

What does shock me is how many people then choose to pay this, when they usually end up downgrading to a stroller by the time the child is 2 - or in many cases dc2 comes along and the Spenny Pram gets thrown in the loft to make way for a double.

Gift the £1000

you can get a decent travel system for £900 easily

if they want to spend more then they can add to it

My daughter is 9 months now and we got our pushchair as a full travel system for about £1.5k so I can well believe the price

I just bought a second hand car and it didn’t cost £1800 that is beyond fucking ridiculous!!
We spent £300 on a full travel system which I thought was extortionate, however I wanted a full travel system so I bit the bullet.
Although what I found with both dc was I wore a sling when they were little and then after they could confidently walk on their own, we got a super cheap umbrella type buggy and didn’t use the pushchair again.

if they want one more expensive than your very generous offer then fair enough, but they pay the extra £800. To expect you to pay the extra is absurd and spoilt.

Barely any difference between these two items, other than the brand name, yet one is 1k more.

Sometimes shoppers just get swayed by name.

Have you used them in real life? Because I didn't love either of those brands, but I suspect there would indeed be a difference in person, especially in the suspension etc.

Nope, I'm no longer in the pushchair market. I didn't do too much off-roading so suspension wasn't a consideration for me. I appreciate it might be for others, but I'd be really surprised to see that the second one was truly £1,000 "better".

Depends on how much £1,000 is to you and how much you use the pram I guess. But we're financially secure and I walk everywhere (especially on maternity leave) so I would absolutely pay £1,000 extra for a pram that pushes better, weighs less, folds easier etc. Couldn't care less about the look or colour etc but (much like a car) it's an item where functionality is crucial.

There is a huge difference - I thought the same originally and bought a Joie. Big mistake - I then went for an Egg (but tried a friends iCandy and it was a close call) and it suddenly stopped being difficult to steer. I could manage it one handed with a toddler. I actually enjoyed my daily walks.

Totally wasted the money on the Joie. Back then money was really, really tight - I drained my (small) savings for it - but it was well worth it and I've never regretted it.

Agree with PP, tell them your budget is £1000 max, which is generous as it is and will buy a decent pram. Options are to either buy one within that budget, or give them the cash and they fund the rest. I think it's cheeky that's she's asked for a 1800 pram to be honest!

These are likely to be significantly different models. The Joie is likely to be not terrible, but not great either, and the iCandy is very strong and durable, but may be excessively heavy. To an extent, you do get what you pay for with pushchairs, though whether that's worth it is a personal decision.

Our pram (incl bassinet and buggy seat but no car seat) was about £1500 two years ago. My mum had already bought my sister hers but we'd picked a more expensive one. She contributed the same as she did to my sister and we made up the difference as it was our choice to pick something more expensive. We didn't have a problem adding the extra money and I completely understood as my mum has always treated us both equally.

Completely mental. I have twins. I have managed to buy second hand double pushchair for £60, 2 cot beds solid one from new Zealand £25 each. I can't even imagine to think to spend this amount of money. I have joined twins club they have organised twins sale every six months that saved me fortune. All money were going into good food and holidays.

I think £1000 is a generous amount. My MIL offered to buy mine 3.5yrs ago. I went for a Joie travel system for £350. So low end. Just looked and that would be £500 now. So what 43% increase? Perhaps up your £1000 budget to account for the costs going up and then you'll have met them half way?

£1000 is generous. I got my dd a brand new bugaboo cam for £300, as it's now discontinued. Damn good pram.

Just give them the grand in cash and say you making your kids equal🤷‍♀️

Look for the model she wants secondhand.

I would give her £1000.00 and say that is the amount you gave her sister and you wanted to gift them both the same. She can add £800.00 to that if she really wants that particular pram or she might choose something more sensible when you tell her you aren't paying the full amount.

I had a budget Silvercross Travel System which cost about £500.00, that lasted me three years and then I had an umbrella stroller for a while for days out and long walks etc.

That's crazy money to me for a pram. Mine was £300 and did what they all do. I did however pay out on a decent car seat as this is far more important.

It's definitely fair to come back with offer 1k towards the cost. That is crazy money. I get nervous leaving my not uber fancy pram outside places where you're not allowed to take them in eg outside the baby weighing place - imagine leaving that pram somewhere!