How much do you send on LO at xmas?

[fairydreamer1]

As it says really! My DS is 6 and DD is 1 a few days before xmas!! Just curious to know how much others spend

[fairydreamer1]

SPEND

[MikeLitorisBites]

You'll get a load of posters come on and tell you they have 6dc and spend £12.50 in total. It's not the done thing to admit spending lots of money on here for some reason.

I have 3dc and will probably spend £1000+. Never get into debt for it.

[davidjrmum]

We managed to keep to a budget of about £100 per child until 3 years ago when the older one started hoping for things like a Wii or Blackberry or X Box. This year our 6 yr old ds is hoping for a Nintendo 3DS so I expect we'll probably be spending about £200 on his presents once we've added a couple of games and some stocking fillers. Our 14 year old is hoping for a iphone - she may end up getting this but as a combined birthday/christmas present - her birthday is in November.

[killpeppa]

what we can afford- been saving for a while though

[sleepyhead]

Mine will be 7 and 9 months at Christmas.

I'll probably spend about £80ish on the 7 year old and £20ish on the baby.

Not out of some sort of competitive frugality but because that's what we can afford, ds1 has a birthday between now and Christmas so will get some of the stuff he wants then, and our family Christmas tradition has never involved big piles of presents.

Spend a grand on each child if you want, or thruppence happenny. I wouldn't raise an eyebrow either way.

[StickChildrenTwo]

I have 2 children and have in the past spent WAY too much money (£1000 ish). Just a ridiculous amount of cash and it doesn't really add anything to the day or the memories. Just spending for the sake of spending but it's hard because I LOVE buying them everything they want!

However we just can not afford to do that this year and also I don't want them to lose sight of what Christmas should be about ie. family time, baking together, games, nice food, happy memories and a few thoughtful gifts rather than mountains of presents that take all day to open.

This year I have been much stricter with myself and our budget is £150 per child. Still a fairly large amount I think but not crazy money. Our DS2 turns 2 on the 23rd of December so we have yet more expense at that time of year now anyway.

I am trying to start little cheap Christmas traditions that create memories and 'magic' but don't cost the earth.

[StickChildrenTwo]

much more strict not entirely convinced stricter is a word!

[StickChildrenTwo]

Ahh I Googled. Apparently it is a word.....

[Moxiegirl]

About 200 each for the teenagers and less than 100 each for the 3 and 4 year old. It's easier to spend less on the young ones.

[hels71]

Max of £100 which is main present and stuff from the man in red. Usually ends up about £80 as I get things all year as I find them cheap...

[Jynxed]

£200 each for 3 teenagers, plus another £200 on extras such as the chocolates, cakes & other Xmas foods, decorations, stocking fillers etc. That's £800, and I save between £50 and £100 every month throughout the year in to a special Xmas savings account for the purpose. Having once suffered badly from post xmas-debt I try to remember that Christmas happens every year whether I am ready for it or not! As others have said, teenagers are much more expensive than little ones!

[Svrider]

£100 in total each per child (3dc)
Slightly more than we can actually afford...

[princesscupcakemummyb]

normally from £150 to £300 per child if we can afford it

this year il have 3 dc smallest being a few months old i havent set a budget this year although i cant afford to get in to debt for xmas i will get what i can afford off the lists ive written

[cupcake78]

Between £80 and £120 depending on cost of main present. This includes stocking fillers etc.

[CatL]

DD is 3. Birthday 3 days before Xmas. I think the first couple of years we only spent about £50 in total for both occasions - not out of lacn of money really, but we got lots of stuff in sales etc and it seemed like plenty of presents when considered presents from others as well. i did buy her bitsand pieces in the summer then too, with it in mind that we hadn't spent much in December. This year probably looking more like £80 per occasion - already bought lots of bits and pieces and the 'main' presents I want to get are more expensive - £50ish. I think i would try to stay under £100 per occasion each year, unless it was something really special, and I'm sure that will go down if we have another DC.

[nicole1528]

I have a dd 8months and a ds 2 10 days before christmas I spend 200 each. But everyones diffrent spend what you can afford. :)

[WinterOfOurDiscontent]

I'll put £250 into each ones bank account, and spend probably £100-£150 on dc1 for toys and clothes and dc2 will be 4 months so probably only a few sleepsuits and couple toys so maybe £50.

[katolla]

Dd will be 10 months and probably won't get anything from us. She's got millions of toys already and will get enough to open from family, not that she'll want anything except the wrapping paper. I'm looking forward to going present-mad in future years though.

[DevilsRoulette]

I spend what I can. Some years that's been £1000+ and some years it's been £100. It's depended on our circumstances at the time.

I remember my PFBs first christmas. (7 months old) We were blessed to be flush during those days. I spent many, many hundreds of pounds on him. He had a pile of gifts as high as the tree (I have a photo.)

He spent the day eating wrapping paper, stroking boxes and crying every time I tried to force a toy on him I learned my lesson and my second born got little more than a rattle and some tat his first year.

Still makes me laugh. I didn't have a clue

[stargirl1701]

DD is 13 months so we can get away with buying very little. Last Christmas a basket to make a treasure basket, her birthday a second hand Wheelybug for £20 from eBay, this year a kitchen - either a Brio one or IKEA.

[awakemysoull]

This year I'm a single parent for the first time so it will be £200 on dd1 (she's 4 I can get bucket loads for that amount) and about £50 on dd2 (she will be 6 months so won't have a clue)

I've been saving for a while so I won't be skint. There is only 2 paydays left until Christmas and they pay the bills so I'm glad I've saved.

I've got a bit put away for family too but it will be gift vouchers for everyone. I don't have the time to trail around shops and most of them will be happy with vouchers for the sales.

Dds will be spoiled by both sets of grandparents and aunties and uncles etc so I can relax a bit knowing that granny is buying the bike and grandad is buying the barbie dream house. I've been trying to talk him out of it - £200 for a big piece of plastic crap that will break within a month, that I don't have room for and that will drive me up the wall

[SpookedMackerel]

I have 2 DC, aged 5 and 2

One or two present(s) of 25-40 Euroser child, from us.
Present from each DC to the other, around 10-20 Euros each.

Stockings, don't know, but I think that is where we will spend the most. Just little bits and pieces, craft kits, small toys, pyjamas, chocolate and sweets, books, DVDs. I reckon it might be well over 50 Euros per child, eek! Haven't bought the stuff yet though, so don't know

Pantomime tickets for the whole family will be another hundred, probably. Haven't bought those yet either.

[poocatcherchampion]

up to £50 each but probably more like £20. both under 2.

I'm surprised the average is so high tbh.

[ChipAndSpud]

Last year we spent £39.99 on DS's present and £42 on his Xmas stocking.

This year I think we will probably spend around £150 in total as I'm back at work and last year I was on unpaid maternity leave.

I think children don't notice the amount you spend, so I would say to spend whatever you can afford and not let other peoples choices make you feel guilty. One of my friends seems to buy so much for her lo all year around, but I can't keep up with that so I'm not going to even try!