Aspasia Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Sorry if this topic has already come up and I missed it. I'm just wondering what everyone else does. We planned on about $100 per kid, but I think it's getting closer to $150. BUT we don't really buy anything for babies at Christmas time (we already have all the baby clothes, toys, and books we want!), so does that mean we met our goal? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We planned on about 100 a kid, but i just went out and bought stocking stuffers which brings the total to about 125 per kid. This is much less than prior years, where we went overboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Too dang much. :tongue_smilie: Also, this year it is a lot more unequal between kids than ever. I used to strive to keep it similar-looking and pretty similar in expense, but that is impossible now with two teenagers and an 8yo. I don't expect them to compare or notice, really, but it does bother me in my own mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Waaaaay too much! Christmas is a huge deal here, and my father overindulges the kids as well. However, we really don't buy them anything for the rest of the year, with the exception of birthdays of course, but I limit their birthday gifts to $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Lost count.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Waaaaay too much! Christmas is a huge deal here, and my father overindulges the kids as well. However, we really don't buy them anything for the rest of the year, with the exception of birthdays of course, but I limit their birthday gifts to $100. Same with us. That definitely makes me feel better about the Christmas splurge. We've spent a little more than we wanted to per kid, but I went way crazy with family gifts. I'm a sucker for games and toys that dont' "assign" well to just one kid--Tinker Toys, Marble Works, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 More than we should, but we're another family that reserves "gift" giving for birthdays and Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Waaaaay too much! Christmas is a huge deal here, and my father overindulges the kids as well. However, we really don't buy them anything for the rest of the year, with the exception of birthdays of course, but I limit their birthday gifts to $100. This is exactly how it is here. I went way overboard for Christmas, but I don't buy toys during the year or any other extras like that. Books and art/craft supplies, yes, but anything else they buy themselves. Bdays we do about $150 per kid and my older kids often want one expensive thing that wipes that out. We do not go into debt for Christmas so I'm okay with it. I even got my toddler lots of stuff, while knowing (since he's my fifth) that being only two, he would have been perfectly happy with one or two small gifts and will probably be overwhelmed on Christmas and ignore most of it. But he's my last baby and I love preschool toys, so I had a blast shopping for him. And I found the best deals on beautiful wooden toys, impossible to pass up. I'm hoping I can just put the new toys in the closet after Christmas and get one out every few days and distract him during school. I doubt it's an even number per kid, I like them to have the same number of gifts to open, but they like different things and it's impossible to spend the same on each kid. They don't notice that or care anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Ours is very lopsided. We don't set an amount, exactly, just get a gift or two. For my oldest this year, we spent $130 on double bass wheels. The other 5 kids got 2 rabbits, so that's about $20 each. They've already been given that gift, so for the youngers we'll find a $5 gift for them to unwrap, plus an orange, candy cane, umbrellas (which dh got from the "free to a good home" table at work :D ) and maybe a chapstick in their stockings. This year we also plan to get Apples to Apples Jr. as a family gift. Most years we spend less than $20 per child, but it also depends on what they need at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Kate Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 More than we should, but we're another family that reserves "gift" giving for birthdays and Christmas. This is what we do too. In the past, I tried to limit Christmas to $150 per kid. But this year I have somehow gone overboard. WAY overboard. I'm looking forward to it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 This year, less than $200. Typically it's $300ish, about $100 of which is books. I'm putting my "big" present off, and DH's gift is some fancy schmancy towels for the family. It's been a rough fall, but it'll all be good in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justme824 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We don't buy much throughout the year (except for books & art supplies of course!) which finds us able to spend more at Christmas. I'd say the gift count is low, but quality is high, so I don't feel like they get too much. Birthdays for us are experience gifts, so Christmas is really it for the fun things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Usually it's around $300 each. For birthdays we do about $150-200 each. I still buy them some videos throughout the year and some video games. My kids also get about $50 each for Spring Equinox and Halloween. Yes we give gifts for Halloween and Spring Equinox because our kids don't really eat candy. Oh and St. Nick is usually about $50-75 depending on what I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 $50/kid. I do spend a little more buying things for crafts but not much. I like to make it about family time. We invite a lot of people over during the holidays and play a lot of games together, bake lots, and enjoy outside fun if the weather is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 It varies from year to year. Some years we are doing good to spend $100. Then other years, like this year, we have it to spend so we do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Varies by year. Also, we do not spend the same for each child. My 11 year old dd tends to be more expensive than my 3 year old son; my 3 year old son much more expensive than my 6 months old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I always spend more than $200 per kid but this year I did spend less than I have in previous years. No one really wanted a big gift so I got smaller things which means more gifts to unwrap than in previous years as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We spent a lot, but we do Christmas big here :hurray: I don't really set a budget. I just buy things for them, try to keep it relatively even, and stop buying when it seems right to me. Not exactly a scientific formula. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We spend the same amount per child, and I have a budget. I make up any differences in amount spent with Amazon gift cards, which our kids love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davysmom Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We spent about $200 for the older kids, but that includes things like boots, PJs, ornaments and things I would buy anyway. If I cut out the things I would get anyway, we probably spent under $100. It's just fun to have more packages to open! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 We planned on about 100 a kid, but i just went out and bought stocking stuffers which brings the total to about 125 per kid. This is much less than prior years, where we went overboard. Ditto. I usually mean to spend about $100 or a little less. This year I finally stuck to that, but with stocking stuffers, it went over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Once Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Under $200....I had planned less but more happened. Most of it is practical school educational stuff. Microscope, knitting needle set, leappad faux ipad, books....stuff like that. Still no significant stocking stuffer bought yet....I have their toothbrushes amd bandaides. Lol. My kids are use to me but I just realized how embarassed I am typing the truth out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Previous years have been much higher than this one. This year, we're spending $30-$40 on each person across the board because we're trying to move right now. As a first time home buyer, I hadn't realized the appraisal and inspection are cash up front, not rolled into close. Bye bye Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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