Money on presents for kids for xmas

Gambas

3 kids 1 toddler, two others under 7. Last year we spent about 450 , I went against my better judgement and bought a games console for about 220 that was never used. (no bad thing)

This year the ball park will be approx 130 each for the two older ones (big set of lego, approx €80), something for maybe about 30 and then a few stocking fillers

The toddler will get something that we'd end up buying anyway and a few stocking fillers so little or no net cost there.

We could afford to spend more, but I don't see the point. It's not like toys make kids happy.

ash23

summerskin wrote: »

Nope, the holidays are for the whole family, not just the children. The holidays are vital for us, to spend time together. I work hard, and occasionally work overseas for a few days at a time, so we love to take holidays together where we can have uninterrupted time.

Lots of people work hard but still can't afford 3 holidays a year so I think saying holidays are "vital" is daft. You choose to have holidays and to spend your money on that. You also make assumptions about people who spend on Christmas, communions etc. Why do you feel that anyone who spends large at Christmas time is getting in debt to do so?

They might forsake holidays in order to prioritise Christmas?

Our kids are aware of the fact that as a family we don't buy anything that we cannot easily afford. We have no debts, not a cent, and as a result no large debt repayments. This means our children have all they need, and more besides, we're not scrooge, far from it. It also means we have nice holidays, decent cars(both over 5 years old but in great nick) etc, and our kids understand the value of things, not just the price.

I have a mortgage and my child doesn't have all she needs. I don't have nice holidays and my car is nearly as old as I am.
My kid still understands the value of things though so I don't get what you mean there?

TwoShedsJackson

1ZRed wrote: »

Give them a box. They'll love it

Do what Alexei Sayle's parents did at Christmas: gave him an empty box and told him it was an Action Man Deserter.

DylanII

DylanII wrote: »

I only read up to page 3, but how the hell is everyone getting away with spending so little on their children. My mum always put a limit of 1000 for stuff we asked for and another few quid on stuff we didn't ask for (concert tickets, games etc) and one really large thing for the family.

I know everyone is in a different financial position but I'd have thought you could scrape together a few hundred for your kids at Christmas.

If your just barley surviving and have trouble affording shopping well then that's fair enough, but if you can afford your alcohol or smokes through the year then maybe you should put your kids first.

1000? 1000???? Your parents must be very wealthy. My parents were fairly well off but always went out of their way not to spoil us, so we had a limit of £50 each until we were 14 or 15. After that, they got a bit lax and started buying more expensive presents, but it was only ever one big thing and a couple of extra bits. I got a laptop for Christmas before I started college and that was a MASSIVE deal for me. I'd never been bought anything like that before.

I don't see why young kids need a few hundred euro worth of stuff. You can get loads of little, fun things for under 70 euro to make a massive pile of presents.

0ph0rce0

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Do what Alexei Sayle's parents did at Christmas: gave him an empty box and told him it was an Action Man Deserter.

Or that one with the train set.

An empty train set box, they open it up.

Child Says: there's nothing in it??

Parent Says: There's a train strike. **** off.

summerskin

ash23 wrote: »

Lots of people work hard but still can't afford 3 holidays a year so I think saying holidays are "vital" is daft. You choose to have holidays and to spend your money on that. You also make assumptions about people who spend on Christmas, communions etc. Why do you feel that anyone who spends large at Christmas time is getting in debt to do so?

They might forsake holidays in order to prioritise Christmas?




I have a mortgage and my child doesn't have all she needs. I don't have nice holidays and my car is nearly as old as I am.
My kid still understands the value of things though so I don't get what you mean there?

We all have different priorities. As i pointed out, I work away sometimes, and to us, as a family, holidays are seen as more important than christmas. simple. I said holidays are vital "to us".
*EDIT* holidays have always been this important to us, even before i started working away a couple of days per month.

I never said everyone who spends big at Christmas borrows to do so. I said some do. I suppose it's priorities again. Perhaps with this being a catholic country, Christmas is a bigger deal to some than it is where I grew up. An example being that one of my old friends recently took out a loan to take his kids to Florida for two weeks, but if you asked him to take a loan out for Christmas he'd look at you as if you had two heads. Either way, I think he's crazy taking out a loan for a holiday.

There was an interesting thing on Matt Cooper the other night, where they were talking about the fact that the Irish spend more on Christmas, holiday spending money, weddings etc than almost any other country, as there is, apparently, a belief that "we deserve to treat ourselves". That's all fine and dandy, no problem with that. Just don't get yourself into debt to do so, and then blame the banks for it!

0ph0rce0

summerskin wrote: »

We all have different priorities. As i pointed out, I work away sometimes, and to us, as a family, holidays are seen as more important than christmas. simple. I said holidays are vital "to us".

I never said everyone who spends big at Christmas borrows to do so. I said some do. I suppose it's priorities again. Perhaps with this being a catholic country, Christmas is a bigger deal to some than it is where I grew up. An example being that one of my old friends recently took out a loan to take his kids to Florida for two weeks, but if you asked him to take a loan out for Christmas he'd look at you as if you had two heads. Either way, I think he's crazy taking out a loan for a holiday.

There was an interesting thing on Matt Cooper the other night, where they were talking about the fact that the Irish spend more on Christmas, holiday spending money, weddings etc than almost any other country, as there is, apparently, a belief that "we deserve to treat ourselves". That's all fine and dandy, no problem with that. Just don't get yourself into debt to do so, and then blame the banks for it!

You work abroad so family time is more important than gifts as you would probably give up everything to not work abroad and be with your family.

Am I right

summerskin

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

You work abroad so family time is more important than gifts as you would probably give up everything to not work abroad and be with your family.

Am I right

haha, i only work abroad for a couple of days a month. But yes, it is making me reconsider my position.

ash23

summerskin wrote: »

We all have different priorities. As i pointed out, I work away sometimes, and to us, as a family, holidays are seen as more important than christmas. simple. I said holidays are vital "to us".

I never said everyone who spends big at Christmas borrows to do so. I said some do. I suppose it's priorities again.

You did actually. Well, you did about all of us who happen to be Irish anyway.

summerskin wrote: »

Living in Ireland for the last five years has taught me something.

You're all fûcking insane!!

First it's Christmas, then communions, then confirmations, then weddings... And on all of them you spend ridiculous amounts on stuff that a child is simply not capable of really appreciating.

The child then grows up spoilt, wants to buy the biggest and best house and car, as they have been spoilt all their lives, gets in debt up to their eyeballs trying to copy mammy and daddy's lavish ways and BOOM! The country is ****ed, but you blame it on the bankers.


For fück's sake, me and my family are financially very comfortable but there is no way in hell we would spend over €100 each on our kids. My eldest daughter wants an iPhone, told her no chance as she is too young at 14 to own something that expensive, plus she has a Samsung Mini smartphone that does the job perfectly for her.

Why the hell would you all want to spoil your children so much? Do you think they will love you more or something??? No, they'll just see you as a bottomless wallet as they are not old enough to own half the things you are buying them!

Beatz headphones and iPads? You are all fūcking mental!

summerskin

ash23 wrote: »

You did actually. Well, you did about all of us who happen to be Irish anyway.

bloody hell. i wasn't seriously saying "everyone", come on. It is, however, a big cultural difference between here and the UK, where i grew up. Just the same as people giving €200+ for wedding gifts here, compared to £50 max in the UK is. The "Irish", per sé, just seem to have different priorities, and at times it amazes me.

ash23

summerskin wrote: »

bloody hell. i wasn't seriously saying "everyone", come on. It is, however, a big cultural difference between here and the UK, where i grew up. Just the same as people giving €200+ for wedding gifts here, compared to £50 max in the UK is. The "Irish", per sé, just seem to have different priorities, and at times it amazes me.

I suggest you rethink the use of the words "you all" then.

donegal_road

if your considering spending €150 per child on presents for christmas, your soft in the head. If you really have to, go up north and buy the same plastic from China for half the price, it wont matter anyway because it will be lying in a landfill site in approx 10 years

bullvine

donegal_road wrote: »

if your considering spending €150 per child on presents for christmas, your soft in the head. If you really have to, go up north and buy the same plastic from China for half the price, it wont matter anyway because it will be lying in a landfill site in approx 10 years

So if your son wants a xbox or ps3 and hes absolute mad for it you don't get him one or what if hes mad into mountainbiking and wants a decent bike not some piece of crap thats gonna fall to bits.. These are things that will last for years..

CelticRambler

One Christmas, when our children were all in the 0-6 year age range, they needed serious distraction while MrsCR made preparations, so I took them to our local white appliance store, one of their favourite theme parks (so many doors to open and buttons to push :-) ). When we got home, I made a washing machine out of a cardboard box and a couple of spice-jar lids. They played with that for six months - far long than any of the expensive stuff donated by the relatives (although a lot of that went in the machine to be "washed" !)

pcnoobie

no kids but
400e

200 to be spent on mammayyyy and dadddayyyy + sister(little b*tch)
and 200 on the girlfriend ( she wants an apple ipod its about 180e in argos for 8gb ) shes been hinting it to me for the past 8months now...

il get sweet f all back though but its about giving isn it?

summerskin

summerskin wrote: »

bloody hell. i wasn't seriously saying "everyone", come on. It is, however, a big cultural difference between here and the UK, where i grew up. Just the same as people giving €200+ for wedding gifts here, compared to £50 max in the UK is. The "Irish", per sé, just seem to have different priorities, and at times it amazes me.

It shocked me when I first moved over as well. I think the underlying cause of all this is that many Irish people's (because it's not everyone) worst fear is to be thought of as stingy or worse, poor. I find that English people in general care a lot less about what other people think. It was very odd to me to come from England where people bragged about what a bargain their holiday was or how cheap their new boots were to Celtic Tiger Ireland where people did just the opposite - bragged about spending 300 euro on a bag or 25 quid on an eyeliner. :eek:

oc_pl

krudler wrote: »

why would you buy beats for a child? #1 they're sh1te and #2 they're crazy expensive for a kid.

That's what he asked Santa for. I don't mind spending money on my kids at Christmas, it's a special time of the year for them.

donegal_road

bullvine wrote: »

So if your son wants a xbox or ps3 and hes absolute mad for it you don't get him one or what if hes mad into mountainbiking and wants a decent bike not some piece of crap thats gonna fall to bits.. These are things that will last for years..

yep, wouldn't bother with the xbox or ps3, he could be mad for it all he wants. Id get him a guitar, but thats just me

donegal_road

donegal_road wrote: »

yep, wouldn't bother with the xbox or ps3, he could be mad for it all he wants. Id get him a guitar, but thats just me

I don't think it's a bad thing for children to realise they can't have everything they want. I was mad for all sorts of things when I was a kid and I was told no. From sweets at the supermarket checkout to big Christmas presents. It might seem a bit cruel but I now have a more responsible attitude to money than most of my friends.

pcnoobie

donegal_road wrote: »

yep, wouldn't bother with the xbox or ps3, he could be mad for it all he wants. Id get him a guitar, but thats just me

well itd wanna be some ****ty guitar because you could get a ps3 or xbox for little over 100e if you looked hard enough :L a guitar can cost alot more to that or close to it

bullvine

Mabel Drab Semicircle wrote: »

I don't think it's a bad thing for children to realise they can't have everything they want. I was mad for all sorts of things when I was a kid and I was told no. From sweets at the supermarket checkout to big Christmas presents. It might seem a bit cruel but I now have a more responsible attitude to money than most of my friends.

I don't buy my kids everything they want, far from it but if its something that I know they'll get it a lot of use out of, I have no problem forking out for it.

donegal_road

pcnoobie wrote: »

well itd wanna be some ****ty guitar because you could get a ps3 or xbox for little over 100e if you looked hard enough :L a guitar can cost alot more to that or close to it

there you go, I picked one out for you

my point is at least with a guitar, your giving them the gift of music, and they'll be learning and developing a real skill. Whereas the xbox and ps3 are merely for exercising your thumbs, developing tunnel vision and getting fatter by the day

bullvine

donegal_road wrote: »

there you go, I picked one out for you

my point is at least with a guitar, your giving them the gift of music, and they'll be learning and developing a real skill. Whereas the xbox and ps3 are merely for exercising your thumbs, developing tunnel vision and getting fatter by the day

What if hes no interest in playing a guitar?

gerarda

Interesting thread, our attic has a large box of toys in new condition that the kids have no interest in any more. They have completely forgotten about them and don't ask about them any more. Last year I made a spaceship out of a photocopier cardboard box delivered to the job, cut a few holes in it and used a bit of kitchen foil and the kids loved it!

pcnoobie

donegal_road wrote: »

there you go, I picked one out for you

my point is at least with a guitar, your giving them the gift of music, and they'll be learning and developing a real skill. Whereas the xbox and ps3 are merely for exercising your thumbs, developing tunnel vision and getting fatter by the day

id rather get my kids(if i ever have one) an xbox or ps3 then a guitar my sister plays the guitar and my god i know she loves it and all but playing it 12 hours a day is just mind numbing at least when they play the ps3 or xbox you can get them headphones or turn the television down to play it

playing a guitar is not exercise either so i dunno where you getting that from :L

ash23

donegal_road wrote: »

there you go, I picked one out for you

my point is at least with a guitar, your giving them the gift of music, and they'll be learning and developing a real skill. Whereas the xbox and ps3 are merely for exercising your thumbs, developing tunnel vision and getting fatter by the day

If your child is musical.....what if they aren't.

Personally I hate to see kids being forced into the interests their parents want as opposed to what the child itself actually likes.

What is so wrong with buying a child something they really want, once a year?

I think it's a bit harsh to be adamant that you won't buy a child something just because YOU don't want it.

PS - a lot of kids who were interested in gaming grew up to make lucrative careers out of it in software/IT etc.

bullvine

gerarda wrote: »

Interesting thread, our attic has a large box of toys in new condition that the kids have no interest in any more. They have completely forgotten about them and don't ask about them any more. Last year I made a spaceship out of a photocopier cardboard box delivered to the job, cut a few holes in it and used a bit of kitchen foil and the kids loved it!

That's the problem with toys, they get very little use out of them unless its lego. Most of my 3 year old sons toys were bought in charity shops by his granny and they are absolutely great. Hes got all the Bob the builders vehicles bought for about 50 cent each.

donegal_road

bullvine wrote: »

What if hes no interest in playing a guitar?

is he musical? You could borrow one for a few days and have it lying around the house, see if he is at least curious.
If he has no interest in the guitar and you are intent on getting him something else for Christmas, someone else on here might have spotted my post and go with the idea.

bullvine

ash23 wrote: »

If your child is musical.....what if they aren't.

Personally I hate to see kids being forced into the interests their parents want as opposed to what the child itself actually likes.

What is so wrong with buying a child something they really want, once a year?

I think it's a bit harsh to be adamant that you won't buy a child something just because YOU don't want it.

PS - a lot of kids who were interested in gaming grew up to make lucrative careers out of it in software/IT etc.

Well said! its easy to ****can gamers, i grew up with a commodore 64, I have been working in computing for nearly 20 years, I have no interest in gaming now though, I prefer to be active.

But I'm astonished how good my 3 year old is when he uses my Android Phone, if hes into it, I will encourage him. If he wants to play a guitar I'm all for it but no point in forcing him into it.

bullvine

donegal_road wrote: »

is he musical? You could borrow one for a few days and have it lying around the house, see if he is at least curious.
If he has no interest in the guitar and you are intent on getting him something else for Christmas, someone else on here might have spotted my post and go with the idea.

I think hes gonna be a ufc fighter unfortunately but the idea of a guitar is a good one!

pcnoobie

donegal_road wrote: »

is he musical? You could borrow one for a few days and have it lying around the house, see if he is at least curious.
If he has no interest in the guitar and you are intent on getting him something else for Christmas, someone else on here might have spotted my post and go with the idea.

so if you had the money to buy your child a ps3 or xbox , your saying is you wouldnt get him one if he wanted one? what world are you living in:pac: every kid has one the odds are most people including adults would get themselfs a ps3 or xbox and use it as a hobbie
im not saying let a child sit in all day 7 days a week playing it, most parents put timers on it or give them an hour or two after school to play it after homework is done.
if you child really wanted one and you didnt end up paying for it (if you had the money) well you'd be some ass of a parent to be honest
if you didnt have the money thats understandable but basicly your child would be hearing about games on consoles in school cause thats all children talk about nowadays anyway
youd get alot of years out of a console as well so its more of an investment to get him to shut up then anything else because the next christmas you could get him 1 or 2 games which could cost you less then 30quid so youd be saving money along the way

TwoShedsJackson

gerarda wrote: »

Interesting thread, our attic has a large box of toys in new condition that the kids have no interest in any more. They have completely forgotten about them and don't ask about them any more.

That's Christmas sorted in your place then, repackage the stuff they've forgotten about and give it to them again.

mel1

This year the big red sack cost €300 for 7 year old and €250 for 11 year old. Not much choice there im afraid!!
And still was given a list of stuff the 2 young ladies want from ma, da, nanny, aunties ect.

Including perfumes, lava lights, nintendo/wii games ect. all expensive stuff! They never get stuff during the year, they never ask either! I am lucky enough to be in a position of being able to afford xmas, and do i really feel sorry for those who really struggle with it. In saying that i have bein gettin the stuff since August. Pays to do the research real early!

anncoates

gerarda wrote: »

Interesting thread, our attic has a large box of toys in new condition that the kids have no interest in any more. They have completely forgotten about them and don't ask about them any more.

Bring them down to the local Barnardos, SVP or Women's Refuge before Christmas.

The toys, not your kids, I mean.

donegal_road

pcnoobie wrote: »

so if you had the money to buy your child a ps3 or xbox , your saying is you wouldnt get him one if he wanted one? what world are you living in:pac: every kid has one the odds are most people including adults would get themselfs a ps3 or xbox and use it as a hobbie
im not saying let a child sit in all day 7 days a week playing it, most parents put timers on it or give them an hour or two after school to play it after homework is done.
if you child really wanted one and you didnt end up paying for it (if you had the money) well you'd be some ass of a parent to be honest
if you didnt have the money thats understandable but basicly your child would be hearing about games on consoles in school cause thats all children talk about nowadays anyway
youd get alot of years out of a console as well so its more of an investment to get him to shut up then anything else because the next christmas you could get him 1 or 2 games which could cost you less then 30quid so youd be saving money along the way

is this what you really want?
My idea would be that a guitar would be an investment to see if he could sing a few tunes.
We had visitors a few months ago who had their 3 kids with them. The three kids sat staring into Gameboys, or whatever their called, for the entire time they were here. Not a word between them, kind of sad is it not?

Ush1

If facekicker was here he'd give them each a kick in the face.

ash23

donegal_road wrote: »

is this what you really want?
My idea would be that a guitar would be an investment to see if he could sing a few tunes.
We had visitors a few months ago who had their 3 kids with them. The three kids sat staring into Gameboys, or whatever their called, for the entire time they were here. Not a word between them, kind of sad is it not?

That's the parents fault, not the console.

Anyway, how many instruments can you buy like? My kid plays two and that's enough. I don't want to buy her musical instruments year in and year out. She has other interests too and yes, gaming is one of them.

mel1

Ush1 wrote: »

If facekicker was here he'd give them each a kick in the face.

Dont ya miss Facekicker!

kincsem

To the OP
I'm available for adoption.

Queen-Mise

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

My husbands family all gathered together on Christmas days and his niece and nephew got so many presents each Christmas that it used to take 2 car trips to get the presents back to their house. Then on Stephen's day they'd go to the other grandparents and get the same amount again. Madness

This used to happen a long time ago with my hubby's side of the family. I have stopped it gradually over the years. I'll look after my kids - you look after your own.
I always thought I the Xbox/PS3 year would wait till my son was getting his confirmation - he could put in half and I would put in the other half (he got his trampoline with first communion money). He is just too into gaming videos at the moment to wait. I think he would sell a kidney at the moment to start playing Minecraft at the moment. I'm not concerned with him and time playing it as he loves football, his BMX, guns - so I'd imagine the console will get most of its use during the winter. During the summer he was outside playing for 12 or more hours a day.

donegal_road wrote: »

is he musical? You could borrow one for a few days and have it lying around the house, see if he is at least curious.
If he has no interest in the guitar and you are intent on getting him something else for Christmas, someone else on here might have spotted my post and go with the idea.

If the guitar is something you are not sure of - you can pick up a guitar & stand in Argos very cheap. It won't be a great one - but ideal for a starter to see if your child is interested. The same is true with a keyboard. And once a child goes into 2nd/3rd class - they will probably be guitar lessons in their school.


Its interesting reading about people priorities on here & their kids. We had our first break this year for about 4/5 years & that was camping. We spend most of our time in the house - so having stuff for the house is important. Other than walks in the woods, the occasional take-away, cinema a couple of times a year - xmas is it. I like giving them - what I think is most suited to them/or they will use the most. It is more important to me - that a toy is good quality & will get LOTS of use - than get tied down to X amount to spend on Xmas.

Witchie

I remember when I was younger my mum used to buy Santa stuff for my little bro (who is 10 yrs younger than me) in the sales in the summer and then spend the next few months telling him how every child in the country wanted this stuff from Santa and that he would be such a lucky boy if he got it. By the time Christmas came around he was convinced this is what he always wanted and Santa was just amazing for bringing it all. He got great stuff like a Star Wars Millennium Falcon with all the bits and bobs, a ghostbusters firestation, car and all the characters and when he got into gaming a Sega Megadrive with CD attachment that my brother found cheap in buy and sell.

Its all in the planning!

0ph0rce0

Witchie wrote: »

I remember when I was younger my mum used to buy Santa stuff for my little bro (who is 10 yrs younger than me) in the sales in the summer and then spend the next few months telling him how every child in the country wanted this stuff from Santa and that he would be such a lucky boy if he got it. By the time Christmas came around he was convinced this is what he always wanted and Santa was just amazing for bringing it all. He got great stuff like a Star Wars Millennium Falcon with all the bits and bobs, a ghostbusters firestation, car and all the characters and when he got into gaming a Sega Megadrive with CD attachment that my brother found cheap in buy and sell.

Its all in the planning!

Ghostbusters Car, Ahhh those were the days.

Madam_X

Mabel Drab Semicircle wrote: »

It shocked me when I first moved over as well. I think the underlying cause of all this is that many Irish people's (because it's not everyone) worst fear is to be thought of as stingy or worse, poor. I find that English people in general care a lot less about what other people think. It was very odd to me to come from England where people bragged about what a bargain their holiday was or how cheap their new boots were to Celtic Tiger Ireland where people did just the opposite - bragged about spending 300 euro on a bag or 25 quid on an eyeliner. :eek:

Yeh my friend was broke last year - pay-cut and three-day week; two of our friends were getting married around the same time and she insisted on giving them over €100 each even though it left her pauperised; simply because she didn't want to appear stingy, even though they're friends, who would understand and wouldn't want her to be making herself broke.
Madness! I reckon that spoilt kid who said his mum spent a over a grand on Christmas presents for him and his siblings (or was it each?!) and therefore how the hell do people here get away with spending so little (as if a young child knows the cost) when people on this thread are genuinely struggling... was just trying to dickishly provoke. And boast.

HeyThereDeliah

Everyone wants to make their kids happy but I feel parents have gone OTT in recent years with Christmas presents, half the time it's what the parents want or because some other kids has it.

Young kids are easy buy for but as they get older they want loads of things, have a two present limit and that way they are sure to get what they want.