Help me settle a debate with my wife about Christmas presents...

[paperfist]

I don't have any kids, but a bunch of nieces and nephews and I couldn't imagine spending more then $50-75 on them when they were/are under 10. Some of them have their toys destroyed the next day FFS.

 

[alkemyst]

It depends one's means. Going into debt over Christmas is stupid. Growing up my parents spend up to $4000 some Christmases.

Currently I don't have kids, but for our nephews and nieces in Japan and my immediate family it can go over $1000 pretty easy not counting the gifts between my wife and I.

 

[mrblotto]

She read on one of the forums she frequents that one woman spends $400 on each of her three children.

WTF forums is she frequenting, howtokeepupwiththejonesesbecauseimanattentionwhore.com?

Unfortunately, folks nowadays seem to be all about the quantity, not the quality and/or thought of the gift. Hell, I'd be happy with some new guitar picks FFS.............

 

[SearchMaster]

At that age we were probably under $100 per kid. Now that they're older we'll be at ~$500-600 per kid. You guys are cheap 🙂.

 

[kranky]

From my own perspective, I'd find it a lot easier to spend more if the kids in the extended family didn't already get everything they want. If Christmas gifts were really something special for them, I would want to help more, but that's not the case. There's nothing they want that they don't already have. So what's the point of buying something they don't care about? I just don't think that makes any sense.

 

[mvbighead]

I think the "one big item with a couple little items" method seems to work pretty well. I suppose setting a firm per child budget according to your income isn't a bad idea though. With us it always ends up pretty close to $400 anyway.

This I think.

My parents always seemed to have one big item that was shared like a super nintendo or something, and then a bunch of clothes and other miscellaneous stuff. Video games were common, and some of those can be upwards of $50. I figure at some points, my parents may've spent a couple hundred on each kid, and others were around one hundred. Always depends.

400/kid seems steep to me. To me, you buy your kids an XBOX/PS3 and a second controller and 2 games they're interested in, then throw in some clothes and other simple gifts, and you're looking at 500 or so. Probably breaks down to 250 or so per kid depending on how many you have. Seems fair enough to me.

 

[LookBehindYou]

Some of you all are some cheap bastards. My wife and I spend about 2-300 on each other and about 6-700 on our son who is 7. We don't make a whole lot (70K combined income) but I like to really enjoy the holidays and want my son to really enjoy the holidays. Because of this, I save throughout the year specifically for christmas shopping.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'll spend up to $200 for each family member... maybe a bit more for the wifey.

$400 is nucking futs. Thank her for trying to stimulate the economy single-handedly, though!

 

[HydroSqueegee]

Growing up i was definetly spoiled at christmas. I still have a wonderful memory of the christmas i got Final Fantasy 3 in my stocking. But i think that was just good planning on my parents part so i didnt get them up at the butt crack of dawn. they ended up having to pry me from my SNES after 12pm so i could open presents. 😀

Christmas for my kids has been overwhelming and ive been trying to get my wife to see the light and scale back for the past few years. Shes finally come around this year and states it will be even more slim next year. We spent probably $150 on the 4 and 6 year old, but i dont feel too bad about it since we dont buy them anything durring the year except for birthdays. We finally concluded that buying a bunch of stuff for eachother is a waste too. she doesnt want more stuff cluttering up the house, and im perfectly happy with a game off steam or some model train stuff (which is a huge list she can pull from). Shes been picking out cheep little jewlery stuff for me to wrap for her this year. 😀
The kids still have their grandparents and cousins that will get them plenty. Ive actually had fights with my parents because they get them way too much. Every year there is a few gifts they get that i dont even open because they have way too much already. They said theyd scale back this year, but we'll see.

We determined next year the kids get 3 presents from us + 1 from santa and stocking stuff. thats more than enough.

when they get older, game consoles and computers will be shared gifts.

 

[slag]

I don't have any kids, but a bunch of nieces and nephews and I couldn't imagine spending more then $50-75 on them when they were/are under 10. Some of them have their toys destroyed the next day FFS.

We spent $100.00 on the Black Pearl lego set for my 8 yr old. He loves legos and really wanted that one. Of course, we can't just get him one present, so we got him some house pants, a few other smallish toys, and stocking stuffers.

My 4 yr old got a toy guitar and some legos and a $10.00 RC car.

My 10 yr old (11 in January), is getting a cheap cell phone on our family plan (no smartphone), some clothes, and a skateboard.


Everything adds up though.

 

[LookBehindYou]

We spent $100.00 on the Black Pearl lego set for my 8 yr old. He loves legos and really wanted that one. Of course, we can't just get him one present, so we got him some house pants, a few other smallish toys, and stocking stuffers.

My 4 yr old got a toy guitar and some legos and a $10.00 RC car.

My 10 yr old (11 in January), is getting a cheap cell phone on our family plan (no smartphone), some clothes, and a skateboard.


Everything adds up though.

Heh, at first glance I thought I read house plants. I was like, what a lame gift for an 8 year old...

 

[nageov3t]

Some of you all are some cheap bastards. My wife and I spend about 2-300 on each other and about 6-700 on our son who is 7. We don't make a whole lot (70K combined income) but I like to really enjoy the holidays and want my son to really enjoy the holidays. Because of this, I save throughout the year specifically for christmas shopping.

would the holidays totally suck without dropping $700 on your kid?

I can't recall a single Christmas present my parents ever gave me, but our holidays were all pretty good.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Some of you all are some cheap bastards. My wife and I spend about 2-300 on each other and about 6-700 on our son who is 7. We don't make a whole lot (70K combined income) but I like to really enjoy the holidays and want my son to really enjoy the holidays. Because of this, I save throughout the year specifically for christmas shopping.

What would a 7 year old need that is 6-700$?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Outside of clothes and possibly furniture, WTF is a 4 and 1 year old going to do with $400 or even $500 worth of presents? Have you lost your mind?

My son who is 4 got a new TV for his room and is getting a guinnea pig which will be shared with the 1 year old. The one year old got some clothes, dolls and a dollhouse, unless you have kids you have no clue how expensive that shit is. Kids toys are expensive!

 

[LookBehindYou]

would the holidays totally suck without dropping $700 on your kid?

I can't recall a single Christmas present my parents ever gave me, but our holidays were all pretty good.

Would it suck? No. However, presents are what christmas is all about, we have the means, and he is a great kid. So why not? He is very appreciative of everything he has, he takes care of everything he has, and he shares with anyone that plays with him. Besides, we frequently donate his toys to goodwill or my parent's church when he stops playing with stuff.

 

[LookBehindYou]

What would a 7 year old need that is 6-700$?

3DS, some games for it, some board games, transformers, puzzles, basketball goal, toys in general...

 

[ViviTheMage]

3DS, some games for it, some board games, transformers, puzzles, basketball goal, toys in general...

That adds up quick!

 

[LookBehindYou]

That adds up quick!

Yes it does, you figure just for the 3ds, 3 games and a case is half the budget. Like I said, he's a good kid who appreciates everything he has, so I don't mind spending the money on him.

 

[MotionMan]

Some of you all are some cheap bastards. My wife and I spend about 2-300 on each other and about 6-700 on our son who is 7. We don't make a whole lot (70K combined income) but I like to really enjoy the holidays and want my son to really enjoy the holidays. Because of this, I save throughout the year specifically for christmas shopping.

What would a 7 year old need that is 6-700$?

3DS, some games for it, some board games, transformers, puzzles, basketball goal, toys in general...

Every year?

MotionMan

 

[LookBehindYou]

Every year?

MotionMan

No, this year. Last year I don't think we spent as much because there wasnt anything expensive he was wanting. He already had a DS. I don't count the xbox w/ kinect because that was kind of for the whole family.

 

[PingSpike]

I was going to say that it sounds rather excessive. But then I did an inflation calculator and found out that I got probably around $350 as a kid. That has the caveat that was total (parents, grandparents) and for big budget stuff like video game console I shared the gift with my brother. What makes $400 sound more excessive is that a lot of the gifts that I got as a kid cost less today. At the time, an SNES was $200 and some SNES games even got as high as $60-$70. So for us, we could get a game console and two games each and that was pretty much all of our gifts from the immediate family. Right now consoles and games still try to hit similar price points.

I agree with this. My first though was "that is way to much"...but then I started thinking about inflation and that $75 lego pirate ship I received in maybe 1990 and I started to think maybe I was one of those kids!

 

[MotionMan]

No, this year. Last year I don't think we spent as much because there wasnt anything expensive he was wanting. He already had a DS. I don't count the xbox w/ kinect because that was kind of for the whole family.

You call everyone "cheap bastards", imply that you "spend" "about 6-700" on your son every year, but, really you are comparing their budgets to one of your blow-out years?

:thumbsdown:

How much did you spend last year or in a "normal" year?

MotionMan

 

[Baked]

You'll get one gift that's under $25 and educational related from me. Want something you wanted, you'll have to earn it yourself.

 

[lokiju]

Ugg, so true sometimes 🙁

Maybe I didn't understand the way the question was asked but are you saying that range per person or total for all gifts?

 

[LookBehindYou]

You call everyone "cheap bastards", imply that you "spend" "about 6-700" on your son every year, but, really you are comparing their budgets to one of your blow-out years?

:thumbsdown:

How much did you spend last year or in a "normal" year?

MotionMan

I still probably spent around $450 or so last year. When I called them cheap bastards I was referring to the ones that said $50, $25, etc. And I'm also talking about the ones who could easily afford it. If you can't then it obviously doesn't apply.