$1200 on a 6 year old? Where the hell do you go from there? $5000 when they're 16?

Our budget for the 14 year old is probably around $300. Last year we got him some Xbox game that had just come out (Call of Duty or something like that) around $60, a Patriots jersey ($50), a snowboard, some ski clothes, iTunes gift cards, a couple shirts, a Walmart gift card and a stocking full of candy.

3 year old gets a budget of maybe $75. I learned that too many toys at that age overwhelms them and they don't play with anything. 3-4 good gifts is way better.

Santa brings ONE gift for our 5 yr.old, and a present from my DH and me. Has nothing to do with affordability, and everything to do with entitlement.

OP, are these a few nice, thoughtful things or are there so many gifts that you have to take a break in opening to keep the sanity?

I spent last Christmas with my DH's sister and family and it was an obscene amount of gifts and really not enjoyable. For context, we did not go inexpensive with our kids, the 7 year old got a kindle fire as her big gift and the 3 year old got some larger bitty baby (American Girl stuff for the little ones) accessories that she really wanted. Santa got them kinect for our Xbox and a lot of cool little things.

This appeared as a frugal, not much in the way of gifts compared to the PILES of gifts being opened by their 4 and almost 2 year old cousins. It was unpleasant and obscene and I will not do a Christmas like that again. None of the kids really appreciated any of the gifts they were tearing through to open and no adults opened gifts until the afternoon, and it is not the amount of gifts it is that gift giving was an all day event that required breaks and it was not fun.

We do one big gift for each child, something on the larger side from Santa and some smaller silly/fun things.

Anonymous wrote:To those who said $100-$200 per child (especially for younger kids) can I ask what you buy them? I'm trying to do a list on a budget and come up with about $500 total for my one child. Just need some better ideas I think so maybe some of you can help. (We have one 3 yo)

When my kid was 3, his big gift was GeoTrax for about $60. A couple of books, some smaller toys (Imaginext set) , and some stocking stuffers like Automoblox cars. Around $150.

My mom got him Magnatiles for $100.

Probably about $100 each this year, but in the past we've spent more for a high-quality big ticket item (play kitchen). I can imagine our budget growing as the kids get older, but for now, that's plenty.

This year my 3yo will receive a pillow pet, some board games, and possibly a small playmobile set from us. I'm struggling to come up with anything for the 1.5yo. Round that out with stockings and maybe some clothes. We have very generous grandparents and lots of aunts and uncles, so there's always an overload of gifts.

OP, we have an income well north of 500K (and I agree with the PP, you must too.) We don't spend nearly that much on little kids (like yours) since the things they want are pretty basic and I don't want tons of plastic crap in my house cluttering it up. When our kids are older I would have no problem spending $1200 total on a kid if it was for a few big ticket items that they really wanted (i.e. skis for a kid into skiing, a nice bike, a first designer handbag for a teenage girl, etc.) I don't think it is about a dollar amount since everyone has different means. However, Christmas shouldn't be about quantity. Gift-giving should always be about thoughtfully considering what would be truly meaningful to the recipient and then choosing something that will give them pleasure that is appropriate to your means.

To those who said $100-$200 per child (especially for younger kids) can I ask what you buy them? I'm trying to do a list on a budget and come up with about $500 total for my one child. Just need some better ideas I think so maybe some of you can help. (We have one 3 yo)

OP do you mind sharing what the kids will get?

Anonymous wrote:As little as possible.

This!!!

Spending as much money as the OP does on gifts is ridiculous. Where do you shop? what do you buy?

My daughter wanted to get the little one (3yo) a new bike with training wheels. Looking at TRU, they were around $60 for what we wanted. We found one on a facebook selling group for $15!! like new, nothing wrong with it. Just outgrown. That will be his big gift, along with some smaller stuff. Tops maybe spending $100-125. The 13 yo is a little trickier, will spend a bit more on her because the stuff you buy for teens is pricey!! but still, will keep it around $250-300. One really pricey gift (we are looking at a Kindle Fire), and then smaller stuff.

I have spent about the same on each.

My DH and I do not exchange gifts. We figure we buy things throughout the year as we need something, and just want it to be about the kids.

My daughter works so hard, I have bought her a few things I know she wants/needs but cant afford once the bills are paid and necessities are bought. She deserves it!

I dont buy for the rest of the family anymore. We all used to buy gifts for everyone but it got to be too expensive for us all. So we went to picking names on my DH's side. Sadly my SIL passed away earlier this year and nothing has been mentioned about christmas, so I dont think they are doing it this year. They will all remember the kids. My side of the family consists of my parents, who always say not to get them anything. My presence down there throughout the year and around the holidays is their gift.

Christmas has just become so darn commercialized!! What happened to home made gifts and just little things?

$150 for a six year old.

Will probably spend between $150 and 200 for 2.5 year old. Would spend less for this age but now with a second girl on the way we know we will get more use out of bigger ticket items. Last year spent about half of that on a play kitchen.

I budget $1,200 for my two sons, my sister, my parents, and my husband, along with a special Chanukah meal. This year the boys are getting a trampoline ($400) plus 7 small gifts (around $5 each) for the other 7 nights. And that's even a little more than I'm comfortable with!

Probably $200 on 4.5 year old, $100 or so on 1 year old.

As little as possible.

No way I would spend that much on one child for Christmas. I'm willing to spend that kind of money on my children for other things, but not for gifts. I don't like the message it sends.

So to answer the question, it depends. One year we got the older kids ipads, so of course that was expensive. But most of the time we shoot for about $200 per child.