How Much $$$ on Christmas?

You're not. We are at a good amount more than that for 3...not a normal year for us though. Normally we do about that for 3.

You'll get a lot of people that spend a lot less. And you'll get people who spend more. Remember this site has people from all walks of life...

I spent $50 total on my 3 kids. They are all under 4 and get way too many gifts from my family, husband family, friends. They don't know! I'm waiting to spend the money when they get older and realize! We have way too many toys as is. My daughter really wanted this one thing from Santa that costs $20 and then I bought some other things inexpensive things so they have a few things to open from Santa. I did spend about $400 on gifts for family, friends, teachers. I guess the money I spend on other people pretty much get back on the toys they get for my kids.

That's about $300 per kid...

I spend about that...

....then you have to add in stocking stuffers...

It does get spendy!

I spend about $200 per child (ages 6 and 7), but less on the baby because he has no idea what is going on. But, I rarely buy anything except for clothes during the remainder of the year, so Christmas is really our time to stock up for the kids.

We spend FAR less than we can "afford" to, but I am a firm believer in living on less than you make. It is one thing if you can actually afford to spend that much, but if you are putting the gifts on credit cards, time to rethink your plan!

Hubby and I haven't bought for each other in years, but I think we will this year, and will probably spend about $150 on each other.

Merry Christmas!

WOW!!!!!!!! You are way more giving than me. I spend way less than that, on my ENTIRE family. I hope you paid cash for that. Anyway, we shop the sales, and our kids know, that they get lots of stuff throughout the year, so just because it is Christmas, that doesn't mean that they will be bombarded with gifts. We usually spend $100 on them. Out of that, they get clothes too, which they would rather not. For my husband, we usually just do little things, since we get what we want/need throughout the year.

This year, spouse and I have a $40 limit for each other. Kiddo's likely got that from us, too. I'm making shop aprons for 3 of my nephews (already have the fabric) and usually, with the nieces and nephews, there's a $20 limit per child. Adults usually do in-family Secret Santas ($25 limit).

It might sound stingy but we figure that A. the kids all have TONS of stuff and B. we don't want to go into debt over a holiday. I'm sure as Kiddo gets older we'll likely spend more, but we have a strong belief that Christmas is ONE day on the calendar and while it's special, it's not something one goes into debt for. If kids want the bigger items, they can help to save up for those.

(I grew up in a family where Santa brought socks and pencils and we had peanuts and oranges in our stockings-- a mini Whitman's sampler if we were lucky... how things have changed!)

This year, less than $600. Hubby's side: niece, nephew, MIL. My side: mom and dad, 2 nieces, 2 nephews. We have one daughter. A toy for the dog and cat. Our daughter buys a gift for mom and dad (which is also our "wife/husband" gift to each other). All gifts are very nice, were asked for, and are eagerly being waited for.

My husband and I feel it's very important to not overly commercialize such a very special time of the year. And seriously, if the kid gets a lot of presents, most of them never get played with. If she only gets a few, they are ones we know she really wants and they WILL get played with/used. I like to make sure that the money spent was money well spent and that the people I buy for will like their gifts.

When the kids were your kids ages and even now I must confess, the budget for Christmas is $75 a kid. When you have 6-7 kids to buy for and all those toys and noise will be at your house you choose wisely and affordably. Also helps doing an all cash Christmas. I save up money for shopping throughout the year if not I start saving from August 1st and stop shopping for presents by December 18th.

I wish you had posted this before you spent that truckload of money.

At least I'm not the only one who goes overboard!!! $700.00 for my grandsons computer and desk....and I'm guessing $1500 for the rest of my immediate and extended family!!! But it was so much fun shopping for everyone...and I'm just about done!

I just took stuff off layaway today. I spent $315 on my two girls just at Walmart and an additional150? on stocking stuffers Oh and I bought a wii in august $145. So I probably spent over $550 on 2 kids. We never spend money like this, but Ithis year was different! I do think ( i am calling myself out on this one) that we don't need to spend lots of money on kids and family, but we always want to give good gifts and make people happy:)

When my kids were younger we would spend about $200 per kid that is now about $500.

However I also reminded them that they got things throughout the year so that Christmas was not a big gift thing. They got some of the things that they listed but not everything and they never knew what they were getting that was on the list so it was a surprise Christmas morning.

Be practical and frugal. Most of the items that are given are not usually played with and many sit idle in corners taking up space. Teach your children how to share and maybe get a gift for the Angel Tree or even an elder in the nursing home.

Above all else don't go into debt over this one day. Yes the amount changes as the child gets older but do keep it reasonable. Some of that money could be put in a education fund and used later.

Another way to look at things.

The other S.

Guilty here! I always think that I won't spend that much, but I enter Toys R Us and something comes over me! This year, I can't spend as much because we recently moved and the Christmas budget is not as much. Last year I spent almost 600.00 on both!

I don't keep a running tally but I would guess this year we'll spend about $500 on the kiddos (that might be a bit high but each kid usually gets a big gift - around $100 - and then some little things) and around $250 on the hubby - we have a $200 limit for each of us but then I take hte kids to pick out something for Daddy.

Went all out for the parents/inlaws and spent over $200 on each of them - but they pitched in $250 for our plane tickets so I figure we are really even. Rest of the extended family maybe $300 total - wow - it's depressing to put those numbers on paper - they are all spoiled! :-)

We spend on average $1200 per year. That is four our family of four, his parents, two of his sisters (who are too young to participate in the adult gift exchange), 2 adult gifts, 2 niece gifts, my parents, my sister, 1 niece and 1 nephew on my side and 1 babysitter.

We actually only spent a total of just over $200 on the kids this year...they are almost 4.5 and almost 2.5. We spend Christmas Eve with him family opening gifts, Christmas morning at home opening gifts and then Christmas afternoon at my parents house. It ends up being beteween 4-7 gifts for each of them plus a few gifts from Santa and stockings.

Ours is paid for in cash always. I either save ahead or plan accordingly and just budget the money in.

I spend about $300-500 per kid. My ex and I are giving our older daughter a couch for christmas. We are each chipping in $500. I'm sure I'll buy her a little something to unwrap too. So if I do the math right, I'm spending more than you on just two kids. Don't feel bad.

We have one little guy and he's only 3.5. We've kept the last three Christmases "small" (under $200) because we don't want to set a precedent and figured we might as well enjoy it while we can!

You're not the only one.

I'm spending about $100 per child (two of them). I'm just not one of those people who goes crazy at Christmas. We have the money to spend more, but I prefer to spread gifts out during the year so that there isn't tons of focus on one day.

And really... it isn't about how much the rest of us spend. If you have the money and you're comfortable spending it, then go for it! Whatever makes YOU happy is important, not how you compare to people on the Internet, who might have ten times more money than you do or ten times less.

hi,
We try to stick with a budget of 100 dollars per kids.(8,6, 3 and 1)and 100 dollars each for hubby and I too.We often are a tiny bit over with the older ones but it compensate with the younger one that are often aroud 70 75 (between 2 to 4 years old) and babies around 50 dollars total.This year we are also going to do family pictures for each set of grandparents(one grandma one one side and grandma grandpa on the other side).So ,betwen the kids my hubby and i and the grandparents we will probably be around the 1000 dollars may be even 1200 as we have talk about getting a jumperoo for the baby as the other ones might get an indoor trampoline.
I hope this help.
N.

guilty and way more than you. let me do the math on my head for the expense per kid, about 600 per kid (not completely done). so 1200 for twins so far. hubs about 600 too.

No more than $100 a kid. When they get older like (10), I will up it.

Everyone else? roughly 50-75 per person.

I spend about 1500 my kids usually get 500 each if not more (also depens on what they are asking for) and then the rest of the family is about 500 bucks.

This year I'm spending about $350 per kid (2) between stockings & big gifts. I'll be spending about $250 on hubs, then between $30-50 each on my mom, dad, & 2 nephews. My sister & I are not getting each other gifts this year because we're going on a girls-only cruise in January. I think hubs is spending between $200-300 on me so all-in-all about $14-1500 when you take into account wrapping paper, candy for stockings, etc. It's a lot, but it's more than we usually spend because we're able to this year. Also, I am decidedly NOT the mom that gets my kids stuff throughout the year aside from clothes & sporting equipment.

I used to spend a bit more than I do now but since I get to buy the kids' gifts for my 83-year old mother-in-law, and her budget is $50 per child, I spend less. I try not to spend more than about $50 per child (three kids, ages 11, 8 and 5), not including shipping, taxes or stocking stuffers. Truth be told, the children do not play with whatever I've spent hours purusing catalogs and websites for three weeks after Christmas so why bother? They have so many toys already that they can't possibly play with them.

I do buy them an ornament a year plus a "family gift" (game, special outing, etc) and that is not included in the above prive tag either. One of these years I'm going to take them to see The Nutcracker and that will probably cut into their gift budget.

K.

We were in sore need of new and age appropriate toys for our kids. They've outgrown their toys. Admittedly, we've not spent much on toys and either accepted gifts or bought from Mom 2 Mom sales. It's been a while since I've done a Mom 2 Mom sale, so I carefully looked at toys and spent $500 on my kids (I have 2 four year olds). There's actually more I'd like to buy too, but won't right now. DH and I aren't spending anything on ourselves. We've spent so little - like $150 on both kids in the past since they were really too little to care about Christmas anyway.

We were more generous with parents this year since they've been great to us and usually we bought smaller gifts for them after having kids. I spend $25-$30 on our three little neices for birthday or Xmas. Hope that helps!

haha.. I "just" posted almost the same question.. I spend about $500 on my 5 year old son, $500 on my husband, and $600-800 on the rest of the family (about 6-8 people)......
This year, my husband and I aren't "buying" each other gifts, we are surprising our son with a trip to Orlando for 4 days.. (we think that will be about ###-###-####)...
So no, your not alone.. I don't feel "bad" about the money I spend... We all spend "quality" time together also, so it's not just about the presents :0)

about $250 per kid and around $100 for my hubby. We do gift exchange with adults from both sides, so that is another $100 and a few little foodie items for hostes/family parties at about $100. . . .