Maybe it depends on if you buy presents throughout the year and not just at xmas and birthdays. I love xmas and have always gone OTT, but I also do not buy 'big'things outside of xmas and birthdays. I have 5 children - though the youngest is now 15, but they still all get lots of pressies. I draw up a spreadsheet and when I buy something I put the price against the name so that I have a running total of monies spent and how many pressies each, so that they all have roughly the same as each other and roughly the same amount spent.
I also try and get lots of cheaper things for wrapping. I would say, on average, it works out about 500 pounds each, but the price has increased over the years. As 2 of them want IPADS this year, I think my spending will almost double....ouch!
I feel sorry for ourselves! We tend to buy what would be appropriate in our home country, regardless of the cost.
Our DD's are coming to an age where they can compare the volume, if not value of gifts and we're struggling with the potential "why did Santa bring Mary Jane an Ipad and not me - it was on my list too!"
Shudder - the flip side of Christmas!
We got round that thorny one (as we didn't believe in showering our kids with stuff) by saying that parents had to let Santa know how much we could afford to spend and that we still had to pay for the presents!! Oh the fibs we used to tell LOL!!
I feel sorry for ourselves! We tend to buy what would be appropriate in our home country, regardless of the cost.
Our DD's are coming to an age where they can compare the volume, if not value of gifts and we're struggling with the potential "why did Santa bring Mary Jane an Ipad and not me - it was on my list too!"
Shudder - the flip side of Christmas!
Ok,at this age it has to be more expensive I suppose! They want all the newest gadgets and stuff....I am looking at all the stuff my lo would like and would play with and it is just soooo expensive even for a few things! Like Playmobil is 2 times as much as it would be back home so I do feel sorry for him....
LO is only 4 and I was wondering how much do you spend on average? LO obviously wants anything and everything he sees at the mo so we are trying to come up with a budget? What do you think is too much???