The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: aussiesaver on December 23, 2014, 03:07:49 AM
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On a parenting forum I was on, one person admitted to spending $2000+ on gifts for her 5 year old this Christmas. Many others admitted to spending over $1000 on their young kids and were telling each other not to feel guilty because 'their kids are worth it' and 'if you can't spend at Christmas when can you' or 'it'll be worth it to see their faces on Christmas day'. I didn't get the impression that any of them had tons of disposable income either so I imagine most of this was on credit. Is this a crazy amount? ?? I spent about $130 on my almost 3 year old and I thought that was way too much. What can a kid that young even want that costs $2000!!
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A cubby house
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Wow, that's just bizar. I'm in the category that even thinks $130 is much.
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That's an obscene amount of $$! I usually spend $200-$300 on my 5 year old and I even think that is too much most of the time. Last year, I looked under the tree and took a few things out because I thought there was too much! So, this year we've got some "rollover" presents :)
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On a parenting forum I was on, one person admitted to spending $2000+ on gifts for her 5 year old this Christmas. Many others admitted to spending over $1000 on their young kids and were telling each other not to feel guilty because 'their kids are worth it' and 'if you can't spend at Christmas when can you' or 'it'll be worth it to see their faces on Christmas day'. I didn't get the impression that any of them had tons of disposable income either so I imagine most of this was on credit. Is this a crazy amount? ?? I spent about $130 on my almost 3 year old and I thought that was way too much. What can a kid that young even want that costs $2000!!
CW w/ $16k on credit cards got his son an Xbox One... probably a shit-ton of other stuff too, if past experience is any indicator.
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That's just insane. I spent close to $200 on each of my children this year which is more than normal, and I am worried that they are getting too much stuff. I can't even think of a way to spend that much on my kids, TBH.
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On a parenting forum I was on, one person admitted to spending $2000+ on gifts for her 5 year old this Christmas. Many others admitted to spending over $1000 on their young kids and were telling each other not to feel guilty because 'their kids are worth it' and 'if you can't spend at Christmas when can you' or 'it'll be worth it to see their faces on Christmas day'. I didn't get the impression that any of them had tons of disposable income either so I imagine most of this was on credit. Is this a crazy amount? ?? I spent about $130 on my almost 3 year old and I thought that was way too much. What can a kid that young even want that costs $2000!!
I saw this sort of thing with my SILs years ago. It's often not about what the kids want--although if you park the kids in front of the TV with all the accompanying advertisements all day every day as said SILs did--I'm sure the child(ren) can accumulate quite a list of wants.
There seemed to be a competition between the two SILs to see who could by the most cheap, made-in-China crap for their respective kids, because, of course, the more you spend 1) the richer you are, and 2) the more you love your kids, right?
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I think I came in around $50 or less for my two combined. They are very little (2 and almost 4) so no expectations. Some books, some puzzles and a fire truck from a consignment sale, mini train set, plus stocking stuffers (mini books and Slinkies and so forth). We are doing Christmas this morning and they seem pretty pleased!
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I think I came in around $50 or less for my two combined. They are very little (2 and almost 4) so no expectations. Some books, some puzzles and a fire truck from a consignment sale, mini train set, plus stocking stuffers (mini books and Slinkies and so forth). We are doing Christmas this morning and they seem pretty pleased!
Sounds awesome!
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You are getting parenting advice from the wrong place.
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A little bit different than the original post but we are finding it really hard to get stuff for our nieces / nephews simply because they have so much already. Not to the extent of $2k / Xmas but with split families and not a whole lot of children being produced, it adds up.
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the wifes co-worker has spent 1,000 on each of her two kids..... her husband then got a 3k bonus and spent the lot ont he kids too...
its gone mad...
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Granted, I don't have any kids of my own, but is it just so far out of the norm to think of putting some that money into a college savings plan?
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Do they even consider how they are setting their kids up for some really warped expectations going forward??
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I imagine when I was 5, I would have been happy with a large cardboard box to make a Christmas fort out of.
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We're going to be $300-$400 all told for our twins, who are almost 4 but the vast majority of that is the totally awesome sand box we're going to build together as a family over Christmas break. Without the sandbox, we're under $50 for both, all stocking stuffers (hair stuff and socks mostly). Their other big present is going to be DH's old Brillo train set (free) that we are going to set up under the tree after they go to bed on Christmas Eve. $2000 just makes me want to throw up. I don't think in my entire life I've had one Christmas or birthday where that much was spent on me and I would have been mortified if it had ever happened.
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My boys are 4 and 6. They get an insane amount of stuff from grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. so we don't do a whole lot. They each are getting one present that cost about $25, and then I spend maybe $15 or so on stocking stuffers. I really wish I could find a way to get extended family to cut down. On my side, I finally got everyone to agree to having the kids draw names. But with the in laws, it is just a madhouse.
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I imagine when I was 5, I would have been happy with a large cardboard box to make a Christmas fort out of.
I was at a conference over Easter one year in college and the supervisor of our organziation (who brought her kids along) realized she hadn't made Easter baskets. We went through everyone's stuff and made a basket for each kid with a candy bar, a juice box, and an apple. The response:
Kid 1 (8 years old): I got an Easter juice box!!!!
Kid 2 (4 years old): And a SHINY red apple!
Kids don't need fancy things if you don't let them know that is an option.
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I imagine when I was 5, I would have been happy with a large cardboard box to make a Christmas fort out of.
I was at a conference over Easter one year in college and the supervisor of our organziation (who brought her kids along) realized she hadn't made Easter baskets. We went through everyone's stuff and made a basket for each kid with a candy bar, a juice box, and an apple. The response:
Kid 1 (8 years old): I got an Easter juice box!!!!
Kid 2 (4 years old): And a SHINY red apple!
Kids don't need fancy things if you don't let them know that is an option.
This. I gave my students gifts one year. they were all about 7-9 years old. they had to pull it out of a bag. The first student didnt get a hold of the present, just the bow on it and pulled that out. All the students thought that was the gift. she and the other students were all so happy and excited that they were going to get some bows for xmas.
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Two things:
1 - you can spend $2K on a kids Christmas without it being completely insane. I can remember a few Christmas's as a kid where it was obvious that more economics had been involved. Perfect examples of "spent a lot of money but not really" include:
a) the year that myself and my brother got bicycles (very mustachian), probably around $250 in today's dollars
b) the year that everyone pitched in for a playset (http://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Recreation-Parks-Playsets-Playhouses-Residential-Playsets-Swing-Sets). We used it for the remainder of our lives for pull ups, gymanstics, swings, climbing, and general funtimes. This was probably around $1000 in today's dollars.
Note that in both of these cases the items were used up/out, lasted a long time, and were generally beneficial.
Also note that this was not an "every year" occurrence. One year I got a graphing calculator (TI-89, $159), and another year a punching bag ($100).
2 - I cannot really imagine how to spend $2K. I just came back from Vegas. The two of us spent almost a week there eating a buffets, seeing shows, and staying in a building literally made out of gold. It was around $1600, including gambling losses. $2K is madness for Christmas.
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What exactly are you going to get a 5 year old that costs $2k and is still relevant 5 years later? I hope it's a college savings contribution...
I don't know about you all, but my Christmas gifts gradually increased as I aged, peaking at around 15 years old. I was happy with crappy plastic toys age 0-8. I was into RC cars and more electronics/gaming by age 10. By 15 I was all about cash. But even at the peak of receiving the cost was less than $250 for my parents, and at least half of that would be a cash gift. So if this 5 year old follows that trend they might be up to a new BMW by age 16.
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Our kids are 26,24,19 now but we've done $200/kid now for at least 10 years.
Even at that the price adds up with 3 of them (and a wife and a myriad of parents/friends/relatives to do something for)...
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As a kid, my parents did spend similar to these amounts on all of us, and I can tell you that Christmas was awesome. For birthdays we wouldn't get much sometimes nothing, and got relatively little throughout the year.
Now I'm posting on a MMM. Got the best of both worlds. Christmas is still great and exciting now we've grown up.
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Two things:
1 - you can spend $2K on a kids Christmas without it being completely insane. I can remember a few Christmas's as a kid where it was obvious that more economics had been involved. Perfect examples of "spent a lot of money but not really" include:
a) the year that myself and my brother got bicycles (very mustachian), probably around $250 in today's dollars
b) the year that everyone pitched in for a playset (http://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Recreation-Parks-Playsets-Playhouses-Residential-Playsets-Swing-Sets). We used it for the remainder of our lives for pull ups, gymanstics, swings, climbing, and general funtimes. This was probably around $1000 in today's dollars.
Note that in both of these cases the items were used up/out, lasted a long time, and were generally beneficial.
Also note that this was not an "every year" occurrence. One year I got a graphing calculator (TI-89, $159), and another year a punching bag ($100).
2 - I cannot really imagine how to spend $2K. I just came back from Vegas. The two of us spent almost a week there eating a buffets, seeing shows, and staying in a building literally made out of gold. It was around $1600, including gambling losses. $2K is madness for Christmas.
Yeah but I had several bikes growing up, none of which cost $250 in yesteryear or today's dollars, and a swing set that cost nowhere near $1000 and my childhood was not deprived. You CAN spend that kind of money on kids but you definitely do not need to.
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I think I spent $100 on my two young children, maybe. They each get one gift from us because so many other people give them gifts. I was hearing about what some of my friends spent on their kids though and it amazed me.
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I suppose that's another reason we don't do a whole lot for our kids for Christmas. I have 5 aunts and uncles (plus spouses) on one side (the other side doesn't celebrate Christmas) and they each send a gift plus our girls are the only grandchildren on both sides and the only great-grandchildren (longevity runs in the family) on one side. As a result, there are currently no presents from us under the tree and exactly 3 presents for DH and I and the pile is spilling out into the room. Not including cash that has been sent by some older family members...or the gymnastics classes that my parents pay for as their Christmas present, last year and this year.
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I'm a member of a parenting website where one thread is devoted to pictures of "carnival Christmas" which means excessive amounts of gifts. They buy so many gifts they often don't wrap them. I do notice that the quality of the gifts is pretty low. Cheap $30 scooters that will probably fall apart in a few months, flimsy plastic tables and chairs. It's mostly plastic, mostly character emblazoned and pretty much disposable. You couldn't pay me to take that stuff it's such crap. I really don't know how they manage to buy so much stuff. I only buy two gifts for my daughters for Christmas and they still have so much stuff I'm not sure what to get them next year!
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Our kids get gifts from Grandparents, two Aunts and an Uncle on one side of the family.
They get one combined 'family' gift from DH and me. It's usually a board game, but if a major thing like a trampoline was in the works, we'd tag it as the combined christmas gift. This year it was a set of 4 minecraft manuals that I got from a rewards points program, so FREE (retails at $60, so that's awesome).
I also do a stocking for each of them, which they know is from me (I refuse to give Santa the credit for my hard work :) ).
Stocking contents this year:
one gold-wrapped chocolate bar (a nod to the real Saint Nic's gold delivery)
2 little cracker-and-cheese packs (which they LOVE, and we NEVER buy)
a littlest pet shop toy (bought on special, and they all like to play with these together)
a notebook and 4-colour pen
a loom-band set for each daughter, and a Wii game for my son (the girls got Wii games last year, but he, being too little, did not. Wii games are now super-cheap compared to when we first bought the system. We have no intention of upgrading)
In total, we have spent approx $60 on the children COMBINED, and they are super happy.
They've also received books and candy and random toys from everyone else, and their gifts to each other are FREE minecraft mods :)
There's a definite case of the law of diminishing returns with kids and gifts. And beyond diminishing returns, too. If it was just diminishing returns, they'd just feel neutral about the last few gifts, but it seems that if there is a gigantic pile of gifts, you can go out the other side into actual ingratitude.
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My budget is anywhere from $25-50 per person in my family. I don't have kids of my own, this is just various family members. But I can't see myself upping the budget too much when I have my own kids, I already feel like I spend a ton at Christmas time as it is and wouldn't want to go much more overboard than that! My total budget for Xmas gifts this year was about $300, which felt like a lot. I also graciously hosted a HUGE Christmas dinner as well and saved many people the time and money and stress of all the work. That was my fabulous contribution. My mom was very thankful for that gift as she is often the one who does it. :)
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I'd hate to see this kid when they are grown, no wait, I already have. I went with a friend (who was 28 at the time) to her house one Christmas when I didn't have anywhere to go. Her mom gave her literally PILES of presents, so many that when we went to leave we couldn't fit them all in her car. My eyes were bugging out of my head as she unwrapped gift after gift.
Then on the way home she was complaining that she hardly got anything this year and what an awful Christmas it had been. She even talked about her 'haul', which I'd never seriously heard anyone use before. It was crazy. Needless to say, we were NOT friends much longer.
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Gasp!! My whole Christmas was $600, presents for everyone, the cost of the tree and a holiday event we attended. I was feeling kind of excessive until I read this.
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Wow... I spent about $150 for my 10 yo and he was happy.
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We spent about $200 on our kids (4, 6, and 7 months) total. This included two nice Legos sets (bought on deep clearance) and several other nice toys. When I asked the two older ones later what their favorite gifts from their parents were, guess what they said? The $3 toothpaste stocking stuffer and a $4 kids pretend shaving kit. Go figure.
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You are getting parenting advice from the wrong place.
Agreed. Who takes advice from strangers on an internet forum?
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I still can't believe that one of my nephews bought his 7 year old son an iPhone 6. And another nephew bought his 14 year old son an iPad Air. Both nephews were raised by parents who are sensible and frugal, but it clearly didn't rub off on them. Yeesh.
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I still can't believe that one of my nephews bought his 7 year old son an iPhone 6. And another nephew bought his 14 year old son an iPad Air. Both nephews were raised by parents who are sensible and frugal, but it clearly didn't rub off on them. Yeesh.
The iphone6 is ridiculous, but the 14 year old getting the ipad is much less so. My in-laws just bought my kids an ipad mini for Christmas. Schools these days often heavily recommend, if not require, a tablet of some sort from the age of about 10 upwards. It may not be the most frugal choice of tablet, but it at least doubles as 'useful for school'.
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I still can't believe that one of my nephews bought his 7 year old son an iPhone 6. And another nephew bought his 14 year old son an iPad Air. Both nephews were raised by parents who are sensible and frugal, but it clearly didn't rub off on them. Yeesh.
The iphone6 is ridiculous, but the 14 year old getting the ipad is much less so. My in-laws just bought my kids an ipad mini for Christmas. Schools these days often heavily recommend, if not require, a tablet of some sort from the age of about 10 upwards. It may not be the most frugal choice of tablet, but it at least doubles as 'useful for school'.
Some schools in our area are requiring ipads for prep (5 year olds). I can see both sides of the argument for that one but still. .
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I imagine when I was 5, I would have been happy with a large cardboard box to make a Christmas fort out of.
My mother likes to tell the story of how I opened one present and played with the box all Christmas day. An older cousin eventually got frustrated and opened all my other presents for me.
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I still can't believe that one of my nephews bought his 7 year old son an iPhone 6. And another nephew bought his 14 year old son an iPad Air. Both nephews were raised by parents who are sensible and frugal, but it clearly didn't rub off on them. Yeesh.
The iphone6 is ridiculous, but the 14 year old getting the ipad is much less so. My in-laws just bought my kids an ipad mini for Christmas. Schools these days often heavily recommend, if not require, a tablet of some sort from the age of about 10 upwards. It may not be the most frugal choice of tablet, but it at least doubles as 'useful for school'.
Some schools in our area are requiring ipads for prep (5 year olds). I can see both sides of the argument for that one but still. .
I had no idea schools were pushing the tablets more in their curriculum. Wow, kids are expensive.
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We spent about $350 on our son this year. He only asked for 3 things, which probably would have totaled up to $150, but I felt "bad" because the three things he asked for were video games and it "looked" like he wouldn't be getting much. So I tossed in an expensive video gaming chair with built in speakers for good measure.
I see the light now. I really do.
*hides in shame*