British mum buys 300+ Christmas presents for her kids

[mustachepungoeshere]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/mum-who-spent-1500-300-9463097

Last year, Emma bought around 300 gifts, splashing out £1,500, but this year she's spending even more and will present an even bigger mountain of presents to her kids Mia, 14, Ella, 10, and baby Tatum on Christmas day.

[boyerbt]

While it isn't Mustachian to do this, I don't really see a lot of fault in it.

The lady said that most of the gifts are items that the kids need and are not just items that will be trashed quickly. She also stated that her and her husband are not in debt so I see this more as click-bait. Plus $1,500 total for the three children is not unreasonable. Again - it doesn't fit the mold here but there are definitely a lot worse cases out there during the Holidays.

[Metric Mouse]

Lucky baby Tatum!

[Prairie Stash]

While it isn't Mustachian to do this, I don't really see a lot of fault in it.

The lady said that most of the gifts are items that the kids need and are not just items that will be trashed quickly. She also stated that her and her husband are not in debt so I see this more as click-bait. Plus $1,500 total for the three children is not unreasonable. Again - it doesn't fit the mold here but there are definitely a lot worse cases out there during the Holidays.

You missed the currency conversion, last year it was $2250 USD for two kids, $1,125/kid. Still think its reasonable?

[marty998]

While it isn't Mustachian to do this, I don't really see a lot of fault in it.

The lady said that most of the gifts are items that the kids need and are not just items that will be trashed quickly. She also stated that her and her husband are not in debt so I see this more as click-bait. Plus $1,500 total for the three children is not unreasonable. Again - it doesn't fit the mold here but there are definitely a lot worse cases out there during the Holidays.

You missed the currency conversion, last year it was $2250 USD for two kids, $1,125/kid. Still think its reasonable?

People spend $1100 on 1 iPhone.

If she can get 100 practical and useful presents for the same cost you'd have to say money well spent?

(But yeah, in gross volume of presents it is very excessive)

[EricL]

I wonder if any of them look like a pig in a wig?

[I'm a red panda]

Guess I'd need to know what is in all those packages to judge...
She says they are things they need, who knows.

But my mother had a habit of wrapping chapstick, toothbrushes, new underwear, pencils, notebooks-  basically anything was wrapped and called a present.  December was when we got the vast majority of things for the upcoming year because then it added to the Christmas stuff.

[MandalayVA]

Guess I'd need to know what is in all those packages to judge...
She says they are things they need, who knows.

But my mother had a habit of wrapping chapstick, toothbrushes, new underwear, pencils, notebooks-  basically anything was wrapped and called a present.  December was when we got the vast majority of things for the upcoming year because then it added to the Christmas stuff.

Same in my family.  And we were just as much excited to open up new underwear as we were a new toy.  I distinctly remember being totally stoked getting a set of days-of-the-week panties when I was seven.  :D

[Prairie Stash]

While it isn't Mustachian to do this, I don't really see a lot of fault in it.

The lady said that most of the gifts are items that the kids need and are not just items that will be trashed quickly. She also stated that her and her husband are not in debt so I see this more as click-bait. Plus $1,500 total for the three children is not unreasonable. Again - it doesn't fit the mold here but there are definitely a lot worse cases out there during the Holidays.

You missed the currency conversion, last year it was $2250 USD for two kids, $1,125/kid. Still think its reasonable?

People spend $1100 on 1 iPhone.

If she can get 100 practical and useful presents for the same cost you'd have to say money well spent?

(But yeah, in gross volume of presents it is very excessive)

The iPhone is a bad comparison; two wrongs don't make it right. I'd be critical of giving new iPhones to kids too, that would also rate as antimustachian.

My fault with the pile is the dollar value and amount. For those who have read/watched Harry Potter I picture the scene where the cousin Dudley is counting his presents to see if it was more than last year; than having a fit when it was 2 short. It stops being about quality and meaning and starts just being gluttonous. When you thing of it as marginal utility does anyone notice the difference between opening 50 gifts and 100 gifts?

[boyerbt]

While it isn't Mustachian to do this, I don't really see a lot of fault in it.

The lady said that most of the gifts are items that the kids need and are not just items that will be trashed quickly. She also stated that her and her husband are not in debt so I see this more as click-bait. Plus $1,500 total for the three children is not unreasonable. Again - it doesn't fit the mold here but there are definitely a lot worse cases out there during the Holidays.

You missed the currency conversion, last year it was $2250 USD for two kids, $1,125/kid. Still think its reasonable?

I was lazy and didn't convert to USD from GBP but she does in fact have three kids: "her kids Mia, 14, Ella, 10, and baby Tatum" If split equally, do I think that $750 per child is ridiculous? Nope, not as long as they are useful items that she and her husband were going to purchase anyways. I am assuming that she didn't purchase a bunch of junk that plenty of kids will be receiving this year such as this $400 Hummers to drive around the yard.

At the end of the day, as long as she and her husband are not going into debt to buy the gifts, no harm, no foul from my point of view.

[gaja]

The money is not that bad, but do children (or anyone else) really need 100 new things every year? I get that most of it is normal stuff, but still. I don't believe that they don't buy the kids anything throughout the year; kids can grow several sizes during one season, and you can't wait until december to get them new shoes when the old ones are two sizes to small. But even in the theoretical world where the kids time their growth spurts to christmas, I can't fathom that they need 100 pieces of toys, pencils, erasers, clothes, shoes, etc.

[Kitsune]

The money is not that bad, but do children (or anyone else) really need 100 new things every year? I get that most of it is normal stuff, but still. I don't believe that they don't buy the kids anything throughout the year; kids can grow several sizes during one season, and you can't wait until december to get them new shoes when the old ones are two sizes to small. But even in the theoretical world where the kids time their growth spurts to christmas, I can't fathom that they need 100 pieces of toys, pencils, erasers, clothes, shoes, etc.

Using my 2.5-year-old's stocking, as an example:
- Bubble bath (she loves it, and most of them give her welts, so the slightly pricier one that doesn't make her skin react is a great gift)
- Cute tooth brush (thanks mom's dentist who gave her a cute one for her granddaughter!)
- Hair brush so she stops losing mine
- Nail polish (3) (Parent-child bargaining chip: if you let us clip your nails while cooperating and NOT howling, you can have paint on your toes. Pick your battles.)
- Pairs of socks with animal faces on them (4 pairs, 1.50 each - thanks, Old Navy)
- Hair clips (2 designs, 12 total) - her hair is starting to get long enough that we either need to cut it significantly or just trim and style, so, we're trying these.
- Headbands (made by me, ok, but still: 3)
- Markers (her old ones are half dried out)
- Candy... ;)

... So that's about 20 items right there, if you count the hair clips individually. And we haven't hit actual 'gifts' yet. And yet, if you look at the items themselves, most of them are used and needed personal care items or things that make life more pleasant (cute toenails to avoid howling, her not losing my brush every 2 days). And the total cost of the contents of that stocking is under 25$. *shrugs* So yeah, while 100 items is a lot, I can see the numbers climbing pretty damned quick...

For the record: do think 1.5K/child in gifts is ridiculous? Yes, yes I do. But mostly because, even if you can afford it, you're setting really skewed examples for your kid about what is 'affordable' and 'doable', and they're gonna have a MAJOR shock when they try to afford things for themselves on an average first salary. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you set up your kids to need economic outpatient care in 15 years.

[Playing with Fire UK]

A lot of those look like fairly small presents. It seems a little strange to buy everyday school supplies and wrap them all up individually and wasteful when you think about all that paper.

If she was in debt I would be all over mocking this shit.

[I'm a red panda]

Even wrapping useful presents is wasteful of the paper. .


I'm a big fan of using (then recycling) newspaper and using cloth sacks.

[SeaEhm]

$1100 for presents is not bad given they have the income to support it.

Too many presents dilutes the excitement for individual presents. 

Get one present, the kid opens it and wants to play with it all day.
Get two presents, the kid opens the first, looks at it, and then goes to open the second.
Get 10 presents, the kid opens the first, looks at it, opens the second, looks at it, and repeats. Finally, the kid opens the 10th and basically has forgotten what the first present it.  One child cannot play with that many toys at once.

Pretty wasteful in my opinion.  Not even looking at cost.

My favorite stories are when I see people complaining that their child only wants to play with the cardboard boxes that the toys came in.

[Barbaebigode]

There's an anti mustachian vibe to this, even though we don't know what she actually bought. She said some of the stuff is for school but unless she individualy wrapped pencils or gifted packed lunches I'm guessing a significant part of the 100+ gifts per child are regular gifts. And all that wrapping paper...

And i guess I'm poor, but £500 gifts every christmas seems excessive to me and I'm definitely not in debt.

[Tjat]

Get 10 presents, the kid opens the first, looks at it, opens the second, looks at it, and repeats. Finally, the kid opens the 10th and basically has forgotten what the first present it.  One child cannot play with that many toys at once.

+1 Thank you!!! After two days of giftmas and being overwhelmed by the presents for my kids, I need some confirmation I wasn't a cray grinch for saying this exact point

[frugledoc]

Get 10 presents, the kid opens the first, looks at it, opens the second, looks at it, and repeats. Finally, the kid opens the 10th and basically has forgotten what the first present it.  One child cannot play with that many toys at once.

+1 Thank you!!! After two days of giftmas and being overwhelmed by the presents for my kids, I need some confirmation I wasn't a cray grinch for saying this exact point

another + 1 - my wife tried to dial it down this year but still too many.  May daughter 2.5 was most excited by her first 2 presents which were basically very cheap stocking filler toy cars.  That would have been enough!

[Kitsune]

Get 10 presents, the kid opens the first, looks at it, opens the second, looks at it, and repeats. Finally, the kid opens the 10th and basically has forgotten what the first present it.  One child cannot play with that many toys at once.

+1 Thank you!!! After two days of giftmas and being overwhelmed by the presents for my kids, I need some confirmation I wasn't a cray grinch for saying this exact point

another + 1 - my wife tried to dial it down this year but still too many.  May daughter 2.5 was most excited by her first 2 presents which were basically very cheap stocking filler toy cars.  That would have been enough!

+++ this.

My daughter got a "big" present at our house (dollhouse+basic accessories) and 10 hours later got a "big" present at her grandparents house (wood train set). Add a few packages of books and stocking stuffers (blistex, nail polish, cute toothbrushes, markers to replace the dried out ones, and the like) and... done.

Result: there was enough delay that she was excited by both gifts, has been playing with them nonstop for 2 days, and it's been awesome.

But the books were opened before bedtime (for bedtime reading), and some little things from my mom will get opened at New Years. 2 big gifts with a 10-hour interval is about max attention span for a kid.

[MrsPete]

Same in my family.  And we were just as much excited to open up new underwear as we were a new toy.  I distinctly remember being totally stoked getting a set of days-of-the-week panties when I was seven.  :D

I remember LOVING those day-of-the-week panties as a child.

The money is not that bad, but do children (or anyone else) really need 100 new things every year? I get that most of it is normal stuff, but still. I don't believe that they don't buy the kids anything throughout the year; kids can grow several sizes during one season, and you can't wait until december to get them new shoes when the old ones are two sizes to small. But even in the theoretical world where the kids time their growth spurts to christmas, I can't fathom that they need 100 pieces of toys, pencils, erasers, clothes, shoes, etc.

Well, yeah, considering clothing and school supplies and toys and more, a typical kid does need 100 new things over the course of the whole year ... but I don't believe she's handing over ALL the kids' necessities on one single day and buying them nothing the rest of the year. 

Additionally, one of these kids is 14.  By that age, the child needs to be involved in making her own purchases; it's how kids learn to choose wisely and spend money carefully.  If she really is handing over all the kids' needs, she's ignoring a big part of the older kids' financial education. 

What it looks like to me:  Mom is addicted to shopping and is trying to justify a ridiculous travesty in which she's made Christmas into nothing but a commercial enterprise.

I also suspect her of being an unreliable narrator. 

Using my 2.5-year-old's stocking, as an example:
- Bubble bath (she loves it, and most of them give her welts, so the slightly pricier one that doesn't make her skin react is a great gift)
- Cute tooth brush (thanks mom's dentist who gave her a cute one for her granddaughter!)
- Hair brush so she stops losing mine
- Nail polish (3) (Parent-child bargaining chip: if you let us clip your nails while cooperating and NOT howling, you can have paint on your toes. Pick your battles.)
- Pairs of socks with animal faces on them (4 pairs, 1.50 each - thanks, Old Navy)
- Hair clips (2 designs, 12 total) - her hair is starting to get long enough that we either need to cut it significantly or just trim and style, so, we're trying these.
- Headbands (made by me, ok, but still: 3)
- Markers (her old ones are half dried out)
- Candy... ;)

... So that's about 20 items right there, if you count the hair clips individually. And we haven't hit actual 'gifts' yet. And yet, if you look at the items themselves, most of them are used and needed personal care items or things that make life more pleasant (cute toenails to avoid howling, her not losing my brush every 2 days). And the total cost of the contents of that stocking is under 25$. *shrugs* So yeah, while 100 items is a lot, I can see the numbers climbing pretty damned quick...

For the record: do think 1.5K/child in gifts is ridiculous? Yes, yes I do. But mostly because, even if you can afford it, you're setting really skewed examples for your kid about what is 'affordable' and 'doable', and they're gonna have a MAJOR shock when they try to afford things for themselves on an average first salary. And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is how you set up your kids to need economic outpatient care in 15 years.

Yeah, my kids received similar small gifts in their Christmas stockings:  Nail polish, lip gloss, paint and brushes, make up and hair accessories ...  but I didn't wrap those items individually (bet you didn't either), and even if I had wrapped them, they wouldn't amount to a pile like the one shown in that article. 

Yes, you and I are on the same wavelength about preparing kids to spend their own money in the future. 

Final thought:  I wonder how people /the news became aware of her massive pile of Christmas presents.  Outside the immediate family, no one knows what I gave my kids.  I'm thinking she must've been bragging about her odd choices on social media. 

[mustachepungoeshere]

Same in my family.  And we were just as much excited to open up new underwear as we were a new toy.  I distinctly remember being totally stoked getting a set of days-of-the-week panties when I was seven.  :D

I remember LOVING those day-of-the-week panties as a child.

I was at a friend's place once when her daughter started sobbing because she had accidentally worn her Monday undies on Sunday and my friend wouldn't let her put them on again after her bath.

My friend and I couldn't stop giggling.

[Playing with Fire UK]

Final thought:  I wonder how people /the news became aware of her massive pile of Christmas presents.  Outside the immediate family, no one knows what I gave my kids.  I'm thinking she must've been bragging about her odd choices on social media.

I think she put it on youtube last year, I assume the media followed up with her this year.

[talltexan]

I found myself sometimes shocked and appalled by the opulence of Christmas (my wife, in-laws, and parents were the major perpetrators this year) in my family. I am at a loss for how to make it slightly more restrained.