birthday presents for kids

a discussion on amazon is asking for the best tablet for a 9 year old for her birthday.lots of expensive suggestions.............but the lady states that as a single mother of 2 she can only afford £100..

am i the only one that thinks these kind of expensive electronic toys are for older kids not primary school and that £100 for a 9th birthday is excessive...............until mine hit 17 then the present limit is between £10 and £20 for birthdays................

someone had bought one for their 3 year old..what happened to lego and crayons......

if you spend £100 or £300 o their 9th birthday.what do you end up spending for their 13th or 18th..........they are only kids

Ridiculous amount of money for a 9 year old. And whatever you buy - they'll be bored or have broken it by the weekend.

Best tablet for a 9 year old is a sedative.

Get 'em a stick and a hoop.  That'll keep 'em busy.

PhilPub wrote (see)

Best tablet for a 9 year old is a sedative.

 

I could have done with some of those.......o yes i remember he did have them

Muttley

yes that is too much for that age - actually i'd have a job paying that for my other half!

I hate all these adverts that say things like "only £279, ideal christmas gift"

think thats probably more than my total christmas budget

I think you're being tight

as teenagers they only get £5 a week pocket money and have to do extra chores if they want more...........

apart from those in 6th form who get EMA from the government........

as adults we have to save for the things we want so i think the kids should as well...its amazing how they think twice about needing to have the latest game if they have to pay for it themselves

...ok...I'll qualify that by saying that birthdays are a big deal in our house (extended family) - we probably spend more money and thought and care into birthdays even than Christmas.  Probably stemming from MrGFB's birthday being New Year's Eve and his parents always gave him a present at Christmas and said "that'll do you for your birthday too".

Everyone in our family has a full on birthday party with all the bells and whistles (and booze and food) every year and if it's a special birtyday (eg our son't 21st and my dad's 70th (same day) this October past) we really go to town

I can totally understand if it's a budgeting thing.

I don't think you are necessarily being tight but I don't see anything wrong with kids having £100 presents - that's less than a Nintendo 3DS costs and most primary kids have stuff like that.   A kids bike is at least £150 new if it's any good.  I'd rather my kids had a few expensive items they actually use than box loads of tat they don't want.    

My 11 year old son has an Ipod Touch 5th gen (but he did have to clear out his life savings - otherwise known as money my mum has put in a piggybank for them - far too much but what can you do) and we paid the other half.   Mind you he's also got a cyclocross bike with DuraAce/Open Pro wheels.  

I too make more fuss of birthdays than Christmas too, but not to the extent of having a party (shudders).

However, I think £100 for a nine year old's present is way over the top.  Not having any kids, I don't have to deal with requests for ridiculous presents, and "all my friends have got one... ", but I'm damn sure the limit on present cost would be more like Seren's!

I'd say buy yourself something nice and give the kid the box to play with. There must be a million and one clever things a nine year old could do with a box...

caterusm..............at one time i did have 4 PS2 in the house.....all in use..but they were never updated to PS3's as they would not play the old games............

we do have 3 laptops  2 of which are second hand the the third was saved up for..........

and the desktop computer is second hand as well

and my yougest who is nearly 16 did say that there was nothing he really need for christmas but a few things he might like ........

My eldest mind is not as basic and still wants everything today ......and then more tomorrow

Our eldest daughter has just had her 8th birthday - she has been asking for a DS for the last three years and had been told no and she had to wait till her 8th birthday - so this year we got her a second hand one from ebay at a fraction of the cost.

She was over the moon about it even thoguh it was just a standard DS and a lot of her friends have got the DS 3d version.

£100 pound presents for birthday/Christmas are way outside our budget. Too many kids get what ever they ask for and don't appreciate the value of it. In fact a friend was complaining the other day about the problem they have created by giving their kids whatever they ask for with out question. I was quite impressed that hey had accepted it was a problem they caused themselves.

we do have to save for the 17th and 18th present........

the 17th is the most expensive as its a driving liscence and then all the lessons that they need to pass..........a fortune........and the 18th is a lump of cash for their own use........

and then its back to £10 -£20 presents

as long as you can afford it i dont see the problem.  I would never let xmas spending take me into debt.

CelticRunner wrote (see)

Our eldest daughter has just had her 8th birthday - she has been asking for a DS for the last three years and had been told no and she had to wait till her 8th birthday - so this year we got her a second hand one from ebay at a fraction of the cost.

She was over the moon about it even thoguh it was just a standard DS and a lot of her friends have got the DS 3d version.

£100 pound presents for birthday/Christmas are way outside our budget. Too many kids get what ever they ask for and don't appreciate the value of it. In fact a friend was complaining the other day about the problem they have created by giving their kids whatever they ask for with out question. I was quite impressed that hey had accepted it was a problem they caused themselves.

an example of perfect parenting

You would be happy to spend £300/400 on a 7 year old even if you had plenty of money ?