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 kidsimage

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Comments

  • 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 image

  • WombleWomble ✭✭✭
    They'll never value stuff if it's so easy get it. I remember a young boy I knew couldn't find his Gameboy once and said Oh well, Daddy/Mummy will have to buy me a new one and they cost ??xx. No thought as to not being so careless or whether his parents could afford it. Mind you, his siblings weren't any better - always knew the price of things but never the value.
  • Muttley image

    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" image

    think thats probably more than my total christmas budget image

  • I think you're being tight image

  • 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 themselvesimage

  • ...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 image

    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.  

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    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!

  • My missus's lad has a PS3 (obviously for games but can also watch DVDs and blue rays, go on Internet etc), an X-Box which I think does the same, an apple mini mac, an iPod touch and some other handheld device. Now we are having the discussion that she wants us to buy him an iPad mini. I've suggested getting him an extra head and 2 pairs of hands so he can use them all at once. I have insisted that he can't have both the iPad mini and mac in his room as they both do the same job. Like mentioned earlier, he doesn't appreciate the value of things. The PS3 joystick type whatsit thingy is often thrown against the wall if a game doesn't go his way. A few months ago his tv was broken so within minutes she was online buying him a new one. Turns out that the USB cable needed pushing in properly. And he has sky HD in the dining area that he has sole use of but still wants to record stuff on mine. Oops I'm rambling now. Give em a kick up the arse and tell them to be grateful for that I say. Happy Christmas everyone image Bah feckin humbug image
  • 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

  • DeanR7DeanR7 ✭✭✭

    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 image

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

  • DeanR7DeanR7 ✭✭✭

    yes...mine are getting an ipad 4 this xmas.  My 8yr old asked for one but i said no and she started saving her money up herself and is doing chores around the house/grandparents house to help buy it herself.  she has no idea how long it will take but says it is worth it.

  • I think the above idea works. If you can afford to buy them what they want then do so, but find a way to make them appreciate the value? I think my most expensive present was part of the cost of a bass guitar for Christmas at 16. I knew it was expensive, and took up weekend work, saving every penny for a year towards it, and my parents paid the rest. I also spent ages ringing around and searching for the model I wanted to make sure we got the best price around. I forget how much we each ended up spending but at the end of the day, I appreciated the value of it and took especially good care of it because of that. I appreciate it's slightly different for such a young child, but the idea of making them work around the home towards it is a good one if it can be enforced.

    Other than that I'd say a substantial present is definitely better than something they'll just play with a few times, but then I wonder what counts as substantial these days - I'd say a bike was, but a tablet isn't really. I mean, I'm a tablet user and a bit of a tech geek but even I wouldn't have bothered with one if I hadn't have got it seriously cheap; especially for a younger child, given that my younger cousin has such things, and subsequently his parents never really know what he's doing online.

    On the stupid advert note, Apple are the worst - I get e-mails around every possible day - Father's day "give them what they really want - the new iPad", Christmas - "It's the season! give them the new [£1800] macbook with blah blah" - I only once brought an accessory from them - how rich do they think I am?!?

  • i find the problem with grandparents is they pay too uch for a simple task therefore giving the child an realistic idea of work.............do the dishes and pay £2 for a 5 mins job.........therefore effectively paying them £24 an hour when the nimimum wage for even a 17 yr old is only around £4 an hour

  • I don't really have an issue with the price, if they can afford it then why not? But I do think the gift itself is an odd choice for a 9 year old. Why do they need a tablet? Will the parents be keeping an eye on what they get up to on it?

    Its all about what we priortise, isn't it?  I can't understand how people will happily spend £100+ a week on booze but maybe someone who drinks a lot would think its ridiculous that I'll spend £40 on a race entry.

  • If its something that he's going to get a lot of use out of then I have no problem with spending a bit more money on my son's presents, just as long as I can afford it which I've been fortunate to be able to do.
    Year before last it was a new laptop, his previous one was a gift when he became seriously ill and was the result of the nurse that was looking after his putting him forward to a Make A Wish type charity. He's still got thatlaptop and uses it from time to time but needed a newer one for school.
    Last year we got him an Ipod Touch which covered both Christmas and his birthday (he was born early January). Again its something he uses quite a bit.
    We spent a fair bit on his bike when he needed a new one and he uses it around home and has taken it to the in-laws where they live in the Cotswolds so he can go for rides with his cousin.
    This year he's got a Blackberry Playbook, for Christmas and his birthday, so that he doesn't have to take his laptop with him when he goes to my in-laws and can still access the Internet when he's there. I'm hoping that I can install Skype on it so that he can chat to his grampa using it when he wants to.
    His cupboard, however, is full of things that family asked him what he'd like for Christmas and birthdays when he was younger which  he has used a couple of times and have then got put away and not used again.

    Some of the other things that he uses a lot are actually quite cheap. One of the things he uses a lot is a £10 cup cake maker from Tesco because he's into cooking, especially cupcakes which he can do without our help.

  • That's a good point JvR - I'd rather spend a lot on something that will be used than a lesser amount on a load of crap that will be shoved in the cupboard on Boxing Day and only come out when its going in the recycling bin!

  • I do worry that as kids get so much and so soon when they want it....when they leave home and set up home they will get into massive debt because they are so used to having everything new and straight away....they get new furniture and new bigger tvs and new everythingimage

  • Seren - I believe the government scrapped the EMA last year, unless they've reinstated it?

    And there is nothing wrong with lego, I agree. It's quite expensive thoughimage

  • I partly agree Seren - I think that's more to do with the frequency with which kids get their own way though rather than total spend on them that can spoil them.   

  • I don't have kids but I would also spend a bit more money on something

    which they like/need and if it's too expensive make then put their pocketmoney

    towards it, so they appreciate the value of the item. What I personally

    find worrying is how much time kids spend with electronic devices. Does anyone else remember not having a mobile as a child/ teenager and having to make arrangements at school when u wanted to meet your friends after school? Or taking some change for a public phone in case you needed to call your parents?
  • So agree with you Jindalee! well apart from the kids bit... I have two! my five year old loves his lego, in fact built fire truck tonight, but even that is expensive! my 9 year old has asked for  DS for a number of years but has never had one, and has never remembered she asked for it in the first place! Both of my children can work smart phones, and the lap top but I want to stay away from electronic games consoles as long as possible as I know my 5 year old would get hooked!

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