Only Grandson

We are up to seven grands , with three on the way! What a year 2024 is turning out to be! We gift them at Christmas holidays and birthdays. And little treats thru out the year , small
Care packages for smaller holidays , start of school etc. we also make little
Contributions meant to help ther parents - for instance this year we took care of good winter boots and coats for all!

I think if we only had one, which was the case for about 3 years, we would still only do birthday, Christmas and small Easter things.

In between we do the occasional book or paintbrush, puzzle or whatever happens to be useful if we happen to see them at a "moment" when something is required...
We had two younger ones over this weekend and I bought 2 pots of slime in with my groceries in case distraction was required. It wasn't. I have kept them for future possible occasions...

There are 7 grandchildren now by the way.

I try to be scrupulously fair. The DGC don't mind but my 4 DC would notice 😉

On top of Christmas and birthday gifts we gave all our grandchildren pocket money - a sum of money each month and their parents saved it for them until they were old enough to have their own savings accounts. We stopped this when they were 18, we just have the two youngest now who are 14 and 13, they appreciate having some money each month and it helps their parents as well.

Mum gives them £10 for birthday, that's all as she says they all earn more than she does, which is true. Dad, I think is the same as he's never got over the shrug of shoulders off eldest grandson when he handed him £1000 ish. (Dad is a saver and when each grandchild was born, opened a savings bond for them, putting money each birthday/Christmas, letting it grow until they were 21, then handed them the pass book! Eldest, On his birthday, ignores dad, plays on his PlayStation, shrugs on his shoulders, tosses book to side! Needless to say Dad not impressed!)

We have 10 aged between 15 and 4 - Christmas, Birthdays & each gets a little spending money just before the summer holidays

We don't see much of my son, DIL and childen but my husband always slips both the grandchildren a fiver.

I have two GSs and am saving up now because this summer one will turn 21 and the other 18.
Last year they only got £30 each, direct to them, but I do send as much as I can to their parents, to help with current and future university expenses. I think it's up to parents to decide about that.

We've cut down quite a lot on Christmas presents now as one set of GC are older and prefer cash. My daughter always suggests that we we give the other two a small token present and give her some money to buy them something if they see something they like.

My three grandchildren receive presents for Christmas and birthdays. Plus £20 spending money for their holidays (and boy do they have lots of those each year)! 🤣

I treat my grand children often to meals out toys clothes etc not just birthday and Christmas xx

I have 1 DGS aged 14. We give him birthday and Christmas presents, usually money now he’s older and since he was 9 years old we’ve given him pocket money each week into his go Henry account as his other grandparents are not in his life and his parents give him money just if he needs it. We up his pocket money by £1 a week each year. He’s very good at saving up if he wants to buy something or if it’s a big thing he saves half and his parents pay half. If he goes on holiday I’ll always add extra into his account so he’s got some spending money.

I have 3 grandchildren, one nearby and two abroad. The GC nearby is often with us, I regularly pick him up from school, take him to sports and playdates etc. And yes when I see something nice while shopping I do just that, buy it and give it to him. But I do the same for my grandchildren abroad! Of course we don't see as often (we travel evey few months) but I buy them small gifts, things I know they like, and every few weeks I mail them a big box. They love to open a giftbox from grandma!

My mother has 5 grandsons (now all grown adults), but there was a 7 year gap between the first 2 (both mine) and obviously, as the first was initially the only one for many years, he was totally spoilt. But then along came the second and she 'acknowledged' his existence, but never really wanted a lot to do with him.
Another few years passed and along came GS no 3, followed another few years later by twins (all from my sibling) whom she was more involved with, but definitely not to the extent she was with the first GS.
She's been known to only tell people about her 4 GSs (not the 2nd, which came back to bite her when he did some work experience at her place of work because she never said a word about him), but the 1st always has been, and still is (now mid 30s), her admitted favourite.
Thankfully, my second son now doesn't care that she's not interested in him, but he was very upset about it when he was younger.

Birthdays and Christmas and the odd tenner when I visit which isn’t very often. Love the four of them hope they know it.

Mel1967

Just wondering, those of you that have grandchildren do you regularly treat them with gifts, money etc or just wait until Birthdays or Christmas ?
And if you only had one grandchild would it make any difference as to how you treated them?

Regular treats, not just birthdays and Christmas.

No difference in what we'd give if there was one GC instead of 8 (plus GGC and GGGC).

We certainly couldn’t afford to fund the University living expenses if we had had 8 Grandchildren.
We also paid for trips abroad for them, half of their education fees, something else we couldn’t have done for 8 GCs.

I have two grandsons - one from son and daughter in law and one from daughter and son in law. Both families are financially comfortable so I decided to support two little boys through Action Aid as a thank you for the blessing of grandchildren. I buy for Christmas, birthdays and occasionally on days out as I see them regularly so buying something every time we went out would become expensive. I’ve not opened savings accounts for them.

I have four grandchildren aged 3, 9 and 13. They get a decent present (or money for the older two) at Christmas and for birthdays. I take sweets or chocolate with me every week when I go to see them. I’m on a very limited income so can’t afford to go over the top even if I wanted to. I do buy the odd book or dinosaur on random occasions.

I have two GC. Paid the school fees and give them a large sum of money for their birthdays and at Christmas. They get a monthly allowance as pocket money and a little extra at holiday time to spend on themselves. The money is in addition to gifts.
As my grandmother used to say " there are no pockets in shrouds ".

We have 3, from 4 to 8, and will buy them treats when on days out. These will occasionally be fairly expensive - Gds fell in love with a cuddly toy gorilla in the London Zoo gift shop and there was once a plastic battleaxe in the Tower of London gift shop, but that was relatively cheap at a fiver.
Presents are largely just for birthdays and Christmas, though.

We haven’t yet given them any cash on a casual basis but for some time have been putting money into junior S&S ISAs for them, to be accessed only at 18. By which time we will pray that they’ll have the sense to save most of it.,

I have only two GC I do give them for Xmas and b/days but if I spot something at a good price I will get in when I see it, and give it to them. It's usually clothing or books.

I have 7 grandchildren ranging from 11 years old down to 8 weeks and have the eldest 3 most weekends and some of the school holidays. I don't give them regular pocket money but they do like to earn a pound or two for little age appropriate jobs around the house. Apart from Christmas and Birthdays, I only buy art and craft supplies to keep them busy when they are here

Mostly birthday and Christmas, plus small treats if I'm visiting such as an ice cream on a day out or a magazine in the supermarket. I also save money for them in a kids regular saver account which will give them a significant amount when they are a bit older. I live 200 miles away so don't see them as often as I'd like but try not to always arrive with gifts as my in-laws did that and my DS came to expect it. He got so excited about their visits we had to stop telling him in advance, and when they arrives he rushed to the door and asked where his present was! I was embarrassed but in a way I thought they brought it on themselves. In the end I asked them not to bring so many gifts.
My MiL lives even further away from her GC and GGC so rarely sees them. I heard recently that she has set up an investment account for each GGC which will be so much more valuable for them in future. My GC have so many things already they really don't need extra gifts.

I have a standing order giving them all a small amount to a savings account. Their parents still expect a birthday gift too.