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Christmas

Comparing how much grandparents spend

(106 Posts)
Cabbie21 Sat 28-Dec-19 21:00:59

My 15 year old grandson is lovely but has some less endearing ways. This year I overheard him openly comparing how much we had spent on him, compared to his other grandparents. Fortunately I did not hear him say anything nasty, just factual.

Neither set of GPS is hard up, but we set lower limits of what we consider reasonable. We have no intention of trying to keep up, but it is a bit embarrassing to see the difference in our gifts.
I hope we are not being mean. Any thoughts for next year?

Marthjolly1 Mon 30-Dec-19 00:15:03

I have 2 GC, toddlers. The other GP who have no other GC spend like crazy on these 2 all year round. And I meanly weekly. For each birthdays they visit with several bags of stuff like crazy. I think the GM has a problem. I'm in my 70s with basic pension so cant afford a lot. Even if I was well off no way would I feel the need to compete. It doesnt mean the GC are loved more or less by either of us. And the children will know that as they grow up.

Hatpev Mon 30-Dec-19 00:32:29

I confess I did not read to the end of this chain - so apologies if I am repeating. My advice would be to completely ignore what you have heard. There are any way to show love and money is certainly not top of the tree. We usually give around £30 at xmas but it reached £40 this year. Generally £40 for a birthday. As we were away for many of them this year we left £40 in a card and continued to do this for the rest of the grandchildren and the adults. We hope to be more imaginative next year but it is difficult. We have 8 grandchildren raging from 7 to 15

Pixxie7 Mon 30-Dec-19 04:22:13

I think it was extremely rude by the time they reach 15 they should realise that it is the thought that counts.
I spend about £50 on all of mine it’s all I can afford.

Annaram1 Mon 30-Dec-19 11:00:14

I only have 4 grandchildren from my 2 children. The other grandparents have 17 from their 8 children. I usually give £100 to each of mine. The other grandparents give £20 each. Seems fair to everyone.

SallyB392 Sun 05-Jan-20 10:09:19

We don't have a very high income, so can't even begin to compete with the other grandparents, who are very well off.

This year, I made some of the gifts, my 7yr old grandson specifically asked me for a waistcoat to replace the one that I made a couple of years ago. He chose some fabric, and I made him one in the fabric that he had chosen (cost £7), & another in another fabric. I made fudges, and we bought art and craft books, and found 'grown up' paints, and other art tools being sold on line, it meant that we had to think about gifts a long time e before Xmas. For my grandson, my husband made a bird house kit for the garden, and we bought an 'eye spy' book for him to mark of the birds that he sees.

In total, I think we spent £150 in total on my daughter's whole family, but we don't worry about how much we have spent on each person. One year we spend more on one child another it will be it the other and we will buy second hand things too if it's something in particular (for example last year we purchased a second hand pair of excellent quality binoculars for our young grandson).

Birthdays are simple we purchase a magazine subscription, and I make something.