Christams budget qestion? Three kids

[kayrosek]

So this year we are doing a Christmas weekend trip (Great Wolf Lodge) as well as Great Wolf gift cards for each kid as our big gift to the kids/family. Then we are getting each kid a few things off there lists. We had always planned on getting them the same number of things (6 plus GW cards and stocking stuffers.) Now that I am looking at it though I am feeling a little guilty. DD13 wants an acoustic guitar and nice art kit plus her pjs are adult size and more expensive than the kids ones. So with a few other small things she is costing $20 more than DD11 who wants a new cell phone (only have to pay the small upcharge for the one she wants as she is elgible for a new one on our plan) and DS game and the other things she wants are less expensive than those.The things DS 10 wants are mostly small, small mega blocks set, lego bucket (most expensive item), bath toys and new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book so we are actually spending approx. $50 less than his oldest sister. We are hitting most of if not all of thier major requests (they did know we were doing less gifts this year because of the mini trip). DS just wants significantly smaller things. DH says that they will feel it's more equal since they are getting the same number of things (in the past this has definatley been true) and that since we are getting what they really want we shoulden't worry about the price difference and just consider ourselves lucky since we don't have three kids who want high ticket items. What do you think? Should we buy the two something else (or a few more things) to equal the same amount we spent on oldest DD or should we stick with the same number of gifts since it isn't a huge difference

 

[alexedan]

I'd stick with what you have. They are not comparing receipts and if you get the others more I feel that will encourage comparisons and jealousy in the future. Nothing is ever 100% equal or fair in life and that's a good lesson for kids to learn. This goes for a child's part of mom and dad's time as well. They all sound like they will have a great Christmas! Our son (12) wants a trampoline for Christmas which he will not be getting because our homeowners prohibits it. He understands this and will have to deal. Hopefully he will come up with something else equally exciting, and if not there's always his b-day in Feb and the New Years Disney cruise to look forward to (Gma and Gpa's gift).

 

[Michelle and crew]

I'd stick with what you have. I've found that in the end things even out.

 

[Deon.Newmankgyxc]

I agree with some of your ideas..

 

[scrapquitler]

I would stick with what you have at this point. In my opinion, there is no need for everything to be exactly equal, it's not like you are off by hundreds of dollars for one of the kids. It sounds like they are all going to be happy.

 

[angierae]

Yeah, unless the difference was like $100, I wouldn't worry too much about it. $20 here or there isn't a huge deal.

 

[cvjw]

I make sure that the amount of money that I spend on my sons is equal. I personally would stick money for the difference in the other girl's stockings to even things out.

 

[java]

I have 4 children and if I worried about even it would add stress to my holiday.
My older son understands that his wants are more expensive and I can't afford to get him the same pile of gifts that his 5 year old brother gets. However I do try to match number of gifts between the 2 youngest. That seems to matter to them. The older 2 not so much.

The amount you are speaking of is really minimal. I wouldn't sweat it and I think what you are doing is fine.

 

[luvmy3]

I have 3 kids and have never made sure I spent the same amount of money, I have always made sure they had the same number of gifts to open. When we stop doing "santa"I will probably just spend the same amount, but for now its about it being equal under the tree.

 

[FourBees]

I agree with most of the other posters that you should stick with what you have. As long as your kids are getting something that they want they will be happy. I have four kids and that is the way I do it and nobody has ever had a problem with it. It seems pretty ridiculous to spend money on something else especially if you are not even sure if they will want or like it. My children range in age 12-18.

 

[ziggystardust]

I'm one of three girls and my mom was meticulous with everything being even. My dad, not so much. So when 3 days before christmas, he'd come home with a bicycle or a camera for one of us, it sent my mother scrambling to even the tally with the other two.

I know this now, when I'm older, not when it was actually happening. In all honesty, what i did notice at the age was how many presents were being handed to everyone on christmas morning. Not counting, but if my sister got 20 presents and I got 2, I started feeling a little jipped. Kids don't really know the cost of things. My mom did make sure that we all had one "big" present. )Big was relative every year depending on the finances, but again, as a kid, we didn't see that aspect of it )

 

[Jenny-momof3]

With my kids so far apart in age I don't even bother trying to spend the same amount on each kid. My oldest is almost 16 so her stuff costs much more than my youngest who isn't even 1 yet. I just make sure each kid has the same amount of presents.

 

[aprilgail2]

Do peoples kids actually count the number of presents that they get compared to their siblings??? I could not tell you if I had more gifts than my brother or he had more than me....who the heck sits there and counts their gifts and then counts their siblings????

 

[kellia]

I think what you got is fine. You might want to tell your dd to remember that her stuff costs more if it looks like she got less. I told that to my dd once and she said she knows! My younger sons have no clue what anything costs, so they don't care. They are twins, though, so they have to be different but totally equal!

 

[allison443]

I understand about wanting to keep things equal, but I wouldn't worry about the amounts you're talking about.

If you bought them the same gift, but one item was on sale and one was full price, wouldn't you consider that equal although technically one was cheaper?

 

[luvsJack]

Your concern reminds me of how obsessive I was about the whole "equal" thing when my sons were young. They each got a "big" gift and several small ones and they had to have an even number. Some years they also got a couple of gift for the two of them together.

I wrapped everything on Christmas eve and would not put it under the tree until I had it all out and made sure every thing was EXACTLY even. If there was something I forgot about, I spent the nigth scrambling around trying to figure out what I could change from a "together" gift to being just for the one with less gifts.

I asked them one year if they ever really paid attention to it all being so equal. They both looked at me like I had three heads.

All those late night Christmas eves and they didn't even NOTICE!!!

The moral to my story? Don't sweat it. As long as you have hit on the things they want, they will be happy.