Spending $271 per child this Christmas?

When I was growing up, I remember receiving ONE GIFT from my parents. When my sister and I were old enough, we also exchanged a SINGLE GIFT. So seriously, what is up with spending $200 per child these days?!

The survey results of Are your kids spoiled? on Parenting.com shows that:

Parents plan to spend an average of $271 per child on gifts this year, with a surprising one in eight spending between $300 and $400. Despite the tough times, 74% will spend the same amount or more than last year.

The drivers were guilt for not fulfilling their children's wishlists and keeping up with the Joneses. Speaking of wishlists, it was Target that came out with a toy book with checkboxes next to the toys. Really?

This year, we bought multiple gifts for J because we've been dragging our feet on toy-buying in general since J didn't play much with them anyway. Now that he's 17 months, I like him having more options to play with than electrical outlets *wink*.

We bought an American Plastic Toys My Very Own Kitchen Play Set (video of J playing with it here), a Mega Bloks Fill & Dump Wagon, and two toys for the diaper bag (Fisher-Price Stacking Blocks and Tomy Hide n Squeek Eggs). Total is not even close to $271.

Well, there is some good news from the survey:

Almost 4 out of 5 families make an effort to something to counteract the commercialism of the holiday and teach kids the importance of giving back. 70% of parents donate gifts or money to those less fortunate, and 16% volunteer as a family. 36% of families also encourage kids to spend their own money on gifts for others.

Did you hear about the anonymous donors paying off people's layaway accounts at Kmart around the country? The donors often wanted to payoff accounts for families with young children so they wouldn't have to "miss Christmas".

We need to give back to our community. And by "we", I mean my family too.


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