Parents have all kinds of budgets when it comes to Christmas presents, and every family’s spending depends on what they can comfortably afford. But there’s still a line most people agree shouldn’t be crossed, and many felt a Pennsylvania mom just crossed it.
She went on TikTok to explain her holiday plan this year and revealed her budget for her four children. She and her husband decided to spend a total of $100 on all four kids combined. Not $100 per child, but $100 divided among all of them.
The couple said they refuse to “go into debt” over Christmas, and they’re prioritizing a nice family vacation next year instead of gifts under the tree.
The Pennsylvania mom even referred to Christmas as “Thriftmas,” explaining that she planned to buy all her kids’ gifts from thrift stores. Some of the items she found were actually thoughtful: a jewelry box for her 10-year-old daughter that cost just $4.50, because her daughter loves jewelry; a jacket with a unicorn on the hood for only $2; and a 50-cent book for her child who loves reading. So far, each gift she picked out was considerate and based on what her kids genuinely enjoy.
However, not everyone agreed with her approach to holiday spending. It didn’t help that she admitted in her video that she doesn’t like buying anything brand new at all, suggesting her kids rarely get new items. “Call me cheap. Whatever. I don’t care,” she said confidently. After showing everything she had purchased, she mentioned she still had $85.50 left in her budget.
In her caption, she added, “What is your Christmas budget this year? Mine is $100 by choice & the refusal to buy brand new if possible. We have tried to lower our contribution to consumerism where possible!”
People Reacting to the Pennsylvania Mom’s Christmas Budget
Just hearing that a parent is spending $100 on four kids would shock anyone, and that was people’s reactions in the comments. They basically dragged the Pennsylvania mom. Many couldn’t believe that she would only dedicate $25 for each kid. This is why one woman wrote, “I think even $50 per child is good but $25 per child? Yeah that’s insane. It’s their childhood memories too.” The mom didn’t like this comment because she replied, “You’ll be alright.” Other comments believed that people shouldn’t have kids if they would do the same. “People need to stop having kids if they can’t afford them omg,” one person wrote. Another person also said, “I don’t know why some people have kids if they can’t afford them. Sad.”
More commenters began attacking the Pennsylvania mom, blaming her for not saving enough money for her children. One person wrote, “Uhm. Hey so. You have 11 months to budget for Christmas. Your kids would rather Christmas over a trip for you and your husband because we all know y’all didn’t ask the kids where they wanna go.”
The mom pushed back, replying, “We have also had 2 surgeries in our house in the past year. You guys keep thinking you know everything that’s happened in the past year of other people’s lives & you don’t. The Disney vacation is for way more than just my husband and I.”
Maybe her “Thriftmas” approach genuinely works for her family. After all, she mentioned that they did the same thing last year—and it seemed to work just fine for them.
