In this land of big families, you might expect Santa to have a fairly tight budget.
But most Utahns will spend at least $100 per child on Christmas gifts this year, according to a recent Deseret News poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates.According to the poll, 31 percent of Utahns plan to spend $100 to $199 per child 12 years old or younger this Christmas. That compares to 20 percent spending $50 to $99 and 18 percent spending $200 to $299. Another 18 percent said they will spend $300 or more for each younger child.
Becky Price of Sandy has one child, a 4-year-old son, and said she falls in the $200 to $299 category. She plans to keep her spending about in that range in the future.
"I just got him what he wanted," Price said. "He knows what he wants now. . . . But I don't want to spoil him."
That may be difficult as Price's son approaches the teenage years.
According to the poll, 25 percent of Utahns will spend $200 to $299 for gifts for each child who is between 13 and 18 years old. Another 24 percent will spend $100 to $199, and 23 percent will spend $300 to $499 per teen. Only 6 percent said they will spend $500 or more per teen.
Geographically, Weber County youngsters and Salt Lake County teens come out on top in terms of persuading their parents to spend, spend, spend for Christmas.
According to the poll, 43 percent of Weber County respondents plan to spend $300 or more on each younger child this year, compared to 17 percent of Salt Lake County respondents, 13 percent of Davis County parents and just 3 percent of Utah County folks.
But 30 percent of Salt Lake County parents said they will spend $300 to $499 on each teen, compared to 24 percent in Davis, 19 percent in Utah and 18 percent in Weber.
Lorene Lillywhite of Layton will see her first child move into the teenage years soon enough. But even now, with four children ages 10, 9, 6 and 3, she and her husband try to stick to a predetermined gift budget each year, she said.
Requires Adobe Acrobat.
This year, that means helping Santa spend about $100 for a major gift for each child. The Lillywhites also will spend about $50 per child on new clothes.
"Then each of the kids takes a turn and goes out with my husband and buys something for the other kids," Lillywhite said. "They look forward to that. And we have a $10 limit on what they can spend on each of the other kids."
Total cost comes to about $180 per child.
"Christmas is always a hard time for me, trying to get all of the things that they want and stay within a budget," Lillywhite said.
She said she and her husband do not spend exactly the same amount on every child every year. The younger ones, especially, have a little less spent on them.
"I grew up where my mom kept everything the same, down to the penny almost," Lillywhite said. "My husband believes in trying to get them what they ask for, within limits, and not worrying as much about keeping it equal. . . . We kind of do a balance between the two."
Although her children may ask for more as they grow older and feel the influence of peers and advertisers, she said they seem to be aware of their family limits.
"I think they take a lead from their parents," Lillywhite said. "It was the same way with us growing up. You kind of knew what you could and couldn't ask for."
Those limits may be even more obvious in some of Utah's larger families.
Sharon Allred of Ogden is the mother of 11 children who range in age from 18 to 40. She said she and her husband always set general limits on holiday spending, with the understanding that the amounts would vary based on the ages of their children.
For example, smaller children probably would be happy with $10 spent on several little toys. As the kids reached junior high, the Allreds spent about $25 each, and that increased to $35 or more while they were in high school, Allred said.
For their married children now, the Allreds spend about $25 per couple. And the children who remain at home have about $75 each spent on them.
"They have a lot of friends who got a lot more, but we tried to be honest with them while they were growing up," Allred said. "They knew from the beginning that Santa didn't make any of the name-brand stuff, like Mattel. That was stuff parents had to buy."
With so many siblings getting presents, she said, sharing was always a hit. If five of the children got games, that meant all of the kids had five new games to play.
"With that many kids, even just one or two packages (each) looks like a toy store under the tree, so it always looked like we had a fabulous Christmas," Allred said.
She and her husband also tried to help a less fortunate family every Christmas, Allred said.
"That helped (the children) focus a little bit differently, too, rather than just on the greed and the getting . . . ," she said. "It was easy for them just to know where we stood."
The Allreds now have 27 grandchildren, too, and Sharon Allred said they spend about $15 each on gifts -- usually books -- for them.
According to the Deseret News poll, 29 percent of Utah grandparents said they will spend $20 to $49 per grandchild, and 25 percent will spend less than $20 each on Christmas gifts this year. Another 21 percent will spend $50 to $99 per grandchild, and only 18 percent will spend $100 or more.
Weber County grandparents are again the big spenders, with 36 percent saying they will shell out $100 or more for gifts for each grandchild.
Lillian Garrett of Bountiful has eight grandchildren ranging in age from 3 to 23. This year she will buy each grandchild a book and will give a $50 bill "as a bookmark."
Garrett said she tries to set a limit of $50 to $75 each year for gifts for her grandkids.
"I think it stays about the same, unless there's something really special the grandchild wants," she said.