From toy crazes to the tooth fairy – cost of kids is soaring

Lucy Denyer examines how starting a family will increasingly hit your wallet

When I had my first child 13 years ago, I thought that babies didn’t cost all that much: as I tucked him up in his second-hand bassinet and snapped him into a hand-medown babygrow I was determined to be a generous, yet thrifty parent.

More than a decade, and two more children later, and the monthly spend on all things child-related seems to go only one way: up. The average cost of raising a child in the UK has jumped to £223,256 – up by more than £20,000 from the previous year, according to wealth platform Moneyfarm.

And it’s not just the cost of feeding, clothing and schooling them; it’s all those discretionary sums that, 13 years ago, I had absolutely no idea about. Like money for the tooth fairy. Or class contributions for teachers at the end of term. Or birthday presents for their friends. Or holiday football clubs. Or cash for the school fair, or investment in whatever current craze is sweeping the playground, from loom bands to football cards.

So, how much is all this stuff really costing us? Admittedly, British parents appear thriftier than their American counterparts, where some clearly crazed fools have reportedly been known to leave $100 bills for the first lost tooth. Most of the parents I know might hand over a fiver for the first tooth, thereafter it’s £1 or £2, and one poor mite received just 20p per ivory.

But teeth are just the tip of the iceberg. So what about all the other stuff ?

POCKET MONEY – UP Moneyfarm found that in 2022, parents forked out an average of £ 7,780 on pocket money from the time their child turned five until 18; in 2023, it rose to £8,169. According to NatWest’s pocket money index, children now earn an average of £6.42 per week, up 11pc on last year. And, of course, the older your child, the more pocket money they usually get – according to research from Statista, British six-year-olds get an average of £3.94 per week, rising to £12.75 for a 16-year-old.

TEETH – UP AND DOWN

Tooth fairies can breathe a small sigh of relief: the average cost of a lost tooth in the UK has actually gone down, according to research from Delta Dental, which says a single tooth is now worth £4.57, 6pc less than a year ago.

However, straightening out the new ones could cost you dear. Although children get orthodontic work free on the NHS, that cuts out once they turn 18, even if they are in the middle of treatment – and metal braces now cost about £2,500, up £1,000 from two years ago.

SUBSCRIPTIONS – UP

When I was a child, there were four channels on television and children’s programming lasted about an hour a day. Not so these days: research from Loughborough University found a basic subscription to Netflix is needed for a “minimum digital standard of living” so the child feels “socially included”.

Netflix has put its prices up recently, from £6.99 a month to £7.99 for its basic plan. Throw in Disney+, Spotify and Sky Kids, and the average amount on tech subs is just over £4,000 a year, according to Moneyfarm. My kids also enjoy subscriptions to three weekly publications: The Week Junior (£29.99 every 13 issues), The Beano (£11 a month) and The Phoenix magazine (£129.99 for 52 issues).

SCHOOL UNIFORM – UP

This is a non-negotiable cost, even for a supposedly basic-uniform policy primary school, many of which require branded sweatshirts or particular types of school shoes. The Children’s Society says parents spent an average of £287 on primary and £422 on secondary school uniforms last year. Moneyfarm research estimates that by 18, parents will have spent £12,621 clothing them for school.

CHANGING OBSESSIONS – UP The subjects are, of course, many and varied, but as an example, in 2022, the price of Lego’s T-Rex and Atrociraptor Breakout set had a price jump of 29pc, from £69.99 to £89.99. The same set now costs £99.02 on Amazon. Warhammer fans have seen exponential price growth over the last few years, with prices jumping between 3pc and 5pc per year in the past decade. Charmian Ottaway, who lives in York with her two sons, has paid out a fortune on the miniatures. “One of my children is autistic, so he gets fixated on things, and whatever it is needs to be taken to the nth degree.”

HAIRCUTS – UP

Ah, remember the days when a haircut involved your mum plonking a basin on your head and trimming around the edges? “Having a 16-year-old boy whose hair grows fast and is at a school with strict rules about hair length means he has to get it cut every two weeks,” says Anna Foster. At Little Bigheads salon in Bramhall, Cheshire, a haircut for overthrees used to cost £16; now it’s £19.50.

EXTRACURRICULAR – UP

You might be getting free education if your child is at a state school, but beware