They say your home is your biggest single expenditure – but it turns out that bringing up children isn’t far behind, with research showing it now costs more than £220,000 on average.
Researchers looked at 150 expenses linked to raising youngsters to 18, such as meals, education, clothing, holidays, birthdays and pocket money.
The overall cost ranged from £144,012 to £386,000 depending on the family budget – but the average figure was £223,256.
Sports clubs, classes and activities for children from the age of four set the average UK parent back £14,500.
Meanwhile, families can expect to spend £4,193 on cultural activities such as the theatre, cinema and concerts.
Research from online investment firm Moneyfarm found that the overall cost of raising a child to age 18 ranged from £144,012 to £386,000 depending on the family budget – but the average figure was £223,256
Hosting and sending children to birthday parties also add up.
Paying for entertainers, cakes and party bags set parents back £4,100 over 18 years, with presents for an average of ten parties a year over the course of a childhood found to cost £2,700.
An eyewatering £17,118 is spent on fuel to drive them around, and the overall bill for tech devices such as computers, tablets, games consoles and smartphones averaged £5,101.
The data, from by the online investment firm Moneyfarm, found that pregnancy was the cheapest period of a child’s life, typically costing £4,071.
Pregnancy was the cheapest period of a child’s life, typically costing £4,071, according to the research