Buying Your Kids Taylor Swift Tickets For the Holidays Raises The Bar Too High

Kids' holiday wish lists are making parents' jaws drop—but yet we're still paying up.

Fact checked by Sarah Scott

When I saw my seventh grader’s Christmas wish list, I nearly fell off her bed onto her neatly stacked pile of Lululemon high-rise Hotty Hot shorts, knocking over a display of Drunk Elephant serums from her vanity.

Given her expensive taste, I should not have been surprised that at the tender age of 13, she has humbly requested swag from Santa that totals more than our ever-escalating monthly electric bill. From a Stanley water bottle that is so expensive it must be etched in gold, to Sephora scores worthy of a night at the Academy Awards, to perpetually-sold-out UGG slippers I can likely only find if I happen to befriend the president of the company in the next 25 days—I have to give my daughter credit: She swung for the fences this year!

While I’ll do my best to get what I can from her list, the reality is that unless I win the lottery before the holidays, there will be a few things she has her heart set on that are missing from underneath the tree. I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled by her haul come Christmas morning, but will that feeling last once she returns to school in the New Year? That's because judging from the conversations I’ve had with other parents, they may be pulling off even bigger bounties for their kids this season.

A friend of a friend is planning to surprise her tween with Taylor Swift tickets to a show across the country, which means included in her supersized gift are plane tickets and a hotel stay. Similarly, a mom I know is willing to pay any price for tickets to an Eras Tour date, no matter where or when.

As for boys, friends have shared that their sons are hopeful their stockings will be filled with video game consoles that cost as much as a luxury car payment, and Nike sneakers with a price tag to rival designer shoes worn by A-list celebrities.

I’m picturing my middle schooler walking into class sporting her brand new Lululemon, Kendra Scott, and UGGs, only to be taken down a few notches by one classmate who’s buzzing about how his parents gifted him with Super Bowl tickets, and another whose clutching a $5,000 Louis Vuitton bag. Suddenly, my daughter’s thinking that we suck because we only ponied up for a $70 necklace?

The bar for what we are buying for our kids has just been raised too darn high if you ask me—and many other parents out there who are feeling the pressure heading into the most wonderful time of the year.

Talk to Rachel Harris Keohane (@rachel.keohane), who shared a viral Reel on Instagram that laments, “When your daughter’s Christmas list went from princess pajamas, squishmallows, and slime, to…” and then we see a slideshow of the hottest gift for tweens in 2023, including UGGs, Stanleys, and high-end makeup from brands like Charlotte Tilbury.

“The tween lifestyle is truly unattainable,” agrees one sympathetic commenter to the post.

The reality is that so many parents, including me, will be paying for stuff we can’t believe costs as much as it does, all so our kids can fit in with their peers—whose parents are also charging hundreds if not thousands of dollars to make their child’s Christmas dreams come true.

But keeping up with the junior Joneses is anxiety-producing and exhausting in this day and age—and when do we just say “no?” No, you can’t have Lululemon shorts that look almost exactly the same as styles at Target, where I can purchase seven pairs for the same cost! No, you can’t go to see Taylor Swift when the average price of a ticket is more than I spend on groceries in a month!

You never want to disappoint your kids, but perhaps we’re also doing them a disservice by “surprising them” with $100 moisturizer, $130 cropped hoodies, and $50 water bottles for the holidays since there’s nowhere to go but down when we normalize springing for $1,000 phones for 13-year-olds.

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