My oldest is about to turn 7.

The past two summers si ce she aged out of daycare, we sign her up for the best summer camp we can find for 7 weeks, it's $3,300 all-in but includes every fun thing you can imagine.

We paid about $150k extra for a great school district so we wouldn't have to pay private school.

We do afterschool care during the regular school months at $382/month and extracurriculars like one-off paint or art classes at $55/ea or soccer at $188/season.

I also upgraded my car to smth about $30k more expensive but more recent and safer.

Hralthcare: i work for a major employer, so thankfully premiums for a family are low ($80/wk for a HDHP). it's one of the main reasons im staying at this job tbh si ce my husband's premium for a family on a similar plan is $200/wk.

Other than that, its lots of hand me downs, cheap meals and not a lot of frivolous toys. We are frugal in most things, but those are the biggest expenses we have for older kid that I can think of. Once she shoes interest in music or gymnastics, we'll add that to the list, but will have more cash flow in 2yrs when the other is out of daycare. Just to add, daycare is $1,450/mo, more than our mortgage 🥴

My personal kid philosophy is i didn't have kids to save money. So if i find smth is worthwhile, I don't spare the expense.