i give my kids things that i felt sad about missing out on when i was a child.
We never had any pets, besides the goldfish i bought when i got my first job. My kids have a dog, a cat and bunnies.
We never went hardly anywhere of great excitement as kids. My kids have been on a plane, to all the zoo's, to the cinema, the aquarium and just to the park on a weekly basis.
We always had hand me down clothes and things that we 'out of fashion'. while i have no issue with hand me downs and my kids arent at an age where what they wear particularly worries them, i like to make sure they have nice current season clothes to wear.
As kids we were on budget meals, like sausages, chicken wings ect, most foods that i now cannot stand. and although we're on a limited budget i try and make sure each night is something enjoyable and not repeated constantly.

Am i doing the right thing?? well who knows hey, my kids dont have an excessive amount of useless toys (although i find it hard to hold back on buying things like the smores pony!!) they have an extensive amount of books that they love looking at. (actually DF asked me to thin out their book collection but i refused to) they arent spoilt and never ask for toys when we go shopping. so i guess we're doing ok