To think that Christmas is just a nightmare for a lot of people.

You can’t have the government giving people money to buy their kids toys. Plenty would go and buy alcohol and drugs with it.
Charities do help families who are genuinely in need. Parents who think Christmas is ruined because little Jimmy can’t get a PS5 don’t deserve handouts. Scale back, be realistic and remember it’s just one bloody day.

You're very naive if you think that isn't still happening.

I don't think many of us are having Xmas in the 1970s though.

Happens in lots of countries as a matter of course, with extras for the CoL crisis. Just look at Ireland

One knows of one chappy whose Christmas Dinner may be a tad megre this year.

He's probably got himself a frozen pizza, as Pizza Express is closed on Christmas Day. Or maybe even a Chinese! (guffaw, gaffaw)

I don't enjoy it much either OP.
I hate buying, giving or receiving gifts - I'm generous enough but just hate the process.
I'm not a huge fan of roasts either.
I hate the expectation to socialise.
I hate having to entertain an older relative who doesn't take any interest in me all year.
I just do the minimum required.

Op it's hard with younger dc get them free stuff or charity shops loads do big clear outs before Xmas and they are full of stuff.
On local Facebook sites people do big clear outs for free or very little.
At our lowest point I was saving 2 pounds a week for Xmas.

That's for food and a Xmas trip.

I saved into those tins you can't open.

Older teens are old enough to know you have little money it's tye slightly younger tween but then I understand we didn't have any money at that age.

My dm wasn't a great present giver anyway but she decorated beautifully, lights, scents and music and created a wonderful atmosphere.

Whilst I appreciate it is expensive the idea of a bonus for those on benefits is ludicrous. Adults can chose to spend a minimum on each other, a fiver, etc whilst focusing on gift for children. It is ok too to say no. We can't always have what we want, even if we are working.

Anyone moaning about Christmas please do something about it. The OP sounds very dependent on ‘someone doing something’.

Don’t be a mum/wife martyr.
Don’t get in to pointless extended present exchanges.
Don’t spend more than you can afford.

DS arrived with a wrapped gift to me from his girlfriend’s parents yesterday! I will not reciprocate. I don’t buy for adults except my DC. I will thank them kindly but not start some pointless exchange of boxes of chocolate.

I suggest making an announcement in about September that you’re planning a low key low consumption Christmas. Others will thank you for it.

Christmas isn't about expensive presents Wrapped second hand items will thrill a child. Everywhere I know has a present donation scheme too for children who come from poor families. I never got expensive gifts as a child, there were other issues too, but Christmas was still.magical and it was the little things that made it so the bright lights, the sense of anticipation etc.

You do understand that UC is paid for by the taxpayer and not the government.
The common taxpayer is not a bottomless pit of money.

I agree that people should be able to pay their bills and for food.

I'm lucky enough to be able to afford the gifts that I need to buy but I still hate Christmas, it's an emotional nightmare for me.

SKETHYLITA. sorry I meant 100 presents per child! You are right ,100 pounds doesn't go far.My DC are older now, but still spend upwards of 100 quid. DD has birthday on 28th Dec as well! When I was small we had nice gifts and food ,but not OTT like now .its such pressure on people

Don't think OP will return to this one.

Christmas is about having quality time with family.

Not for some of us it's not. Quality time with my family is not something that is possible and I expect I'm far from alone.
I wrote a post about my Christmas but decided it was too outing so deleted it but just to say it's going to be hell.
I'm caught between a rock and a hard place this year but the rock will almost certainly have been moved by next year and I shall do what I want to do which is totally ignore the whole thing.

You can have my £10 PIP Christmas bonus if you want it. I expect I'll manage without it somehow.

I agree everything is expensive and children go without which is heartbreaking.
To give bonuses on UC is ridiculous. What about the people who aren't on uc but are struggling. Who helps them.

Not giving people with no money a bit extra because they ‘can’t be trusted’ to spend it wisely is awful.

Lots of people live below the breadline for no fault of their own - wages not keeping up with cost of living, sickness (have you needed NHS care recently?), unexpected bills.

Being on UC or PIP should never come with a value judgement from society. It’s an excuse not to tackle the real issues which are usually caused a system where the people making all the decisions don’t understand the full implications for society.

YABU.

Christmas is about having quality time with family.

Gifts can be second hand from a charity shop and dint have to be expensive.

A meal also doesn't have to be expensive. A roast chicken with roast veg for a family of 5 is about £12.

I didn't buy cards either.

Glad others agree Christmas is way too much.
Every few yrs would do me.
I have social anxiety disorder so I don't do parties or crowded shops.
When the dcs were little we didn't have much and didn't try to keep up.
I've never understood eating way more than usual the moaning all January you need to lose weight
I've worked the majority of the season providing back to back meals for works do s or family get togethers.
Give me some lights a nice tree and I'm happy.
Just me and DH so not really doing it this year just a hamper I made for DM.

Parry5timesbeforedeath, I don't think you are 'bah humbug' at all. In fact you are realistic and grounded IMO. Why some people feel the need to buy gifts for every friend and colleague they have is beyond me. I would far sooner 'gift' my time and energy into helping someone than spend cash on a present that they will simply shove in a drawer and never use.

OH and I now only buy gifts for grandchildren under 18 and not for each other either. Nor do we buy for our AC.
We are both also in social groups but we never buy gifts for them either - we much prefer to give our time to be available to help any individual who needs it throughout the year and a few of the others in our social groups are of the same mind.

The Christmas card list has been massively reduced this year too.
There is enough pressure on families to clothe and feed their children without the added stress of buying the latest toy/tech gadget/ etc and don't even get me started on the government stopping the WFP!

To be fair, £100 per child doesn't buy much these days, especially once children are a bit older. I spend roughly that and still only stick to the supposedly scroogey rule of one thing to wear, read, want, need, and I don't buy designer gear.
One the books alone was £30, though (new release, so only available in hardback), and once a child reaches adult clothing size at around age 15, suddenly a top is £25, and let's not talk about a pair of halfway decent trainers at £50 at the cheaper end.
Even at £100 per child I still, occasionally, feel mean when I buy them a set of pyjamas to wear because they've grown out of their old one and wrap it up as a present. I'm not on a low income, but I am a single parent, so all my income gets swallowed up by bills I have to cover fully by myself and therefore even buying new clothes is a bit of a special occasion.

So I can fully see what the OP is saying with regards to costs. Yes, there are many ways of having it cheaper. Nothing is a must at Christmas, not even a Christmas meal, but children will get asked what they got and how their Christmas was when they socialise with their peers.

Where I disagree is the concept of a bonus. We need to see benefits for what they are: a safety net that enables survival. As such, they need to be enough that people can pay their bills, but no more. Bonuses come from employers as a "thank you" for hard work, or because the company has done especially well. That some workplaces rely on UC to top up their own poor wages, which don't even enable survival, is a different matter that needs to be addressed with them by the government.

Please excuse typos. Felt good to rant! 😁

I don't think you are being unreasonable about Christmas being hell. It is way way waaaay over commercialised!! The pressure starts building in September/October and by the time 5th November is over the shops are full in chrimbo mode. It's hard to escape from it. As a parent there is so much pressure and it's bad enough with the day job and daily juggle anyway let alone all this extra crap on top for one Fucking Day. Hyperventilating! My eldest child, I discovered, still has presents unplayed with from last Christmas that they had completed forgotten about, discovered when family member who bought them came over and asked about it. Over £50 for a visit to 'Santa' at a local garden centre and that was one of the cheaper ones! And no end of plastic tat that went to landfill, millions of Christmas lights using extra energy so all damaging the very planet that sustains us. Excessive eating when many if us are already having health difficulties from obesity excessive drinking more health problems, dangerous drivers etc WHY?! WHY do we put ourselves through this utter tripe, it's nothing to do with paganism or Christianity which is where it was spawned. Christianity has dwindled away and churches are largely empty in my area, except for Christmas!! We lie to our kids about isn't the world a jolly place with this fakery. I know my eldest is going to be devastated when he finds out that we move those god damn elves and that Santa is not real. Christmas is just a capitalist wet dream, everyone just spunking money they don't have and others feeling forced or that they are somehow in adequate if they can't afford it. The reality is many people are struggling to put food on the table at all, let alone spend over £100 on one single meal when this could be an entire weekly food shop. I do think you are unreasonable to expect the bee government to resolve the last 13 years of Tory's raising the pigging bank for themselves in a few months. It's going to take more than one term of government to resolve this, I think it could take 3 to 4. If the Tory's are back in they will further bankrupt the country, it won't be worth living here unless you are rich already. Thanks to liz trust I will basically have to pay an extra £600 on my mortgage for the next 5 years. I will still be feeling this at the next election!!!! Meanwhile she swans off with her ridiculous prime minister pension for the rest of her life for less time than a lettuce shelf life in government!!!!!!