How much money do you spend on Christmas

[bumbiddybiddy]

Just being nosy really, we have two dc and very little extended family to buy gifts for, this year DH company hasn't done too well and money is rather tight compared to previous years but would still like to try and make Christmas special, a family of 4 plus 2 extras at Xmas dinner and gifts for around 10 people! How much should this really cost?

Well that's like a piece of string. It depends on how much you have and want to spend. Nothing? 10k? Christmas can be special without breaking the bank. It's all about planning. IMHO.

We put away money monthly and spend that, sometimes we go over and sometimes less.
We put away money monthly for everything, like holidays, children's clubs so it's not a huge hit when it arrives.

I use the Park Xmas savings thing and save £400. I'll spend about £500 in total. We don't do big presents for adults though.

It's impossible to know what money being tight means to you but a moderate budget could be:
£200 children's gifts
£100 Xmas dinner (supermarket turkey) / extra food treats
£20 pp additional gifts so another £200
No gifts between you and DH
So an extra £500 in total

But obviously if you can/want to spend more then spend more and if you can't then additional cuts can easily be made e.g £10 gifts for others, £50 per child, £50 on just nice Xmas day food. Impossible to say without knowing your exact situation.

I’n not sure exactly how much we spend as I don’t really keep track. We start buying things a few months before as I like to buy things when I see them. We have 2 young DC who don’t ask for big presents yet. I’m going to guess this year we’ll spend around £400 on presents (for 2 children 4 adults), usually food is £200ish, decorations and extras another £200 and then Christmas experiences and outings I think we’ve spent £250 so far. So maybe around £1k which I don’t think is too bad really. I’m sure it’ll get more expensive as our DCs get older.

I think it's really subjective.

I'm KNOW I'm splashing out this year, it's been a rough year personally, but with good bonuses at work and want to treat my family (who are skint and with us over Christmas).

I think with the traditions I've built with family (hosting for the week, Christmas Eve takeaway, Boxing Day cinema, 'nice' stockings, big roast, gifts under the tree for DS) the minimum I could spend would be £600-700, if I cut out adult gifts and made people cough up for their share of food.

£250 each for DS, 18 and 17.
£125 for MIL
£25 for SIL/BIL
£150 DM
£150 DH

£150 for christmas food extras, having dinner at MIL so that saves a lot!

£200 new tree and and decorations.

£500 Christmas treats. 2 x Theatre trips and dinner. Day out in London. Lunch with DM.

£500 on football tickets- we go twice in December as a family.

Jesus christ its alot when i look at it in detail. And that doesnt include the weekend in DisneyParis for Christmas.

Its been a hard year so we are doing more this Christmas as family.