Christmas budget

[bumblebee39]

To think £100 each is fair enough? £400 all in with £100 per DC, £50 on a tree and lights (already got decorations), £50 on cards and little presents for teachers, neighbours etc. (Family and friends understand I'm struggling financially this year), £100 food budget plus gingerbread house kit. May also spend a little extra for Xmas party clothes for the kids if we're invited to one (I'll wear something pre loved) and Xmas jumpers and bits like that in the run up. Never spent less than a grand on Xmas but this year things are tight. I know £100 will look like a lot more for DC2 who is a toddler compared to DC1 who is older.

If things are tight I'd remove the xmas eve box and just focus on presents. The toddler can be quite cheap and you can get little things from charity shops as well. No need for card or presents for neighbour. A card for the teachers is enough. Surely nobody needs new clothes just because they're going to a party! I wouldn't dream of spending a grand just for Xmas and we're pretty fine financially...

Oh and yes you don't need to spend the same amount of money on each child, their needs/wishes are different.

This year is going to be our cheapest ever, DC1 is due a few days before Christmas so we're not going anywhere or hosting, last year we hosted ten. We've agreed in the family we will only buy for DCs , at the insistence of PILs and Parents, so two nieces. We only have two lots of friends with children so three small gifts there. We stopped doing presents with most friends a while ago and instead go to a fancy restaurant just before Christmas but this year we won't be able to go as it's on my due date. Bought a posh fake tree in January, already have lights and decorations. So the whole thing will cost us around £100 in gifts for children only. Baby will either be a free days old or not born yet, so no point getting Christmas gifts for him. It's a bit of a shock to the system, last year, including hosting probably cost a couple of thousand!

Food budget for Xmas eve Xmas day and Boxing Day. May have guests one of those days. It will be a teetotal Christmas on my part, so it will be "bring a bottle or a pudding if you like" I will be doing two joints and trimmings on Xmas day, so leftovers for Boxing Day I hope. Then cheese and crackers, a couple of platters of party food, 2 cooked breakfasts at least (Xmas and Boxing Day) as well as something light on Xmas eve. Will also need biscuits and plenty of tea coffee and hot chocolate in, as well as mulled apple juice, sparkling orange and some nice fizzy juice like shler (sp?) and some bread to make stuffing and leftover meat sarnies. Plus mince pies and a Christmas cake or Pud. Most of this has to be gluten free as almost everyone I know (expect my kids, but including me) has celiac disease.

If I was skint I'd ditch the cards, teacher, friend and neighbour gifts. I'd decorate a jumper - xmas crafting and shop in Aldi. And no party clothes - there must be something the kids can wear that they have already.

I’m going to go against the grain.
If the Christmas Eve box is YOUR family tradition, then skipping it will look all wrong for you and your Dc1. Please keep that, that’s what is making Christmas truly magical.

What I wouod do is to maybe not spend exactly the same amount of Dc1 and dc2. As you said, first the amount a toddler can get with £50 is bigger than an older child. But also generally, things can be a bit cheaper. So we tend to go by the number of presents in your house rather than money. Wouod that help making it look fairer for your older dc? (Esp as what they will see is the the number of present or size of the oile rather then the amount of money spent - that one is for teenagers!)

The neighbour, friend and family member I want to buy for have already told me a bit of what they have planned to get for me and my DC and have been so unbelievably generous already (presents £50+) that I would struggle to justify not getting them something at all. There are other people who may be generous at Xmas but who have been tight emotionally And/or financially and therefore will recieve a thank you card if we get anything as I'm not expecting it.
If I had a sudden windfall there are 4 people who I would help, who I would share the money equally with. But in the case of Xmas it's more the kids money than mine.
I will not be getting myself a Xmas present at all.

Why are you spending £100 on a toddler?!?! That's insane. £30 if anything. Jeeze.

I say that because it's not like I'm going to be buying myself Xmas jumpers etc. It would be for the kids to wear at nursery and school. I have a job interview before then so fingers crossed I get that although I am not sure it will make much real difference financially, I am trying to go back to work for my own sanity before I'm too pregnant again or have DC3 to deal with 😂

I think your Christmas plans sound absolutely fine!

I’d challenge myself to sorndvas little as possible on the stockings- certainly the toddler needs less to unwrap and can have chunkier items in there and the older DC keep it to less than £1-2 per present- we do things like split up multipacks of socks etc to bulk it a bit, fair few sweets etc and make it cheap but fun. It’s all about novelty and surprise.

Then I’d find out what the older DC really really REALLY wanted to start there, then buy toddler an equivalent in ‘wow’ but not necessarily price. And then some smaller gifts. I wouldn’t say I had to spend £100 on each if you see what I mean.

£100 is fine but there's no need for a Christmas Eve box. I would spend £10 on stockings and the rest on presents. The main presents Father Christmas brings are meant to be what it's all about!

I think your right about the "wow" being more important than the price tag.
I will be taking a trip to poundland etc. And also bulking it out with chocolate coins and satsumas as I do every year!

If it was me I would split the £400 this way...

Christmas Eve box (clearly important to you all) £20 all in - Primark pj's and hot chocolate, marshmallows and gingerbread house kit.

Gifts - DC1 £120, Toddler DC2 £60

Tree - is a real one essential?
Argos/Dunelm etc do fake ones from £10. £15 max!

Food £100

No gifts for others! If truly determined I suggest making air dry clay decorations £4 plus £1 ribbon - use a cookie cutter you already have £5 total.

Cards £5 - no need for 'mum' 'grandparents ' etc, a reasonable pack with a lovely hand written message means much more.

Could grandparents buy a party outfit as their Christmas gift?

Leaves £75 for a festive treat!

Try having three teenagers who want multiple computer games which retail at £50 minimum plus new consoles & laptops to play these games on! I've managed it by saving £200 a month and not buying anything for me & dh for a year! Young kids are so much easier to buy for.

My total budget is £1000 that includes all food and drink plus 3 December/January birthdays
My DC are adults and I spend between £100 and £150 each
Start eBay selling in October to fund it - I’ve got around £300 so far

Something like this and a heartfelt letter or card to those friends and family members who have been there for you would be lovely. And they will also know how hard things are financially for you so wouldn’t want you to spend on them I’m sure.
Definitely keep your Xmas eve thing if that’s what you do- but I’m glad it’s normal PJs which have more use than Xmas ones for one night only.

Get a fake tree. Then you won't need to buy one next year.

We do t do a Christmas Eve ‘box’ but we do give new PJs on Christmas Eve (saves buying a new pair any other time in winter), drink hot chocolate and watch a film. We might get a new Christmas book or two as well - but usually in the run-up throughout December.

Traditions are lovely - my lot would miss new PJs on Christmas Eve if we didn’t. It’s just about balancing spending your money where it has greatest impact and not focusing on having to spend a certain amount - you can get everything you usually do to uphold traditions just be financially savvy about it e.g. Sainsbury’s Tu 25% offclothjng coming up soon, etc

Keep an eye on the Christmas bargain hunting thread in the Christmas section. Lots of fab things posted which will help get more for your money.

One of the reasons I bought a nice fake tree in the post Christmas sales was the insane cost of real ones. Also that I hate putting the lights on so got a pre lit one. Less mess too. If you want the 'real Christmas tree' smell, I'm sure you can get a candle, diffuser or room spray.

Ditch Christmas cards, hardly anyone sends them anymore and scale back presents to extended family etc, it's probably a relief all round to get off the tat exchange merry go round obligation.

£25 on Christmas Eve boxes sounds like a disproportionate amount of the budget, what is in these?

We have a total budget of £500 this year and I have to work out spending per person in advance as it works out at 30 people to buy for - so that ranges from close family, friend's children, and teacher pressies/ brownie leaders etc. In past years we have had a budget of £400 and managed. About £150 of that budget is spent on dd. It's not easy to make it go around everybody but I've got quite good at finding nice things cheaply, especially for the (many) kids, who I love buying for. Kids are easy, it's finding nuce stuff for adults on a budget that is hard. And taking into account wrap, cards and postage for parcels for loved ones who live a long way away. For the xmas stocking I have been absorbing some stocking fillers into the weekly shop where I can, and I do the same with buying stampd, a pack a week during the autumn so I have plenty for xmas cards posting when the time comes.

AustrianSnow's suggestion of giving teachers their present at the beginning of Christmas (say 1 December), is a really good idea. They must go home with so much stuff, a lot of which they don't really want or need. Making them biscuits is a good idea.

Some great ideas. I will have a look in the charity shops for some Christmassy clothes and stocking fillers too as well as Facebook pages for toddler presents. I recently got some stacking cups for £1 for DC2 and a couple of t shirts for myself £1 each so know there's affordable ways to do things. I think I'm just panicking because my income has dropped a lot. I always went with the "something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read" I just think I might have to shop around. I know poundland do some mr men/ little miss books and there is of course primary!

For Christmas eve the last couple of years in B&M they have done a movie box for a fiver with pick n mix and a couple bags of popcorn in, that will be enough for 2 of you, and those little chocolate spoons you dip in milk to make hot chocolate are cheap and the kids like doing it.
Definitely go for a fake tree, and spend less on the toddler. Lots of places have half price toy sales, and you can get some good stuff in the 2 for 15 in Argos.

That seems a sensible budget for anyone . It’s ten pounds a week all year.

Tbh I’m not really sure how many people afford much more