To think Christmas will look very different this year?

[ButtOutBobsMum]

I was wandering around the shops yesterday and it occurred to me that lots of the extra "fluff" around Christmas is likely to disappear this year due to the increase in the cost of living-

-Christmas lights outside houses. With the energy cost increase I can't imagine many houses will have lots of lights up.

-Christmas Eve boxes, Christmas bedding, Christmas pyjamas. I've never done any of these things as my children are older now but their popularity in recent years has grown. I'm guessing these are extras that lots of people will sacrifice?

-Christmas parties. I know several people who host parties on Christmas eve, Christmas Day evening, Boxing Day and New Years Eve. Short of charging people to come I don't see how they're going to afford to host big parties this year.

-Trips to see Santa. I haven't had to do it for many years but they seem to have become more and more elaborate and therefore more expensive. My niece took her kids last year to one at a local garden centre and with the extras of ice skating, feeding reindeer and food and drinks it cost over £100!

Personally speaking our Christmas is always pretty small and low key so I don't think I'm going to have to make any big changes other than perhaps cutting back on presents for extended family.

DH and I were discussing it and he's of the view that people find it hard to change these traditions and will go into debt to carry them on but I'm not convinced.

So I suppose AIBU to think Christmas will look very different for a lot of people this year?

This. I live in a very affluent area. You might want to take a walk through Central London. Shops are packed, events are booked out, it will go on as usual for many people. Absolutely no one I know is concerned about cutting down/ change of lifestyle. But I do feel for the many whose lives will be affected.

People will do what suits them, although I'm surprised at how well Christmas bedding and adult Christmas pyjamas seem to sell - I mean, they're the kind of thing you buy once and then re-use year after year, surely? My kids have a set of Christmas bedding which comes out annually - they look forward to it every year and the only change I've ever made is to go from child-themed to teen/adult-themed as they got older, with the younger one receiving the old bedding (which feels like new because it's only been used and washed 10x rather than over 100X like my normal bedding).

But I've never been wasteful. We buy one new decoration for the tree each year, they alternate in who chooses and it goes on, so it's never quite the same but also never really that different.

We may see fewer themed Christmases, which change every year, but other than that - no, I feel that people will still do what they've always done, and treat Christmas like the midwinter fuck-it-all festival it's always been.

there will be cheap lights available,

There always are. But there won't be cheap electricity available to run them.

Many outdoor lights are now solar-powered. I don't think having those out is that big a deal.

Looking at some of these I think I've probably always had a reasonably modest Christmas.

I put money aside monthly all year. I don't scrimp on gifts but don't buy for adults or extended family.

I only send cards to people I won't see in person.

I never started Christmas Eve boxes - it's magical enough.

I buy nice warm winter pjs almost every year but not specifically themed for Xmas.

I don't buy, or see the point of, xmas bedding.

I replace or update a few decorations or baubles each year to keep them looking fresh and have an artificial tree (had real ones for years but genuinely prefer this one).

I host so spend a lot on food but always overspend and will be more cautious this year.

This. I've been wondering the same. Led lights cost pennies to run. If you could afford it last year, you can still afford it.

That's not what people are talking about, as you well know. They're talking about this kind of thing:

I dislike how much spending is about image. Surely those pyjama sets for the whole family are purely to look cute in photos.

@FatOaf - I agree, there is a house near us that do that and ask for donations to charity for it. I always think just donate the energy bill cost to charity instead, will be more money!

They make well more for the charity than the energy bill would be from what I've seen about local ones

The pressure to spend has been so ridiculous in the last decade. Expensive toy advent calendars, the bedding & homeware, pjs & jumpers,outside decorations and those awful massive front door arrangements, Christmas Eve boxes, piles of presents photographed for social media, masses of party food and on and on.

Its a good time to scale back and remember what it’s all about, in my opinion.

The rise in the cost of food is bad enough this year. I refuse to spend thousands or go into debt!

Oh but it won't be Christmas without our North Pole breakfast and my £100 beauty advent calendar 🙄

It's frightening how little people understand, even now, about the cost of running electrical items. A 6 watt string of LED lights will cost very, very little to run, pennies per night or even per week. Buying batteries for battery powered lights would cost loads more.
Yes, people will need to cut back on expensive Christmas items but the lights aren't one of them, especially if you've got them already. And letting people think they're saving £££ when it will actually make no difference at all isn't helping anyone.

Our Christmas has always been fairly simple to a lot of people - we don't go over the top with presents, I buy food for Xmas Day and make sure we have something nice (not necessarily expensive) for Boxing Day lunch or tea but the rest of the week is fairly normal food. Never done Xmas bedding or pjs, sadly never heard of Xmas boxes. Still had a nice time though. I do appreciate the local people who decorate their houses outside with Xmas lights or I suspect some will stop or reduce amount of time the lights are on. Also, people will cut back on the extra xmas day heating treat amount or cost of presents and food.

@ElBandito - I agree that batteries would be more but the lights are still an unnecessary use of electricity and I assume some people will have had them for years so they aren’t going to all be LED.

Our one specifically has a sign up about how expensive it is to do. I am guessing that may just be a ploy to guilt more money out of people. I have no idea how much they raise but I’d be surprised if it’s loads.

Lots of things are unnecessary use of electricity. These lights are minimal compared to some stuff people use leccy on.

@Applesandcarrots - no one is stopping you having your lights!

The ones in our town deduct energy costs and still make a lot of money for charity. There is always a little crowd of children with their families. This thread shows how much people value free activities such as going for a walk to look at the lights. I hope they continue.

No but sounds like people with most likely higher usage than mine will judge me for it😂

I can only hope that people will find more traditional and low-key ways of celebrating. I didn't have much money when DC were young. They don't remember any of the things I saved up for all that fondly. But they do talk about making salt dough decorations, baking, drinking hot chocolate whilst watching Christmas films etc. I'm always thankful that elf on a shelf and Christmas Eve boxes weren't a thing back then because I couldn't have afforded any of it.

Out side two strings of fairy lights LED and a snowman picture projected onto the wall. Lit every evening on a timer.

Inside our decoration have evolved some decades old. We don't do colour schemes, we use tinsel. It all has a history we cherish. Perhaps naff by Instagram standards. I bought an elf on the shelf this year 🤣

We'll be doing Christmas as normal, as will most people I know. I don't know the stat but surely not that many people spend every penny each month.

If people put their trees in the windows, that will make the streets look pretty (and a lot nicer, in my opinion! 😉😄).

@SeatonCarew - I agree 😉

We're doing the same as always. We already have decorations (bought 8 years ago and will stay until they're no longer usable), lights go on the tree but not outside (three floored terrace is too difficult for lights anyway), and we only really do stockings and one gift for the kids anyway. Only thing we're not doing is a Christmas party and that's because we'll have a newborn and I'm apparently the only one of our friends who can handle cooking a Christmas dinner.