Fed up of Xmas already. It's expense after expense

[DragonMama3]

school cinema trip £5 x 2 =10
santa trip = 5 x 2 =10
xmas fete - 15 gbp

santa visits £36
christmas clothes for school dos £58
santa hats £4
school turkey dinner £3
eldest college trip to Blackpool £40

I work in a secondary school and a lot of our teenagers just wore woolly/wintery jumpers on Christmas jumper day as they didn’t want to contribute pointlessly to the fast fashion trend. Is this something you could do next year, OP? The eco soc also ran a Christmas jumper swap the week before - pupils could bring in last year’s ones and swap for bigger sizes/new ones. It was great idea I thought and helped parents with costs.

I understand some people really don't have a lot of money, but for those on an income where they can get by most of the time, I really don't get the MN fuss about Christmas jumpers. It's not a surprise - Christmas happens every year and Christmas jumpers have been revived for at least 10 years. You can very easily get sale ones in January or find one in a carity shop on November. If you look at the last minute it will be a problem.

My child is wearing one I got got £2 from M&S last year. I didn't know exactly what size they'd be but I had a good guess; if it's a touch small or large it doesn't matter. My kids are young primary/pre school so presumably at a fast growing stage and even they get 2 years' wear out of Christmas clothes (which they get plenty of wear out of in December and love). I bet if you asked classmates there are plenty who would loan a Christmas jumper/cardi/dress too.

I've spent hundreds. More than I could really afford in all honesty, but my child has ASD and SLD and this is the first year she has shown any interest so absolutely worth every penny for me. Unfortunately most events aren't SEN friendly and those that are tend to be expensive, and I have ten regular school staff to but gifts for, so I started saving well in advance.

I've just taken the stance they will only be young once and i want them to have magical memories of Christmas time.

mine are in their twenties and we never did Christmas jumpers - although i relented when they were teenagers, however i am not sure the jumpers were appreciated
i dont own one myself
years of being hard up and deterred me!

I live in the Lakes too OP and you’re right, you need notice to buy things as the only options are driving in to Kendal, Barrow or Lancaster… which are all a good 45 mins away at least from me.

My dd went to the Shrek show too. I paid for it in September, which was good.

Surely most people know kids need Christmas party clothes every year. DD’s Christmas party outfit was ordered online in early Nov.

DD’s school didn’t charge us anything for the pantomime trip, non uniform days, christmas lunch or christmas party!

I however have spent a small fortune on Santa visits, polar express train rides, winter wonderland, Christmas market trips etc, at least one event a week since the end of Nov 🙈🙈

I think as well as the cost of everything going up it's also the expectation increases every year. All this nonsense with elf on the shelf,1st December boxes, Xmas eve boxes, expensive outings to meet Santa when years ago it was just in a shopping centre grotto and you only had to pay a couple of quid. The schools also push more donations so we've had loads of cake sales, Xmas fayres, costumes for nativity, trips that cost over a tenner each. It's just relentless. I am on the bones of my arse and just counting down till pay day next Thursday.

You're not wrong but it's possible to keep costs down with a bit of forward planning. Vinted is often heaving with barely worn Christmas jumpers/party clothes and if you buy them out of season you can have your pick for very cheap.

I'm learning that I need to save a lot more throughout the year than I used to to cover all the extra events.

Kendal, Penrith or Carlisle. If no-ones crashed on M6!

No free santa here. Hayes is prebook on Sept 1st. It had sold out by lunchtime when I remembered. Doh!

Genuinely sorry to hear that xx Have a peaceful Xmas x

yes re savings. Two years ago I started a separate Christmas account and put £75 a month in it, but i was always so stretched I have literally never gotten through the month without taking that out. This year I am absolutely determined to keep those funds separate. It would have made such a difference this year. Taken the anxiety out of it.

I'm disabled and can't drive. legs destroyed by head on crash.

also set up a separate christmas savings account

Reading all this makes me so glad that our school seems to understand a lot of people are struggling. In November they put out a call for donations of outgrown and unwanted Christmas jumpers, then when the Christmas party was announced (in plenty of time, there would have been a riot if they did it the afternoon before) they made sure to stress that party clothing was entirely optional, with an invitation for parents to pop in and choose a donated jumper for their child if they wanted. They do similar with school clothes throughout the year, available for everyone with no questions asked.

I think this is a great idea and somewhat solves the problem of wasteful Christmas jumpers if they're being handed down every year instead of worn a couple of times and discarded.

Why is Santa visit and clothes that expensive ?

Double visits? I assumed that meant she had 2 children not she took one twice ?

I've said it before on here recently and I'll say it again:

WHY are schools telling parents they must BUY 'Xmas jumpers' in order then to pay for the privilege of wearing it to school, for charity (apparently). What kind of crazy logic is that?

As for the rest of the seemingly never-ending list of school-related expense: don't do it. Make your feelings known. It looks to me like schools are making parents pay out so that their children can fill time in school with too much Christmas faffing about.

I an older mum so never once paid for a santa visit. What is it you are paying 36gbp for? Are the dc given a gift, photo etc?

it was very good, they had christmas crafts, made reindeer food, spent half an hour with Mr and Mrs Santa.