My Christmas expenses look to be totalling over £1000

[Xmasdemon]

This includes decor including a tree, lights, garlands, a door wreath and other little pieces; outfits for self and child in family; presents and money gifts. Is this crazy or is this just the price of Xmas ?

I don't mean to. This is the first time I've been in this situation. And we have had so many bad xmas seasons as a family with all the negative drama

I think the only time I have had a new outfit for Christmas is if it was a present of something I would then wear for the rest of the year, like a new dress or jumper.

This make me sound ancient but my two favourite memories of Xmas as a child was the excitement of the day the decorations went up - my mum got us all involved in a big clean and moving the furniture around and then helping her make decorations. When we were older we were allowed.to go with my dad to get a tree from the woods

And secondly being allowed to stay up.later and eat tea in front of the TV at my grandparents house when we came back from church on Christmas Eve and latterly the big open house my Uncle would hold.on Xmas Eve.

Don't go in to debt to buy memories for your children, it is the experiences that will remain in their memories

Outfits?! 😂

That sounds lovely

We're going out for dinner Xmas week

Very odd post OP - what do you want from it? Do you want congratulating or people to say you’ve spent too little or too much? If you have to tighten your belt in January then I’d suggest you are spending too much and throwing a fake tree away is shocking waste. But you do you and justify it however you like.

You absolutely do mean to. Lots of money doesn’t meant it’ll be a good one

It's a 'hie long is a piece of string' question. Some people are spending ten times that, other are spending ten times less. Its entirely up to you.

Personally, I don't think it promotes year round happiness and contentment to have an amazing few days/couple of weeks in December and then be counting the pennies/feeling the pinch/suffering for the rest of the year. I'd space it out. Instead of doing loads of great trips now, save your money and do one in January and one in February half-term instead. Instead of loads of new clothes now, get some down the line. Instead of a massive pile of presents now, hold a few back and surprise them in a few months with something nice. Don't have a feast in December and beans on toast throughout Jan and Feb. It's much nicer to have a moderately nice life every month than one amazing month and the rest of the year in debt/struggling/desperately saving for next December so you can have one great month.

This is also true about summer holidays i.e. people who live on the breadline Jan -Jun and then spend a week in the Caribbean.

I was looking for a reality check ? I don't know the normal amount to spend on Xmas, because I've always been poor

You are not correct.

You lost me when you said you buy a cheap tree at Christmas and throw it away in the new year because you don't have space.

This is wasteful on so many levels 😞

This does sound like a lot to me. You can get a decent real tree for £20 with a Tesco club card, get some cheap and cheerful decorations (which I think kids prefer TK fancy decs) have a budget for gifts, shop around on Vinted for nice outfits or look for some bargains? Spending a grand if you can and want to is fine but I don’t think you need to spend that much?

Assume you are not buying all the decorations this year but adding? If not you can buy a small tree and simple baubles very cheaply and upgrade/add to them next year. A door wreath isn’t necessary, nor are special outfits.

😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲

You buy a new fake tree every year and throw it away??? Wtaf?????

Christ no wonder the plsne5 is in the state it is in

It is crazy because you can’t really afford it - dipping into savings meant for something else means you can’t afford it. That said, it’s your money to do with as you choose. We probably spend around the same - probably more, but that’s mainly presents, food, drink and going out spends as we use the same tree and decs every year.

Head over to the thread where people are claiming to spend £700+ per DC. That will make you feel like you’re doing well!

I've done it a few times and also had real trees some years I have also moved around a lot so that factored in it's not just trees I've had to cut down on in recent years re objects in my house

Dont get how she can buy a tree then throw it out every year to buy a new one? What a waste of money

It’s about how much you want/can spend .

I would imagine that spend is about average.

I spend about £700 all in for presents/ decorations/ food and a few bits normally.

this year it’s costing more as we are going away for Christmas week - so we have that cost on top of the £700 . I spend £150 on each child

Do you live somewhere with a loft or other storage space though?

When I was a small child in 1973 my mum was very ill in the run up to Christmas so we all went to my wonderful grandparents ( mum included obviously) My dad was very keen on tasteful minimalism at home, my grandmother absolutely wasn't. This thread has reminded me of arriving there, the door opening to reveal this absolute wonderment of paperchains strung everywhere and decorations they'd had since my mother's childhood in the 1930s. Nothing matched, lots of it was homemade and it was utterly fabulous. I dare say my dad was horrified but to a child it was incredible . You could make paperchains with your children Op. They fill a huge amount if space, they'd love them and it would be a nice memory. Don't spend lots you're just building in stress for January

I'd cut the christmas bill and keep the savings for the important thing. Christmas is one day and is so hyped up, perfect meal, relatives etc. it can be disappointing if it doesn't work out as planned. Kids will enjoy it but I doubt they are going to give it much thought come jan 1st tbh.

With respect OP if the money is coming from savings meant for something important (in your words) then you’re not in this situation now.

The other people in this thread spending £1k on Christmas likely aren’t taking it from vital savings.

We spend about half that on gifts, a couple of trips out and some nice food for Christmas Day (just 3 of us, we don’t host and we don’t exchange more than token gifts with anyone else. We already own decorations and tree). It doesn’t come out of savings though, just comes out of normal disposable income from September, October and November salaries.

@Xmasdemon it was. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, presents were small tokens and things we needed like winter coats. My parents also worked over Christmas (they were farmers) but for me small things made it really special like food we didn't usually have, changes to routines, the work of making decorations and seeing people.

Why do you need new ornaments?