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 think you are probably right. It will make me sad to minimize it down though. I think part of it is sadness over previous xmasses with an abusive ex, and sadness this year that I've lost contact with half my family. And I just want to cheer it all up a little. I've never been in a position to spend much at all. I don't want to look back on this and wish I'd tried harder at least once

No-one else can tell you whether your own spend is excessive. It’s completely subjective.

We probably spend in the region of £2.5k if we include everything, presents, days out, food etc but it’s within our budget.

You should only spend what you are comfortable with, without going into debt.

@CantBreathe90For years I didn’t have a loft or much storage so I bought real potted trees and either gave them to friends happy to plant them out after Christmas or paid for a local charity to collect. The idea of buying an artificial tree then binning it in January is crazy.

My first thought was totally crazy as I I didn't think we spend much and often get second hand and wouldn't buy new decorations etc but then added up we've probably spent £125 per child plus my DP got a new job so he spent £250 on a bigger joint present then a bit of money on each other and food. Plus if you were hosting a big family day and had lots of people you were buying for I guess it would easily add up over that

Reread OP's later posts, lost sympathy are throwing fake trees out yearly. Just buy a real one if you must, christmas tat like a lot of other celebration tat , easter halloween etc ends up in land fill, why add to it?

Hahahaha surely not, they’re definitely on the wind up!

I think the issue is that it depends on your budget - can you afford to spend £1000 this year? If not, then I wouldn’t. We keep it simple - tree and mantle decoration. I’d go for something simple and elegant this year and then see what’s in the sales in January for next year (I picked up one of those posh fake trees for £70 one January reduced from £280 - still going strong and looking amazing nearly 10 years later). A ‘real’ tree can cost as little as £40, though.

You really do not need special outfits - my MiL likes to dress up but it became obvious that my kids would rather wear favourite clothes, rather than ‘best’ clothes so don’t buy into the matching family sweaters etc (and if you really do have a yen for them, again check out the sales and store them for next year). Clean and showered is enough…

Door wreaths aren’t obligatory, but many florists do a ‘make your own’ session, where you can go with friends and drink mulled wine so that the one you end up is unique and special - and then you use what you learn to forage for the components on a family walk next year.

Christmas CAN be expensive and we’re what people here would call ‘MN rich’ [having grown up in a council flat on free school dinners I’m still amazed at that LOL], so do go a bit over the top at christmas, but our focus is on 1) the gifts for fam/the kids and 2) a decent centrepiece for Xmas dinner [yep we go to M&S for a 3-bird roast, the rest is from Asda]. Oh, and 3) a tub of Roses for grandad.

Bur you can make it special. Things like making decorations together (even small kids can make paper chains), having a day over the period whre everyone is allowed to choose their favoirote food/a film to.watch. Small children don't care about the value of gifts, we used to get stockings with lots of tiny small value items and adored the excitment of discovering them full on Xmas morning.

I think it's a reasonable amount to spend on Christmas, although you can probably cut costs by going to B&M or Home Bargain - tree decorations start from 39p. You've obviously been through a lot from what you have posted, and deserve a nice Christmas. Look at local activities for the DC, including a carol service or other associated church based activities, all free.

so don’t buy one. Buying a plastic tree that’s meant to be used for 20+ years just to throw it in the bin after 25 days is absolutely mental

Never get into debt for Christmas. That’s a mugs game just like gambling. You’ll feel much happier if you start January 1st solvent.

I’ll spend very little extra on Christmas this year as we keep decorations and Xmas trees from year to year and buy some new stuff in the January sales for use the following Christmas. Boxes of nice Crackers, cards etc. Is there any way you can find a box to store Christmas decorations in during the year? Put it on top of a wardrobe maybe?

Unless you actually need some new clothes, you don’t need to fritter money away trying to keep up with other people.

We have a teen DC at home and adult DC with children. Gifts will be suitable and affordable. I am not interested in trying to outdo the other (divorced/re-married) grandparents who are quite extravagant at times.

wow! Most people definitely do not throw away every year. Therefore youve decided to make it the cost you have. It definitely doesn’t need to be what you’ve costed it at! Only you can choose what to pay!

I’m looking at about £2,000, probably just over.
but I have more children and a massive family, plus DS’s birthday is 2 days after Christmas so I include that in the Christmas budget

I’ve probably spent about that and I’m
nowhere near finished buying presents plus there will be the mammoth food shop.

Not surprising cost at all
2 of our boys have 7 year old phones so we’ve just bought new ones ( not the up to date current ones but better than theirs ) . They've cost about £1k and we haven’t bought for anyone else yet

We have all the decs already though so that’s a saving and we don’t do Christmas clothes.

As long as you are clean and have brushed your hair anything you would wear normally is entirely fine. Plus once you sit down no one can see your bottom half anyway .

Agree
We have inherited decs from our parents aswell.
We never throw anything away

We spend a lot in the Black Friday events buying clothes and household items but our tree is more than 5 years old - and replaced one that was many years older. That didnt go to landfill either, it was given away to someone who wanted a tree. We have lights, garlands and decorations that will be reused until they break/ fall apart. I've made wreaths from willow and foraged greenery but never kept one for myself.

When young our kid's presents included things like bubble mix and punchball balloons and chocolate coins. Young kids dont need a fortune spent on them and their gifts dont always have to be new items either.

I save £90 a month to cover Christmas. It’s dedicated to gifts for my family of 5, a Santa trip, a big grocery shop, a tree, new occasion wear for the kids (or the eldest at a minimum) and a night out with a babysitter. This year I think I’ll have £450 left which will go on birthdays which are all before March in our family.

I do economise where I can- clothes are from Vinted and this year included boots which can double up as school shoes etc. I’d rather have the money there and roll forward savings than feel pinched at Christmas. Gifts are probably the most variable element- last year eldest DC had a refurbished iPad but this year none of them want any single over about £30.

No I don’t understand this either. I’ve built up my collection over 35 years. Started with cheap woolies decs in my 20’s then started adding a couple of posh glass baubles each year and now have enough for two trees and can change my colour theme each year if I feel like it. Decs only get binned if they shatter or don’t work.

It doesn’t sound like you can afford that level of spend now.

How old are the children? Personally I would be looking at what will really make Christmas magical and how many kids are likely to care about door wreaths or garlands? Are they at an age where they would enjoy making decorations or Christmas cakes, cookies etc? My happiest Christmas memory was being allowed to eat Alphabites for Christmas dinner and jam tarts. Because that was normally not allowed. Staying in pjs and eating junk food and having croissant in the shape of reindeer.

If you are saving for something important then I would be prioritising that and looking to cut costs. Do you really need to go out for the meal? If so can you get an outfit from Vinted? Can you look on marketplace for a secondhand tree and decorations? Look for free or cheap activities for the kids and have actual fun rather than it look pretty and a massive bill.

It doesn’t sound like you can afford that level of spend now.

How old are the children? Personally I would be looking at what will really make Christmas magical and how many kids are likely to care about door wreaths or garlands? Are they at an age where they would enjoy making decorations or Christmas cakes, cookies etc? My happiest Christmas memory was being allowed to eat Alphabites for Christmas dinner and jam tarts. Because that was normally not allowed. Staying in pjs and eating junk food and having croissant in the shape of reindeer.

If you are saving for something important then I would be prioritising that and looking to cut costs. Do you really need to go out for the meal? If so can you get an outfit from Vinted? Can you look on marketplace for a secondhand tree and decorations? Look for free or cheap activities for the kids and have actual fun rather than it look pretty and a massive bill.

About three years ago I did a poll in a parents Facebook group asking how much people spend on Christmas. Lots of different families from different backgrounds, and poll was anon so noone was showing off.
By far, most answers said over £1k

I myself spend around £1500. I'll probably get away with £1300 this year though as DD has asked for less expensive gifts. Although I've spent a bit more on their clothes than I normally would so it might even reach normal levels.

I believe what you are spending is around the average cost, maybe a little on the cheaper side.

But as others have said, everyone does Christmas their own way, and it's really up to you what you spend

I have managed to cut back considerably this year. I've got a tree from Argos using the 20% off code they have atm. I spent £30 on tree decorations in bnm, a lot of the kids toys (I have 4) are from sales buying, shein, bnm etc and I have really done well with black Friday sales (tablets for £39!) dinner, again, have a look in places like Aldi lidl bnm and home bargains. They have a really nice pudding in Lidl it's 400g for £2. A nice bottle of cava for £5.49. Christmas can be magical and you can spoil your children and don't have to break the bank in doing so. I limit my children to 6 gifts each and a stocking else it goes wild and where do we stop! I also tell them to tell me 3 gifts they really want and I will surprise them with the other three. Then there's less pressure too. My extended family have a personalised Christmas decoration for £2 and they're lovely, and a nice box of biscuits. Christmas is a stressful time and it would be less stressful without the added expense wouldn't it ♥️♥️

Our tree costs £20 and we use all the same decorations year after year. If we want a wreath, we make one from stuff we forage (we have pine, holly and ivy all growing in the garden but there is plenty growing wild in public spaces).

Gifts do cost a bit, maybe £150 per child (we have 2, so £300). Dh and I spend maybe £50 on each other.

We do spend a good bit on food, but obviously we have to eat anyway so it’s not like if it wasn’t Christmas that we’d have no food shopping costs for that week. But I’d say maybe an extra £100.

So maybe £600 altogether.

But I do not host anymore. One year we had 8 people here for Christmas and to varying degrees staying the days around Christmas. BIL/SIL often come and stay for a week. Those years I easily spend £800-1000 on food and drink alone. I finally got fed up with it and said no more. I felt like an AI resort as they would mostly come empty handed and not offer to contribute in any way. We’re a normal family with young children, not ultra rich, I can’t be doing with £1000 in food shopping to feed everyone while they sit around my house all week.