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 ?

A Lidl turkey crown, properly brined and prepped, will always taste nicer than a butcher £80 jobbie.

(Looking at you, MIL and Mum!)

Me and dh normally have a chuckle at the tat available at Christmas and wonder who buys it. Now I can tell him some people do. 🤣

I have up in the loft the decorations from my parents first Christmas together. They had very little money but they bought a tree, and to decorate Dm took some old raffia she had and wound it round big cotton reels that she'd collected over the years. And she made a silver star out of cardboard, kitchen foil with a small amount of tinsel.
Once baby #1 came along she started a tradition of buying one thing every year.
The made ones have far more sentimental value - even as a child getting those out was the start of Christmas, even when we'd got far more and more expensive ones. I can only remember a couple of the shop bought ones.

My dd1 remembers fondly the year I set her and her best friend to make glitter stars that we strung from the ceiling. I remember more that the carpet also glittered by the end - right until we moved house a couple of years later!

Op. Change how you think about it. They don't need new stuff bought to make a special Christmas. The wreath's on the door is wonky, but they made it themselves. They'll look back with far more wonder at that, than the fact you bought the most beautiful one in the world.
Look as Christmas for being an opportunity to enjoy doing things together and don't feel you have to fall for the influencers' pictures.

People get so carried away at Christmas when there’s no need! And it creates so much waste and debt. I’d look at cutting back on some of the decor costs - surely you can make paper snowflakes and garlands for pennies?

Thank you, I hope you have a lovely time too :)

Didn't you have any of this stuff before? Are you buying new every year? If so, why?

Bit of a non issue really. You do you.

If you think it is too much then write it all down on a piece of paper, with the prices , and then decide what things you could do without/ or source cheaper and still have a great Christmas.

(personally I don’t see the point of putting yourself under financial stress, possibly for many months if it is all going on credit, for the sake of performative consumerism, 24 hours and a roast meal on steroids. )

Just spend what you can comfortably afford OP. It will save the guilt feeling!

We budget £1500 for around Christmas and save every month for it. We can easily and do often spend more though- this year our DD understands gift giving more so it’s the first time since COVID we’ve bought each other presents ‘off her’. I don’t buy tat and stuff we wanted is pricy this year. I will caveat that she’s an only and we are in a position to spoil her - it’s an issue we know we have!

I also cook for around 18 people at least 3 separate dates over Christmas/new year so that’s also included!

We have ideas and utilise the Black Friday deals/sales for Christmas presents- half of which get pushed to DDs birthday.

We save and re prioritise throughout the year for it, we’ve done the Christmas period for £150 total over the years to what we’re currently spending. It’s all relative and if you’re aim to make it cosy etc- check out HomeBargins and B and M! Some of my favourite decorations we have are from Asda about 7 years ago when we were in our first house and setting up our home. They last very well.

enjoy creating the magic you want and just don’t feel guilty about it!x

I think your interpretation is off especially as I am still in the midst of a chaotic and stressful time. But I wasn't intending to get into that until I was forced to explain why I want a better season than moving around living in hostels at Xmas without my belongings never mind a tree.

Our budget it £1100 all in.
Tree and wreath are both real every year.
All present for both side of family and kids.
Food and activities on the run up to christmas.
Only thing it doesnt include is present to DH from me and me from DH.

We save a bit each month until december so its affordable for us

I spend around £4000 all in. As long as you can afford it there's no harm! It's as expensive or cheap as you make it really.

I hate Christmas. The expense, the waste, the plastic, the kids overwhelmed by more presents than they can play with properly, the hypocrisy (the opposite of the religious meaning, itself stolen from previous festivals). We will emit more pollution shipping plastic from China and cooking food to throw away than in a month of ordinary days, while some people will spend Christmas flooded out of their homes by the changing climate. I ignore it all, and spend nothing. Nobody notices - they're too busy over-consuming on their own behalf. I do one Christmas-related group hobby which I love (and have teaching expertise in) for charity. For this, I volunteer many days in the run-up and have organising and management responsibilities. So I am actually quite busy at Christmas, though not a consumer of it.

It's not necessarily a huge amount if you can afford it. But if you can't then it's too much iyswim.

Today I booked panto (3 people), another Christmas show (5) and a light trail (5) and that's around £250 already. Husband is looking at ordering a turkey. Good quality one for 5 of us plus leftovers is over £100. Then main presents & stocking gifts on top plus other food and drink. Extra petrol to visit relatives. It does add up very quickly.

Same decs come out every year but buy a real tree, that is around £80. Don't always buy a new outfit but if I do I try and get something I can wear for other occasions. Same old Christmas jumpers come out every year until outgrown or worn out. We do lots of free/church/national trust membership stuff too. Try and avoid eating out during Dec as it really blows the budget and often the set menu stuff isn't as nice as the usual stuff anyway.

In days when we didn't have much money we spent a lot less though (no paid shows or real tree etc) and still had a good time. The idea of scrimping through cold bleak January and February was not appealing!

Have a good think about what your budget is and what is priority for enjoying the season and what is just extra "fluff" you can do without.

Presumably you aren't buying all of this stuff every year?

Can you afford it ?

and most will be reused for next year and many years after

I have money, but I make a wreath each year from a coat hanger bent into a circle and a bunch of wire and foraged greenery. I make dried orange slices in the oven and the house smells amazing.
Making paper chains is almost free, and fun.
Depending on if you have the time and inclination for crafts there's lots more options.

Tree is real and about £25 from the market. I have lots of decorations for it but many are home made by my kids. I once had a party and asked people to bring a decoration instead of a bottle so got quite a few that year!

I don't think it's an unreasonable spend but if you need the cash for other stuff then there's ways to cut back.

I am definitely going to check out home bargains before making any impulse purchases on Next

It does feel hard for me to imagine myself making a decent wreath. I do have a metal hanger and could cut a pine branch. Then just tie it on ? I just think I wouldn't do it very well

We budget for about £2500 all in. That’s including a weekend away, presents, panto all the food and Christmas Eve meal out.

I have the clothes and the decs. But I still think it will be about 1k with food, evenings out and gifts. I love it but I hate it..this year feels hard

That totally makes sense. Your children will value time with a relaxed Mum. That could be cheap activities making paper decorations and icing biscuits, dancing in the house to Christmas songs to big days out in new clothes. It is up to you, and it really is if you are without a controlling ex this year. Don't put pressure on yourself.Spend time before money- it feels better all round.

How many people are you shopping for? I’m going to spend close to $1000 I think. But I’m hosting about 20 maybe 25 (worst, improbable case is 30). Everyone will get fed and a gift, and my husband's gift is $300. He’ll buy it himself otherwise and it’s a massive stretch but at least he can wait till Christmas.

Choose a small tree that’s easy to store, make a paper wreath and paper chains or find something used. Last year at age 40 I finally got a wreath! I’m still waiting to buy a nice tree skirt but as I’m hosting this year I might not be able to. Don’t go all out on baubles. Look for used or cheap if you like them and then choose one ornament a year. If you need to fill in the tree you can hang sweets or cut out christmas pictures and hang them. Kids age 3-9
love making ornaments and decorating. We might even string popcorn this year!

Outfits depends- I think everyone needs a good winter and good summer outfit. We got ours Christmas and Easter as kids 🤷🏻‍♀️.

But if you’re over budget you’re overbudget and can’t do it all.

You make small bunches of pine/holly/greenery and then tie them onto the qire/wreath base at overlapping intervals and voila, a wreath for almost nothing! Then use wire to attach extras like baubles or ornaments if that's your taste.

We probably spend that on presents
DS £200+
Dh and I for each other£300-400 split
My parents £100
PIL £100
my grandma £35
DNs £100 split
We don't buy for all of the wider family but a few nice boxes of chocolate/wine etc for those we will visit/visit us £100
Friends' children about 6 in total £120
A couple of small gifts for friends £60

We have plenty of decorations, garlands etc, but new tree this year, plus we're hosting Christmas day for 10

To me it's not about the amount it's what you can afford, we can easily said that without touching credit or savings, we tend to put around £100 a month aside over the year towards it so it's fine.
Could I do it cheaper absolutely and did for years when our budget was lower and we couldn't afford to host

ETA
Oh crikey I forgot panto tickets bought earlier in the year and we always go for dinner Christmas eve so there's no cooking or washing up

5 kids, 4 adults, but I might clarify if we need to gift adults