Treating ourselves to a huge Christmas blow out - how would you spend £1000?

[Christmas25]

Posting for traffic.

We have had a crappy year for various reasons so have decided we are going to go all out this year.

We have earmarked £1000 to spend for Christmas (ignoring presents) - how would you spend it? We’ve already ordered the Tom Kerridge beef wellington from M&S (not part of this budget), but I’d love to know what other things Mumsnetters would recommend. I don’t know where to start!

Sounds like a stealth advert for Tom Kerridge's beef wellington to me.

I agree. It's strange.

Yawn.

Just saw the suggestion about the vanilla pod ice cream
Get a Ninja Creami !!

buy Some Crème de la mer face cream, with whatever is leftover from your Fortnums shop. 🥂

Don't waste it in Christmas Daybat home!
Wait until the New Yesr, then book a night at Claridge's, just for the two of you (yes, I know you'll have to add extra £££ for food & drink, and the train fare, but it would be so worth it!).
That's certainly what I'd do.

The title of the post is perfectly clear so I would say that if someone is likely to be offended, they should not have opened & read it.
If they did open & read, it was with the intention of being offended.

Yes, some people are struggling but plenty are not and the OP explained the reason for wanting to push the boat out this year.
I say go ahead and enjoy.🎄

Ohh love the hot tub idea! I would probably just do the usual food but buy from m&s rather than Aldi!

I like these ideas. And you could get some great family boardgames in, oooh and maybe some lovely fancy candles. I liked the seafood idea too- I'd go for a side of lovely hot smoked salmon to eat with potato salad and fancy crackers and what not. I'd also get some properly fancy chocolates to try. And you could get lots of stuff in for different cocktails. Have fun OP!

I would buy the best chocolates I can find.

I would not bother with champagne (I don't like it) but I would get drinks people like or make cocktails. You might want to buy the glasses, shaker and something you can use to crush ice if you don't have them.

Have lobster.

Buy your joints from Donald Russell. They are sublime.

I'd look at food reviews to suss out which mince pies, pudding, crisps, crackers, cheese board etc are the best and buy them.

Buy decent crackers - not Harrods - but good quality ones with a good gift.

I doubt you'll spend £1k, so save what you haven't used to treat yourself between Christmas and New Year.

Honestly? I’d put a deposit down on a summer holiday and give us something to look forward to for the next few months! Or if the kids were still small, I’d look into a trip to Lapland - no idea what that costs. Basically I’d spend it on a memorable experience and not material things.

people have been so harsh on this thread! I hope you enjoy treating yourselves and make a few core memories this Christmas ❤️

Ignoring presents. So £1000 to spend on what. Decorations? Food? Seems more than a bit excessive.

I’d get a cleaner in to do a deep clean.
Do a supermarket sweep around M&S Foodhall on Christmas Eve for treats
order a lovely hamper
book a black taxi to take the family around the Christmas lights during the week between Christmas and NY
donate £100 to a foodbank
invest in either some lovely Christmas tableware or a classic every day dinner set.

Ignoring presents, holidays, meals out and the main part of the food (the meat), the only things left are drinks (champagne and nice red wine), maybe a trip to a concert or the theatre, and decorations. I might hire a florist to make a fancy wreath for the door.

Go to some fancy local places - id get fruit, cheese, fresh hummus or baba ganoush, honey comb, pretzels, bread for nibbling in the evening

Can you recommend any good chocolates?

@IdaGlossop so you can say that about any post. Someone asks about baby names - sure someone will come along and say ' there are people dealing with infertility who will read this thread' and so on. The op clearly put the subject in her thread title. If it is too upsetting for some people they don't have to read it!

Leonidas
Prestat
Godiva

This! Completely understand the concept of treating yourselves after a bad year IF you have something in mind to spend it on.
Sounds like you’re already doing premium food for Christmas, good idea.

But it doesn’t make sense to actively have to look for something you want to spend money on. If there’s nothing that comes to mind then just save the money to treat yourselves to something you actually want at the point where you want it, eg a mini break, concert tickets, new household gadget etc.

A couple of years back we had a horrible year and decided to splurge at Christmas. We looked at lots of options and decided that spending £££ on any one event put too much pressure on that day / moment. (the big Christmas Eve dinner and firework display got binned).

Instead we spread it out over a couple of weeks. Quirky events and food we'd enjoy, with friends and family that we love the most.

We went to a community silent disco. Best belly laugh I'd had for a long time.

We had a family seafood night where everyone brought something - dressed crab, langoustines, smoked salmon, fish fingers. We provided the champagne.

With friends we had an old fashioned cheese and wine party. Everyone brought the best wine and cheese they could find within a maximum budget of £50. Honestly, that was the greatest fun!

On Christmas day we ordered a restaurant-prepared 6 course cook at home box. It was fabulous. Everything was prepped, there were little bottles of drizzle and micro herbs. There were videos to watch for each course. We took it slowly and did one course at a time. We opened the champagne and the first set of instructions at 11.30am and it lasted until 8pm when we finished the last chocolate truffle. We loved every moment.

Get the Waitrose and M&S Christmas brochures and spend a pleasant hour or two picking out thing you wouldn't usually go for.

Cashmere socks all round. A posh candle. A select box of handmade chocolates. Well matured beef joint. An organic chicken. Smoked salmon. A luxury facial cleanser. Champagne and a bottle of crème de cassis to make a kir royale. A bottle of Chablis. Tickets to see Christmas lights or ice skating at Somerset House. A gorgeous bouquet of flowers. A donation to a charity/foodbank.

Vollenweider, Teuscher and Läderach.

Id maybe use some for nice experiences in January too as that's when the blues can sometimes hit.
Other things: matching Christmas jammies, maybe dinner or lunch out on Christmas Eve. A walk and expensive coffees and cake somewhere super fancy in the bit between Christmas and New year. A panto production or theatre visit. All the ideas above re lovely food treats. A Christmas activity like the markets or wreath making etc. just the simple things really