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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

the cost of christmas?

25 replies

lemonstartree · 01/12/2006 20:51

ok guys, how much do you spend on your children's christmas presents?

do you make sure its equal for each child ?

how much is that compared with your annual income??

i will kick off - we probably spend abot £200/per child - perhaps £100 on a main gift and abot the same on advent calender gifts/stocking filles etc.

we have a disposble income of about £350/week ( to include food/clothes/extras etc but not bills) I do see friends with much less money spending much much more at christmas, and others spending much less tho' `i think they are really wealthy.

what about you ?

OP posts:

Roskva · 02/12/2006 10:37

I'll probably spend around £100 on dd. It's actually quite difficult to relate what I spend to our disposable income: our income fluctuates because we run our own business. This year the company has done pretty well, but this time last year we were on a really tight budget.

ComeOyefaithfulVeneer · 02/12/2006 10:42

Don't generally fix a budget, just buy what we think they will like/want, but not particularly OTT. Try to ensure it is approximately the same for both.

xmasmummy · 02/12/2006 13:26

normally xmas costs me about 3000 pounds. this includes pressies for 4 kids, and large family, christmas decs, food and drink and all the bits that go with xmas. this year however have been mega skint and whole thing has cost about 300 pounds. also have got some woderful things from the xmas appeal so that has sorted it all out. not bought pressies for family this year only my kids and my mum. food is bought but still need some booze

paulaplumpbottom · 02/12/2006 13:43

My husband and I spend about a grand on eachother and £500 pounds on DD. Boxing day food for DH's family £300. Christmas eve drinks party £500. Christmas presents for friends and relatives. £2000. We already have most of our decorations

kickassangel · 03/12/2006 20:04

i'm really not judging, don't care how you spend your money but i'm at some of these!
dh sometimes wonders if we're 'tight' and we probably are - we spend about £50 to £100 on each other & dd (each) other family members between £20 & £30. We have a fairly large disposable income, but choose to dispose it on the mortgage (dh has a very unstable job & we are paying off extra, just in case).
This year we offered the PIL a digital camer as a joint present, and they said 'no' as it would cost too much! We both just come from families that don't spend much on presents.

xmasmummy · 03/12/2006 20:13

kickassangel- i agree completely, paula thats bloody loads, im not sure i would be able to find anything i wanted for a grand apart from maybe a car or something- not much use as i dont drive yet. other than that i dont think i could possibly find even ten things i wanted which would add up to that amount. i think this year my mum has bought me a coat, some jeans and some boots, and dont have bloke but ex is getting me a voucher to have my hair done and some chocs

expatinscotland · 03/12/2006 20:17

we don't fix a budget. this is hte first year DD1's really into Xmas - she's 3.5 - so we bought her lots of little bits and bobs and one 'main' present: a play vanity table for £19 from Toys R Us.

Spent about £50 on DD2 - she's 1 on Sunday - but it was stuff like a fleece footmuff for the buggy and some shoes.

Usually spend about £20 on each family member: both my parents and ILs, SIL, 2 BILs, sister, two nieces.

paulaplumpbottom · 03/12/2006 20:25

Mirage · 03/12/2006 20:25

DH & I have agreed to spend about £40 on each other this year-we have had a holiday & a weekend away so don't need to spend even more on ourselves.We spend between £30-40 on the dd's & about £30 on IL's ect.

Our dd's are very lucky & get lots of presents from relations,and they don't need lots of toys & stuff from us too,just for the sake of it.

hulababy · 03/12/2006 20:34

I worked out that we spend about £800-£1000 on presents for us and friends/family. DD's presents come to about £150 this year. I'll be spending about £100 or so on DH.

We are on our own on Christmas Day so not too much food and drink there - steak, seafood, crispy duck, lobster (I think), champagen and wine will do it for the day. Boxing Day we have family round - I normally do 3 large casseroles on different types. Will have a real tree - have decorations already. Will get crackers and fancy table stuff, but nothing OTT.

No idea what it would all total. However, we don't spend what we can't afford.

tortoiseshell · 03/12/2006 20:39

We don't do an 'amount' - just see what the kids would like, but in general don't get them anything too expensive - we prefer small token things - having said that, ds1 is getting a digital camera this year, but it is our old one, and therefore costs nothing to buy!!! Dd is going to get a recorder, and ds2 is getting a wooden toy. Then we do a few stocking fillers like marbles, stickers, dd is getting an Ariel doll, and I always replenish the craft box at Christmas, thus providing a few more parcels to unwrap! For each other, again it depends if there's anything specific we're wanting - last year dh got me a cross stitch and a candle making kit, this year we've spent a lot more on bedroom furniture, which we would have got anyway, but it is nice to make it our christmas present.

Our philosophy for the kids is that it's a time to get 'token' presents rather than a huge present, thereby avoiding disappointment at it being the 'wrong one' or 'not what I wanted'.

kickassangel · 03/12/2006 20:55

i think for both of us we grew up withthe idea that you got a fairly nice present. if there was something really big we wanted when we were older (e.g. winter coat), we could have that, but any major things we needed, we saved up/worked for etc.
i also think that dd (3.4) hasn't a clue how much things are worth, so i'll save money for when she wants things when she'd older.

persephonesnape · 03/12/2006 21:22

mine are getting around 20 - 30 spent on their main presents and I've bought stocking presents from charity stores and boot sales throughout the year.

even though i don't get any maintenance from my ex, as he isn't working, i dare say he'll somehow manage to shower them with presents i can't afford. . I've discussed it with the kids and they're all happy, but i still feel like I'm doing something wrong, even though we're not really all that avaricious - it's all the other kids at school getting 'stuff' that makes them want things i just can't afford. anyway, eldest is getting a studio gibli box set from good old e bay - middle son has a cyberman helmet 9 which i will HATE by boxing day..) and youngest has a mandala making arty crafty set thing..

Nemoinapeartree · 03/12/2006 21:24

I have spent £80 approx between Ds[3]and DD[11mths] on their xmas present. Also spent £27 on DDs 1st bday present.

Our disposable income for food etc a week is around £60

CountTo10LordsaLeaping · 03/12/2006 21:27

We only have the one but if I had more I would defo spend the same on each one. We've spent £150 on ds including stocking and we've done it through the year to lessen the impact!!! I probably spend at least an extra £50 on food and that again on xmas drinks. I shop around for good deals and get a lot of xmassy stuff in the sales re cards, decs etc.

asleep · 03/12/2006 21:30

we spent less than £300 on all presents (for 15 people). can't afford more than that. i did a budget and came under as there was lots on 3 for 2 and other deals. it includes a nintendo DS lite for DD.

Roskva · 04/12/2006 09:34

I'm with you on this, Kickassangel. Dh and I want dd to understand the value of money, although I struggle not to be lavish (although I now think that I'm maybe not as lavish as I thought...) My brother and his wife are divorced, and they compete with each other with presents for their 2 children, so I am concerned that in a few years time it will cause problems when dd realises that she doesn't have a huge mountain of parcels like her cousins. Also, my parents are incredibly generous, which always makes me feel mean if I don't get them something really nice (for that read expensive). At the other extreme, Dh comes from a family who don't do Xmas at all and he doesn't see the point of it all, so I find myself treading a fine line somewhere in the middle. It's going to be interesting this year - may parents, brother (without kids - they're with their mum) and his new girlfriend are all coming to us.

ssd · 04/12/2006 09:40

xmasmummy £3k!!

good grief.

we live on less than £200 a week and thats to pay for everything!

oh well, guess thats life.

PeachyIsNowAChristmasFruit · 04/12/2006 09:48

They get 6 gifts each, including a main. many are roughly equivalent (eg they all get a book / chocolate / DVD) but i don't watch exact pennies.

Disposable income? no idea. But we don't use credit cards or anything so suppose it must be OK.

WhenSantaWentQuietlyMad · 04/12/2006 10:21

I think the whole total comes to about 500pounds, including all presents for each other, family, Xmas decorations and extra food and drink. This is from savings as income is quite low this year.

It sounds a lot, but prob about 100pounds on dd1 (3), one main toy and the rest is mainly clothes and other essential wrapped up to make the pile look bigger. 50 on dd2 (9months - more for dd1s benefit than hers!), 50 each for dh and I(on once a year items like bubble bath), 200 on the rest of the family and friends - can't remember how many of them but over 30 people! 140 on extra food and drink - including any extras like Xmas magazines , advent calendar, visits to panto. About 60 covers extra petrol for the grand vacation round the country!

I like to have less money to spend, because it makes me try harder. Does that sound weird? Last year I made beautiful aprons for all the children, supplemented by cooking bits and bobs. I made little dolls the previous year, and a sheep teddy for dd1.

For her birthday I made a dress for dolly to match hers.

RoskvaTheRedNosedReindeer · 04/12/2006 12:04

I know what you mean, WSWQM. I think I'm trying harder for dd generally, even though she's too young to appreciate it.

joelallie · 04/12/2006 12:22

About £500 on present for everyone - just parents, siblings, nephews/neices and each other plus a few friends and our godson. I'll be paying that off until February so I think that's more than enough.

Food is just a larger than usual budget for December - we don't go overboard, just the traditional things for christmas day plus more nice cheeses and a ham joint. No huge tin of chocs, or big boxes of biscuits!

maycontainstress · 04/12/2006 13:32

I usually spend about £15 a couple on adults and £15 on each Godchild, then about £150 on each of the DTS.

This year, I've had some major nightmares with finances, car needing a load of work, bills & mortgage shooting through the roof etc.

I'm spending £175 on each of the DTS and £5 on each of the Godchildren. I'm making every single one of the other presents at a cost of £2.70 per couple, thank God. Oh and about £45 on my DP.

maycontainstress · 04/12/2006 13:32

Er, £75, not £175, sorry.

Rhubarb · 04/12/2006 13:45

I have 11 nieces and nephews and this year I am spending about £3 on each - lots of bath products! For my own kids usually up to £20-£25 and the same for dh.

We don't get a tree, I collect some nice branches from woodland walks and I spray them silver and gold.

Christmas decorations I make with the kids out of wrapping paper and coloured card. Even the nativity is handmade.

For Christmas dinner we are going to his parents, who we also have to buy presents for, I leave that to dh who spends about a tenner on them each.

So it doesn't get too expensive for us as we keep it all cheap and those who don't like it can bog off!

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