How much do you spend on Christmas and how many do you buy for?

[onedayatatime73]

Every year I go mad a Christmas just because I live Christmas. But I spend more than I can afford and every Boxing Day I feel sick that it was all a bit of a waste and no one really cares about all the "extra" things I stupidly bought and I start panicking about all the credit cards I will spend the year paying off.
So how do you find a way of being sensible about it?
I am well aware that for some people this will sound like an inappropriate question because some some people buying anything at all is hugely stressful. So I don't mean to sound glib in my question. But I do need help in finding a more sensible way forward.
I usually start shopping in July and have stopped this year for the very reason that I just start buying stuff that people don't want or really like just because I like the buying part of it.
I just don't want another January of feeling awful about myself for spending money that would be so better spent on other things.
I tried one of those spending Apps and found it so laborious I gave up.
Has anyone experienced and conquered this?
I have a huge family so I need to find a way of making this work somehow
Sorry for long post

dp < £200
ddog < £30
dm £50
df £50
1 x secret santa for a db+their dp £25
5 x nieces and nephews £15 each
uncle, aunty & cousin £20 each
best friend < £25
godson and his brother £5 ish each
secret santa at work £10

that all comes out of my money and we have a similar amount of people on dps side.

id spend more if i could i love buying presenta too.

i write lists of what people will like.

i rarely buy christmas gift sets.

i stick to my budgets roughly.

i have 4 dbs so we started doing secret santa to xut out buying for 3 people. it works well.

you need to set a budget and stick to it. me and dh have £100 each to spend on each other, 50 on my parents, 50 on dh nan, 20 on siblings ( this is changing though as we may not be buying adult presents anymore), 15 on neices, 10 secret santa, my dc have around 200 plus each, sometimes more. but i save all year, 75 a month on park vouchers, 10 a month at asda and all my change gets put into a jar that we cash in at Christmas which is normally around the 100 mark

This is my first Christmas as a mum!

I usually start buying in November, without a set list. Instead, I go out and look for items I think people might like. I never spend more than £30 per person, but they will all usually get 2 or 3 things (I like it when people have multiple gifts to open). So it might be simple things like a cute notebook from Paperchase, a necklace from New Look, things like that, i don't believe in spending a lot and I don't really have that much money to begin with!

I would say, my main advice is to have a budget for each person and stick to it. I love shopping in Boots (and I save up points throughout the year which helps. I have £25 worth at the moment), TK Maxx, New Look, Paperchase and Flutterbyes.

I usually am only buying for about 10 people. It will be the same this year, except I'll also get my DS a couple of toys. I am expecting (and hoping, though) that his grandparents and great aunts will be generous this year and buy lots of stuff for him :D

I get you OP and I'm guilty of this too. I love buying presents so buy lots of little bits for people alongside main presents and I don't think people would notice or care if I didn't!
Generally we spend £150 on DC (both very young still), £100 on DH, £70 each on parents, £100 on PIL, £50 on SIL, £20 on aunt, £20 on my DGM, £10 each on close friends children (x8), £20 on cousin, £10 on DF's GF, £10 each on DF's GF's DC (x2)... Far too much.

We spend quite a bit at Christmas, but we put money into a separate account all year to cover it. We only spend the amount we've managed to save, so no credit card debts to worry about.

I'll have DD, newborn (not here yet but will be), 5 nieces/nephews, 3 friends' children, DPs, DB, nursery keyworker plus at least 3 birthday parties between now and Christmas. DH and I don't buy for one another and we don't buy for any siblings other than my brother (other siblings have DC so it has been agreed that we just buy for kids now. DB buys for kids but has none of his own - he's much younger than us, just out of uni etc - so we buy him something ).

I buy for DD throughout the year. I put something extra in my Amazon basket whenever I place an order eg a book, small toy, jigsaw.

I started buying more in May. Just little "boring" bits here and there like colouring books, stickers, pants etc.

I picked up a lot in a Tesco halfprice sale in July/Aug (wooden blocks, drs set etc)

I've just had a small spree in the Argos 3 for 2 as I'm starting to get an idea of what to get other people so have covered 2 nieces and 2 friends' kids plus have birthday party gifts bought.

I'll buy bits every month between now and then and I've started to pick up food bits too. I'll buy DD's main gift in Dec once she decides what she wants. 80% of what she gets will be things that WE want her to have ie things she will enjoy and use throughout the year but nothing WOW. The other 20% will be from her list of junk toys that she has seen advertise on TV.

I don't use a credit card. I don't use an OD. I would hate for someone to get into debt for the sake of buying for me or DC. I start January skint but not in the red.

Oh I also have a list in my phone which I add to whenever I pick up something otherwise I'd forget half the stuff I've bought.

DC- up £400 each (students and we don't do endless gifts across the year)

DH- nothing, some chocolate in stocking

Parents- £20ish each plus stocking chocolate, but if i see something they will love could be £100.

In laws - about £50 shared but only if they are in the country- so nothing for past 3 years

nieces and nephews £20-30 each- I have between 6 and 8

Thats it. I dont by for anyone else.

I don't buy for DH. Neither him for me.

£50 on MiL and DFather. If we see something we like and it's more then that's fine, I'm not going to limit myself to £50 if I see soemthing I know they will like. The kids buy for grandma and grandad too £30 max.

£50 secret Santa on my side of my family.

£30 on DNep/Niece

£30 for Childminder x 2

£15 on friend's children x 2

£50 max on DS' (2)

That is it. I will stick to that. I buy in November/December.

I don't start shopping too early. I think it's too easy to spend too much that way. You buy stuff then forget you bought it! So I only start in November now.
I have 5 neices and nephews to buy for and allow £10 each for them.
My mum £20,
hubby £100
my 2 adult boys ( who have left home) about £50 each
My 7 year old is having a bike this year so that's expensive and he won't get much else.

Best friend - 50
Sibling - 25
Dd - 150
Parents and step parents -50
Uncle - 15
Childminder teachers and ta - 3 x 10
Exdh - 15 (from dd)
Goddaughter - 15
Niece - 15
Ex in laws - some home made bits from dd plus 20 quid in whiskey/chocs
In the past I woukd have also spent 150 on exdh. Spending it on myself this year ☺

Total of £450 last year, plus another probably £150 that DH spent on his mum and DSIS. I budget, but roughly not strictly.

My parents - £25-£50 each
DSIS + DBIL - £75 (£30-40 DSIS, £15 DBIL, £25 joint present ie film hamper with sweets and DVD)
Uncle - £15
Friends' secret santa - £20
Friends' kids x 10 - £5-£10 each depending what I found for them
DH - £100
DS - £150
Work secret santa - £5
Christmas appeal - £10

I buy through the year, keep a very good record of what I've got and where the fluff I've put it and wrap it at the beginning of December when we get the decorations and wrapping paper down.

I prefer to do it that way, getting the shopping and wrapping out of the way, then I can spend December relaxing and enjoying Christmas-y stuff like making gingerbread

We buy for about 18 people. The typical spend is about £25 per person, with an extra £50 for DD and DH. Whilst £25 doesn't sound loads, because of the number of people it is.

This year, I plan to buy most of the adults a voucher for an afternoon tea in a nice hotel nearby. These are £8 each. We all end up buying stuff we don't really want or need....and I think an afternoon out will be nice, as well as cheaper.

Another way to save is to buy couples a joint present, or to buy children a joint present or even a present for a whole family.

Examples have been, a canvas of a lovely photograph of them, a board game, a voucher for an event such as a tea etc.

Quite a lot of people but relatively controlled per head. I start early and have in fact done most of the below.

Parents x 3 £100 total
G parents x 4 £70 total
MIL x 1 £20
Aunt & Uncle x 3 £50 total
Siblings x 7 £100 total
SIL + partner £30 total
BIL partner + 2 kids £50 total
Friends x 4 £50 total

29. Gosh.

Plus DP will get about £50 and DS and DD about £250/300 between.

You have to write a list, agree a budget (even if only with yourself) and stick to it.

I try to keep to £25 per sibling/parent/teenage neices and nephews. The only exception to that is my single MIL who will get a bit more spent.

Best friends and grandparents will get a token £10-15 each.

Young children relatives might get less depending on what is requested. Might be a £10 teaset, much be a £20 dress.

We keep a spreadsheet with everything listed to keep track.

voucher for an afternoon tea stealing that one!

I try to budget as much as possible as I'm a SP....

DM - £200 - £300
DD - £250 -£300
DF - £50
DB - £30
DB -50
DSIL - 50
DN - £25
Grandmother -£30
Aunty £30
Aunty £30
Then I do presents from DD

Nanna -£100
Grandad £75
Great granny - 20
Godparents £100
I normally get cousins kids stuff, but I'm not bothering this year as its too much.

I'm nearly finished my shopping this year. Just need to buy all the food and drinks.

DS 350
DH 300
DM 50
DF 30
3 siblings 25 each
Secret Santa x3 20 each
MIL 30
FIL 30
Groom 30
Christmas charity collections and boxes 150
Animals 25
Thinks that's it. I'm a huge over spender and start shopping way too early. It's mainly for DS I go crazy on. It can easy double what I plan to spend. I've tried to just add things to my basket but not check out on Amazon then every week or so I just buy 1 or 2 of the items. The bargain thread is such a bad influence on me

I've never added up...

14 people...

DH - 120
DM - 80
Stepdad - 60
DSis - 75
Granny - 50
Aunt and Uncle x 3 - £30
Niece - 25
Nephew - 25
SiL and BiL - 35
MiL and Fil - 50
Cousin - 35
Friends (we share Boxing Day with) - 40

And this year we'll have DD!!!!!!! Yayayay!

• food and drink, wrapping, tree, wreath and decorations etc. (Approx. £500).

So approx. £1,185 (I'm not great at mental arithmetic so I could be waaaaay off).

Oh also a friends kids because she buys but I was annoyed as last year she put no thought at all into DSs present so will spend £15 on her 2 children in total. I also buy wine/chocs for about 4 people that help us and about £20 on trainer and physio. Bloody Nora it's adding up. Burysheadinsand

Wow! People spend a lot!!

DP depends / varies
DMum about £50
DSis £10
DBil £10
DNieces/nephew £25 each
Secret Santa £25
Kids about £400 for Santa between them

But we can afford all this. My sister and I talked about what we were spending so just do tokens.

I cannot believe someone spends £300 on their mum. I think people have unrealistic expectations about what is "normal".

Kids probably £150 each and £20 stocking fillers. Maybe more for teenage dd and a bit less for 4yo ds (cheaper to get a big pile of presents for 4yo!)
Baby ds had nothing last year and this year probably small stocking.
We're not buying for each other this year as we are buying a big house and will be skint by December!
We buy kids only on dh's side so 4x£25
We buy for both sets of parents £50 approx, plus my sister and bro and their partners as they buy for our kids.
So probably £700 in total. I don't send Christmas cards or buy for friends/ other kids.
Christmas Day out to see Santa (Severn valley or familiar ) £100
Decorations, advent calendar stuff, extra food/drink maybe £100
We probably budget £1k in total. It's a lot but 1. We love Christmas 2. We don't get into debt to do it so it's basically the one time of year when we spoil the children and our families.
Love Christmas!!

DH - around £100
DSs (2) £150-£200 each
DM & MIL £50 each
DSis & BiL £25-£30 each
DNephews (2) £ 30 each
Aunts / Uncles £25 per couple (3) usually flowers / hamper by post
My Godmother £20
All above ate adults but we do have one family with 3 children within the wider family. We are quite close so do spend around £12 per child.

I buy as and when I see stuff I think appropriate. I will give money if I know someone is saving for something or doing something special. My nephew went travelling a year or so ago, so I gave him money when he went, rather than waiting for Christmas. I also keep my Amazon account topped up so when I see things on there, I have the money available. Apart from DC1 and DH, I am almost done. DC2 had something big earlier in the year so only needs a couple of stocking fillers and I need to order the things that go in the post for the aunties. Then I'm on to wrapping and labelling.