Do you spend more on Christmas experiences than presents?

[MrsOpinionated]

What's your budget for Christmas experiences, santa events etc?

Do you spend more on these than presents for your children?

Don't have a budget but always assess whether something is good value. Last years visit to Santa was around £25 each I think but was really good.

It definitely wouldn't outweigh presents in our house though. They're quite small still so don't do much else!

We defo spend more money on pressies than experiences in the lead up. We've done Santa visits every year but only 1 out of 3 believe now (hopefully still by Christmas!). So we will do a Santa visit with ds and I'm also going to book Christmas nights at our local open air museum. We went a few years ago and enjoyed it so looking forward to that again.

We defo spend more money on pressies than experiences in the lead up. We've done Santa visits every year but only 1 out of 3 believe now (hopefully still by Christmas!). So we will do a Santa visit with ds and I'm also going to book Christmas nights at our local open air museum. We went a few years ago and enjoyed it so looking forward to that again.

Our experiences were usually free - Carol services, village nativity and Carol singing supper, Mass on Christmas Day, meals with friends. Our drinks on Boxing Day costs a bit I suppose. Then we have a theatre trip.

We spend more on presents.

We knocked Santa on the head last year as my 2 (7 and 5) just weren't convinced. Maybe if we spent £££ on going to an amazing one, but I don't have the budget for that. Plus they love the personalised video message from Santa (from portable north pole) which I feel is much more magical than seeing someone with a dodgy beard and outfit who knows nothing about them.

We still have Christmassy days out, our local museums and parks have loads of events on in December - Christmas market, craft activities, mini shows, treasure trails etc which are excellent and are usually free or just a couple of £. We also do the Santa run organised by our local hospice and go to the garden centre to see the lights.

We do go to the panto at new year but this is a family present off DM. Other than that I'm lucky my DC are still at the age where they're more than happy with the park or the beach so I don't need to splash out.

We spend more on days out and experiences than we do presents. We have a budget for each, and the experiences budgets is larger.
We don't really do loads of presents, mostly because our house is so small, and the children are young. Their presents totalled £80 last year and I'm anticipating less this year (budget of £50 each). Total present budget is around £200. In contrast we're spending £380ish going to Butlins the week before Christmas (we pay for this over the year), plus visits to other places, theatre, and several free events like community carol services.

When the dc were smaller we did all sorts...
Panto
Santa steam train
Xmas fairs
Tbh I'm quite glad they just want to chill out now:)
We usually do the school Xmas concerts and the local church xmas concert

I absolutely adore Christmas with my family and go all out to make things memorable for our daughter (who is 5). Over the years, we have been on the Stanhope Polar Express ride, Kielder Winter Wonderland and always visit the Sage for a Christmassy orchestral concert (e.g The Snowman). This year is our last as a family of 3, so I've enjoyed booking things for our daughter before the baby arrives in Jan. This year we have opted for a Christmas choir with an orchestra at The Sage on 10/12, the following weekend we have booked tea with Santa at our local garden centre, then on the 23rd we are visiting the pantomime. That, along with free things like putting up the tree, baking and visiting Fenwicks' window makes for a jam-packed build up. We spend a similar amount on experiences and prezzies, but Eliza has never asked for anything particularly expensive yet so I expect as she gets older that will change. I can't wait xx