How are you scaling back/ tweaking your Christmas this year?

[BanyanTree]

I am still on a mission to create the Christmas I want and not repeat the Christmases I have had.

What are you doing differently this year and what lessons have you learned?

I am reducing my Christmas card list to about 5 which will be my very elderly relatives only who appreciate a card. I am also not buying any wrapping paper or gift tags and am going to use up all the bits I have in my cupboard. Finally, I am going to upset a lot of our extended family again by saying I am not spending loads of money on presents. Every year they get the hump but I cannot carry on spending the amount of money we have been doing.

Caile is that for professional use or just for your family?

£15K on craft stuff? I'm quite a crafter but unless I did something expensive for a living I couldn't spend that much!
I like the idea of a special outfit wrapped up, DS is getting theatre tickets and he likes dressing up too!

And will not do last minute 'topping up' of other people's gifts as I often do when I think that what I have bought isn't 'enough'
I need to stop doing this too.

Want to avoid buying more wrapping paper (got leftovers from the last three years!)

Yes 15K is craft materials for my business. I can make 30K profit on that investment.

My biggest expense are days out over Xmas. My youngest dds are 9 and 2 and are happy with soft play and swimming to be honest so I'm trimming that budget down considerably. Mind you I say that every year and get sucked into it again every year

Our second baby is due in Jan so we have scaled back the expense of 'pre Christmas ' activities with our 6 year old this year. As well as this, I will be buying supermarket wine for my family to drink over Christmas, rather than our usual case from Laithwaites. (I've heard Lidl are selling 6 bottles of Prosecco for £20 next weekend - I'll definitely be getting a couple of those!) Too be honest, I do absolutely love Christmas and go overboard every year which I know I'll end up doing regardless of the fact I'll be about to pop.

I've already gone completely over budget on the dc's presents and it's only August 🙈 fortunately they all have birthdays from December-February so I can easily split the stash but oops is all I can say to that. Really need to follow the 4 present rule to reign it in.
Cards only to closest family and work colleagues

Agree that days out add huge cost, I also think DD got bored of seeing Santa in so many places last year so I think we will just do the Santa train with family as that's great fun.

After seeing it on Pinterest, I'm going to have a gingerbread house making session and invite 3 of the neighbours over with their kids so that the Mums can catch up and the kids do a Christmassy activity. In the sales I bought some v cheap gingerbread sets from John Lewis.

I'm not going to buy so much extra food this year. I did an online shop last year and spent a ridiculous amount. I seem to spend a lot less in store as I have to carry it home!

Some didn't get eaten and a lot of stuff that did wasn't really enjoyed as we were eating it so it didn't get wasted.

And I was, um, significantly heftier by January.

Presents wise, I'm not going mad. I have a habit of chucking money and getting Overpriced but not really thoughtful presents, so I'm going to really think about what my recipient would like rather than worrying about being seen as tight.

@HollyBollyBooBoo we love gingerbread house making day! We've bought a set for our daughter and my step daughter for the last two years and it has always proved a very popular activity. Looks lovely on the Christmas buffet table too. I've bought my sets from Sainsburys and they've always been great x

I think for me the pressure to have magical days out is quite big especially when friends are doing big days out with their kids so I feel guilty and do loads but it all gets a bit fraught and actually no one really enjoys themselves, my dds are also are scared of Santa! So I've said I'm going to do it differently this year and try not to fall back into the guilt trap. Maybe a thread of cheap ideas of things to do and cheap places to go would be great for those who are cutting back on stuff, it might have been posted before but maybe new ideas could be added. I like the gingerbread house making session idea.

Home Bargains gingerbread house was good last year.

I'm having a sort of non-optional stripped back Christmas as I'll have not long given birth to my first DC and imagine I'll be too shell shocked and knackered to care about my decoration theme or forgetting the neighbours names on Xmas cards.

(We don't do Santa visits etc, they get a visit at school/nursery and that's enough!)

I am following the Holiday Grand Plan this year so I am going to go into Christmas with a clean and tidy house and with a freezer with lovely meals for the two weeks so I barely have to cook.

I am massively reducing the amount of stocking gifts and the number of gifts I make. This year I am doing gift cards and homemade Christmas shaped fudge.

The family usually pop in Christmas morning and then we eat at 12/12.30 and I am shoving them out the door (the kids are 1 and 4) and it is pretty stressful. This year I am doing brunch and then we will eat at 4.30 PM. Plan is youngest will nap while I do some dinner prep and DH builds the lego or whatever with DS1, when DS2 gets up we will nip to the park for half an hour or so and have some fresh air, then home for early dinner.

franksidebottom yes, I think we too will be cutting back on days out - DD ends up with loads of Christmassy activities anyway, as we normally go to several National Trust houses nearby to do some Christmas activities, and my work have a children's Christmas party with Santa so I've decided not to take her to a grotto as well this year. Last Christmas she loved all the build-up, but to be honest by the time it got to Christmas she was tired and overexcited by everything. This year I only plan to do a few things and cheap/free ones where possible - carol singing, trips to the park to collect greenery, baking, that kind of thing!

Maybe we could collect ideas for Christmassy things to do that are free/cheap - possibly another thread of ideas would be good?

Yesterday I was thinking that I should also cut down on the number of presents in DD's stocking - I buy things during the year when I see them on sale and stash them, but to be honest I probably have enough of several years' worth of stockings now! I could make them last for ages if I put only a couple less in the stocking. I love buying and doing stockings, but last year there was probably too much and I don't even think DD has played with it all.

I was thinking:

• mini butterfly kite
• Snowman bath fizzers (from Boots January sale)
• hair clips and hair band (from John Lewis sale)
• pencil with unicorn eraser top (Hawkins sale)
• growing dinosaur egg (dotcomgiftshop)
• small robin soft toy (JL sale last January)
• mini glitter bouncy ball
• Cath K purse (ebay!)
• novelty curly straw (Tiger, £1 for 5!)
• lego minifigure surprise bag
• butterfly paper glider (50p, Hawkins)
• Nearer to the time I'll add some chocolate coins, a candy cane, a Lindt chocolate reindeer and the obligatory satsuma. Last year a mini Kinder house of chocolate went down well so I might replace the reindeer with one of those if I can get one. And possibly a magazine if I see one with some nice toys - last year a Charlie and Lola one with stamps and stickers got a good reception.

Surely a nearly 5-year-old doesn't need anything more in a stocking? That should be more than enough?

We don't do Christmas Eve boxes, but DD gets some Christmassy pyjamas and socks at the start of Advent, plus we get out all the Christmas books and DVDs - on Christmas Eve we normally have a new Christmassy book for her and we put out the mince pie and carrot and so on.

Wayfarersonbaby, I've just recently become a National Trust member, I will check out what they do at Christmas, I wouldn't have even thought of it. I'm pretty good with my present budget. I have 3 dds and spend £100 max, bigger presents i.e. laptops, phones ect get bought for birthdays, but my days out budget just spirals out of control, especially when eating out as a family of 5 is factored into it. I don't want to cut down on the fun as that's what life is all about, just cheaper fun!!

Cutting down on cards...mostly for elderly relatives.
Sticking to budget!
I'd love to do a buffet this year! I might suggest that to dh!
We are staying at home...much prefer it. I don't have to get dressed!
I do stockings..the kids love them
Db and I just do token gifts

Dh

The older I get the more I dislike Christmas.

I wish it could all be so much simpler. Church, walks in the snow (as if), special meal with loved ones, a couple of tasteful gifts and a festive film then off to bed.

I loathe the consumerism of it all. I hate how I get caught up in it because it's expected. Everyone grumpily buying gifts for one another, dreading the visits, spending hours writing cards to people they don't give a toss about. I want it all to stop!

We lived abroad for a couple of years and looking back that was my chance to do things my way but we stupidly flew home to spend it with family so it was as much of a crazy stressfest as ever.

One of these years I'll be on a beach in Barbados with a glass of champagne be a books.

Or perhaps I'll fulfil my other fantasy of walking into my local bookshop on Christmas Eve and buying book tokens for everyone on my list. One stop shop, job done.

frank ooh the NT do lovely Christmas activities! The houses near us are decorated and have decorated walks in the grounds, plus children's decoration and biscuit making at weekends, and a couple of Christmas weekends in December with music, craft stalls and Christmassy entertainment. Really lovely to pop to for the atmosphere if you're a member. One near us does an amazing winter lights walk, but that's quite expensive (and tickets sell out in July!) But the parks are decorated anyway and well worth a visit. I find once we've done a couple of those, DD is well into the Christmassy mood (and so am I!)

ayla that sounds idyllic, I wish it was all a bit simpler and more about the experience and not the massive presentfest it's become. I honestly think most kids would prefer that if given the opportunity. I asked DD last year what her favourite bit of Christmas was - highest on the list were the tree, Christmas lights in town, making biscuits, and so on -- the presents came very far down the list! Sometimes I feel guilty we can't afford at the moment to do all the exciting Lapland UK stuff and so on but then I remember that DD doesn't seem to care about that and likes all the lights best of all!

I enjoy christmas more the older I get.
The kids no longer get up at 5am to open presents, no longer building up lego all afternoon, kids can have a glass of champagne with us over our meal.
Very relaxed and civilised.

I think as I've gotten older I'm not shy about saying no or saying "this is what we are doing. Anyone who wants to join in is welcome"
It makes life a lot easier

I love Christmas, but looking at days out etc, we tend to keep things pretty low-key and old-fashioned.

During Advent, our activities are fun, but mostly about getting ready for Christmas, so collecting pine cones, making decorations, baking, making cards, carol singing etc. We usually go ice skating and to the pantomime, but that happens after Christmas and the tickets are part of our presents.

Wayfarersonbaby - ooh that sounds pretty fab, especially the illuminated walks, is there any you'd recommend (I'm in the South East).