Christmas on Maternity Pay

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This will be my first ever Christmas on maternity and I am wondering what everyone else does regarding spending? I have managed to do a combination of mat pay and holiday pay for December (going back in January) so it's only a few hundred short, but October and November my pay is less than half.

My usual spend for presents is about £400-500 for eight-ten people and I cannot justify spending that this year. Plus I now have a DD to buy for, although she won't need much in terms of presents!

I have some savings to get me through the shortest months but I don't want to dip into that for presents.

Did you cut back at Christmas whilst on maternity or did you spend in the same way?

Also, baby related gifts such as Photobooks of handprints on ceramics - are those allowed as Christmas presents to close family or is that a new parent no no (as in no one else would appreciate it!)

Are there children among all those people to buy for?
I've just said children only for presents.
I'm in one Secret Santa antenatal group, and with other friends I've said we're not doing presents.

I think gps and Aunties like the ceramic hand print things. We do baubles, so definitely Christmas-y

Congratulations on your DD

If your family is like mine (I'm a Grandmother), or my friendship group, then photo gifts/cards are all that is really wanted.

I haven't been on Maternity, but I have had times of hardship and I've been honest with people. I'd hate for anyone to get into debt for Christmas, especially with a new baby.

So you spend around £50 per person. It depends on what you buy. Do you target the gifts to the receiver or buy Boots gift sets etc?

No, doesn't include children. That is my family and my DP's family, we don't buy for extended or friends.

The amount per person varies, someone might get £100 spent on them, someone else might get £20.

I tend to stay away from things like Boots gift sets as that isn't the sort of thing most recipients would like. To be honest, a lot of the time we just tell each other what we want. So maybe this year we can agree a lower spend!

I would give the baby related items as an extra at Christmas, would never give that to someone as their only gift.
Just be happy with people and say you are cutting back , £50 is quite generous per person amount, you could suggest a secret santa or £20-25 per gift limit.
A lot of people will have started their shopping by now so make sure you say to people sooner rather than later.
Enjoy your first Christmas with your dd!

Well I have one present sorted, Christmas related bath stuff (crystals, bubble bath, bombs, confetti) from Superdrug - all reduced for the grand total of £4. Intending that to go to my DP's cousin and she likes that sort of thing but I admit to feeling slightly uneasy with the £4 spend, not that she would know.

I've done a Christmas on maternity and it was tough but doable! I tend to buy presents throughout the year, so I didn't have a huge amount to get in the last few months. Look for bargains and don't feel bad about your £4 gift!

You need the Lisa Angel sale www.lisaangel.co.uk/the-sale

Something from there, a tube of Christmas chocolates, baby photo in a cheap frame, maybe a book from Amazon - you'll have everyone sorted for around £20 each ❤

Dont worry about the cost . It is buying bargains all year round that has enabled me to manage christmas with a big family. It is not all about material things. If you cant overcome the guilt bake christmas cookies ( preferably now and freeze ). . Decorate and put in a pretty giftbox to add to the present. Or homemade fudge. V simple and effective.
And really dont buy much for the baby . She will not know or appreciate it and you will get loads for her no doubt.

We didn't cut back at Christmas when I was on maternity (and by then, my mat pay had stopped as I took 3 months unpaid) but it was the first year we budgeted all year for Christmas, and ensured we put money into a savings account each month just for Christmas. We still do it now, this will be our 3rd Christmas with DS and I didn't actually go back to work, so it works great for us!

We set a limit of how much we will spend per person, and don't go over that. I always shop around a lot for gifts though to ensure I get the best deal!

We have never done photo / handprint gifts etc.

People understand that circumstances change, and priorities shift. We were also the first in our friendship group to have children, and it was another friend that said 'now children are involved, please can we only buy for them' so that cut down our costs too! People do understand.

Just do cheaper presents. Nobody minds. Few people even remember who got them what.

We just told everyone it's a token gift this year and said nothing for us and only buy for the baby if you feel you want to.

We've since extended that to children only and grandparents get a token gift. Thankfully we both come from similar thinking families so I think everyone breathed a bit of sigh of relief that we didn't have to buy for adults anymore (2 siblings plus partners each plus 2 sets of grandparents 1 set of great grandparents and 6 children between us, Christmas used to be very pricey).

Cut down who you buy for.
We buy for:
Parents
Nieces and nephews (8)
DS

That's it. I handmake cards (about 15) and put a note in with a photo or something. DH and i buy each other a book and something useful (desk lamp, phone charger type stuff) to go in the stocking.

There is no way on earth i'd be spending 50-100 on a cousin! Especially on maternity leave.

Congratulations by the way

eBay. New with tags filter... Grab some bargains. That's what I did when I was on leave around the same time.

We cut back during the time I was on maternity leave. We still bought for the children, but the adults were bought a token gift - I bargain hunted and bought a few bits and pieces over a couple of months.

Tell people now, that you are only buying token gifts. The majority of people will be understanding. In fact, most will be relieved as people I speak to, say they hate the expense of Christmas, but aren't brace enough to say something. A big life change like maternity leave is the ideal opportunity to set the standard going forward.

If you hunt around, you could grab some great bargains - you shouldn't feel guilty about the £4 gift. Why pay more when you don't have to?

Can you do a secret Santa with both families?

We are pretty much as cut back as we can go in terms of who we buy for, it's only my family which is four people and my DP's family which is four people. We don't buy for extended family or friends.

I might try and get all my shopping done in the next month or so as it's more October and November that are low in terms of pay, December is almost back to normal but obviously cutting it fine for present buying.

I think for grandparents we might get a small gift and then a ceramic plate or mug with DD's handprints, there is a lovely place near us that does all this and I think it's only about £9 per mug/£12 per plate, might be a nice keepsake for her first Christmas.

And no, we don't intend to buy her lots of stuff, she is obviously too young to know what is going on or remember it, so she might get a couple of token things. I am sure the rest of the family will buy her stuff anyway.

We have really cut back since having children and me becoming too ill to work and DH becoming my carer.

We do buy for my two closest friends children, we have no neices or nephews and their children are treated as such. We also only buy for grandparents. That leaves us with 4 grandparents and 4 children that are not ours.

We always buy the grandparents photo calendars of the children, it's the only present that's ever requested. We get them from vistaprint and they have a 50% off calendars in October/November. We do get other gifts for them too. I tend to use Amazon/Ebay.

For the children it's a bit harder. I do shop all year round and pick stuff up and when I see it. I also make use of the Argos 3 for 2 offer - apparently there is one due in the next couple of weeks.

I know lots of people hate Facebook but I 'follow' lots of bargain sites, it's useful about 60% of the time but I have got some absolute bargains. I also use local selling groups and most of the time find them cheaper than eBay.

I got a pittance maternity pay, I fell down crack in the system. We have never spent that amount on present S ever. I may have spent over 100 very rarely on my dad, once got him huge sat nav but no way would I spend that much on small wage's with baby.

bum calendar are our main present too family as well

Not because of maternity pay, but we had a couple of Christmases when we were pretty broke (just bought first house, had a baby, car gone wrong etc) and we just explained to family. We found that most relatives loved receiving a framed photo of the children, together with something they had made. I think at the lowest, we gave grandparents a framed photo of the children, a salt dough handprint decoration and a nice box of chocolates to share. We probably spent about £20 per couple. We also bought sibling nice boxes of chocolates that they would 't usually buy for themselves, or a bottle of nice prosecco etc when it was on offer.

My DH family v well off and photos of each other and v low key gift's is what they give eachother they're Very careful with money
Sil on large Bank salary late 30s and child Les either give s our DC nothing or once handed over a ripped book where she had taken the reduced sticker off. Another v wealthy family gave each other bubble bath wrapped up.