Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

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

Original poster

How much do you spend on your wife /husband /partner at Christmas ?

128 replies

aingerlinger · 21/12/2021 10:16

I never know what's too much or too little.
This year it's around £150 but I have a friend who spends a lot more.
What do you spend on them?

OP posts:
onedayoranother · 21/12/2021 13:28

My husband passed away some time ago but we had a £50 limit on each other. He had four kids (two with me), five brothers and two sets of parents... but it wasn't a case of money as much as being creative. We did not have a birthday limit.

Lndnmummy · 21/12/2021 13:32

It depends on money situation and what he wants. We often dont want for anything so just make an effort with a card and donation to women's aid. This year about £300 as he has seen some clothes he likes. He has had a very bad year so it feels nice to spoil him. I have asked him not to get me anything. I have done a huge declutter this year and last thing I want is more "stuff".

BarbaraofSeville · 21/12/2021 13:32

It's not an 'OMG I must hit this target' but rather an 'I can't afford to go over this budget'

But it very much does seem more like 'I must hit this target' rather than 'I have to limit myself to this little'.

People are talking about 'budgeting' quite large amounts of money. If they're really 'counting the pennies' they wouldn't be spending so much. You can't call people 'privileged' when their random amount comes to £50 but sympathise with the struggles of people who are on a 'budget' of hundreds of pounds.

Jericha · 21/12/2021 13:34

Usually £100-£150. This year due to job loss earlier in the year and still playing catch up it's £40 each.

mam0918 · 21/12/2021 13:54

@BarbaraofSeville

It's not an 'OMG I must hit this target' but rather an 'I can't afford to go over this budget'

But it very much does seem more like 'I must hit this target' rather than 'I have to limit myself to this little'.

People are talking about 'budgeting' quite large amounts of money. If they're really 'counting the pennies' they wouldn't be spending so much. You can't call people 'privileged' when their random amount comes to £50 but sympathise with the struggles of people who are on a 'budget' of hundreds of pounds.

'sitting there calculating the cost of each gift and tallying up the total spend. I could not be arsed with that'.

the non-budgeting people arent spending £50 though... they have no idea what their spending and are comfortable enough that that doesn't affect them.

And even if they are only spending £50 that likely means they are privileged enough throughout the year to have what they want/need without waiting until xmas.

People might save £3 per week all year (forgoing a weekly/monthly little luxury) on the minimum wage to buy a big-ticket item at Xmas hence having a STRICT budget of £150.

That's actually how much us lower budget people live counting pennies and saving over a long time waiting for the money to accumulate so we can finally afford what we want/need at the end of the year.

FireworkParrot · 21/12/2021 14:16

We usually have a budget of £100 for Christmas and £50 for birthdays plus a nice meal out.

We just buy what we want when we want, we both want to choose our own things and see no point in making lists. Once you've decided you want the thing and which one you want, you might as well buy it. It's not a gift from the other person if they have no input.

I really agree with this. £50 to £100 means we can buy each other a few nice things to open and can treat one another but if we want something specific, we buy it ourselves. There's no point risking spending a lot of money on each other and getting it wrong and if I had to write a list to tell DH exactly what I wanted I may as well buy it myself.

Cherryrainbow · 21/12/2021 18:01

Normally it's been 50, we upped it to 100 this year. Next year it could change x

gsaoej · 21/12/2021 18:06

This year I’ve spent about £50. Some years it may be £0 and some it may be £100. I bloody hate Christmas (the build up, the expectation and the waste - of resources and of time) and will only get dh something if I can think of something that he will like and will be useful.

TallulahsCurse · 21/12/2021 19:05

Nothing we only buy for the children; Christmas isn't about adults imo! Anything we want we for ourselves buy whenever we want it

Franticbutterfly · 21/12/2021 19:36

It's just over £550 this year. It's not usually that much. He's had an expensive coat, plus lots of clothes and a couple of aftershaves.

A580Hojas · 21/12/2021 19:38

£50 to £100. It all comes out of joint money anyway.

Mammma91 · 21/12/2021 19:39

It varies every year. This year £150. Although he did spent £550 on a PS5 at the start of December .. which i paid half for. But he works hard.

Boopeedoop · 21/12/2021 19:41

We don't spend anything 😂

SpeckledlyHen · 21/12/2021 19:46

@Boopeedoop

We don't spend anything 😂
Why is that hilarious? Confused
HandScreen · 21/12/2021 19:51

£150-200

SleepingStandingUp · 21/12/2021 19:54

@BarbaraofSeville

It's not an 'OMG I must hit this target' but rather an 'I can't afford to go over this budget'

But it very much does seem more like 'I must hit this target' rather than 'I have to limit myself to this little'.

People are talking about 'budgeting' quite large amounts of money. If they're really 'counting the pennies' they wouldn't be spending so much. You can't call people 'privileged' when their random amount comes to £50 but sympathise with the struggles of people who are on a 'budget' of hundreds of pounds.

But it's the difference of spending £50 on bits because their DH can buy everything he wants as he needs it without a second thought and spending £200 on something they could never justify spending on themselves by saving £4 a week. If you're in a low income, it's one thing justifying buying someone else a big ticket item and another spending it on yourself
SilverGlassHare · 21/12/2021 21:13

I haven’t counted up but something in the region of £600-700 I reckon.

starrynight19 · 21/12/2021 21:15

Probs about £350 this year but that’s more than I normally spend

WalkingOnSonshine · 21/12/2021 21:16

Anywhere between 250-500 typically.

This year was about 350 and had about 200 of that accidentally refunded to my credit card by the big retailer. I’ve not said anything…free Christmas!

starrynight19 · 21/12/2021 21:16

@TallulahsCurse

Nothing we only buy for the children; Christmas isn't about adults imo! Anything we want we for ourselves buy whenever we want it
We have def started to spend more on each other as the children have got older.
Dontgetyerknicksinatwist · 21/12/2021 21:19

I’ve spent over £500 this year but this is a one off as I wanted to get him something as a special thank you for everything he’s done for me this year. He’s a really supportive husband. I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my children. He’s never said a bad word about anyone in all the time I’ve been with him. I feel sorry for him because his parents never ever bothered with him and are really tight (they aren’t short of cash). So this year I wanted him to get something really nice.

Snoods · 21/12/2021 21:22

Nothing as we share our incomes so just spend on DC, kids in the family and parents

bananaboats · 21/12/2021 21:23

We have a budget of £100-150

Hellocatshome · 21/12/2021 21:24

About £5 its just something to open as we never used to buy each other cards or presents for any occasion then realised we were modelling that sort of behaviour for our kids and they needed to be shown that husbands and wife's buy each other presents/cards. We just don't have the money to spend.

SleepingStandingUp · 21/12/2021 21:38

@TallulahsCurse

Nothing we only buy for the children; Christmas isn't about adults imo! Anything we want we for ourselves buy whenever we want it
So when your kids are grown will you just not celebrate at all?