How much!!

[OhFortheLoveOv]

I tallied our total Christmas spend last year! It feels obscene!! £ 2,450 or thereabouts.
Talking to friends and family they don’t seem shocked or concerned by this amount, saying their Christmas spend is similar or even more.
For me it has been eye opener. I know we spend a lot over Christmas but in the cold light of summer such excess seems outlandish, particularly when we have just got back from a lovely trip away that cost less than what one day last cost!

We were thinking of going away this year over festivities but now looking at how excessive it all seems I am on verge of giving Christmas a hard pass!
Am I crazy to be thinking this way ?

Thank you everyone
We are lucky and we can afford it, and no It’s not just presents or that one day.
it’s it all …presents , the food and all the the Christmas activities over about 3 week period.
It’s not that I’m overly surprised we spent that much. It is more that I’ve realised when we get wrapped up in the Christmas who hah, the expense of it all gets forgotten in the “ahh but it’s Christmas”. It has made me realise I haven’t really considered costs with non “oooh it’s Christmas eyes”.
I may not pull full on hard pass, but it sure will make me do things differently this year. I want to be able to look back and remember Christmas fondly, as now as right this second I see it as an outrageous excess! As amateur dramatic as it sounds… It’s like I’ve instantly had my long term love affair with Christmas die!

I might just be on a bit of a downer but all I have running through my head is the line the Grinch says ‘maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, perhaps it means a little more” and right now It feels very much that our Christmases have been is mostly store and not much more!😕

I think many people spend more than they realise as its little things that add up. Days out, food, presents, parties, school stuff...

I think that’s crazy tbh.
We aren’t in uk and it’s a lot more low key. No panto/ days out/ Christmas jumpers/ massive meals for hundreds. We also only buy for Ds and token stocking for adults.

When my kids were younger I couldn't afford to give them much for Xmas. I felt bad because all their friends seemed to get loads more than them. Now my kids are adults, I can afford to treat them more. I give 3 adult kids £150 each and they choose what they want and they have a £50 stocking each. Foster Son chooses a gift for £120 and has £80 stocking gifts. 2 DGC get £50 each. MiL £50, BiL £30. So total for gifts about £1k plus whatever DH wants and his stocking. Food £250-£300. I use the same decorations and lights each year. Xmas cards £10. Xmas tree £50. Xmas activities take 2 dgc to see Santa in winter wonderland and hot chocolate afterwards £100. Take Foster Son, DD and 2 dgc to paint a Xmas bauble each year then it gets fired in a kiln then goes on Xmas tree £100. Walking around looking at Xmas lights with DH and FS then into Starbucks for hot chocolate and cake £30. I usually do a Xmas craft activity with 2 dgc like making Xmas cards with Xmas stamper's I have or paper chains to hang up or popcorn threading. It cost £10 maximum. A look around the Xmas markets with DH and FS £50. Take FS and one of his friends Ice skating and hot chocolate £40. I usually do X.as cupcake making and decorating with FS and £10 maximum for ingredients and he gift wraps a few cookies and gives as gifts. DH and I usually go to see the Nutcracker as my favourite ballet sometimes I take dniece with us too £100 if we miss it we'll go to see Twelfth Night instead £70. A panto after Xmas for me, DH and FS £80. All of this is about £1780 and I thought we did quite a lot of Xmas activities. You must either do loads of expensive Xmas activities or give a lot of pressies to get to that much OP.

Anyone with a dc who can't afford to spend much on Xmas. You can do several Xmas activities in run up to Xmas that are cheap but make Xmas really fun for little ones.

Bake and ice cookies. You can cut them in Xmas shapes like Xmas tree or a bell.

Bake and decorate cup cakes. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest.

I make a list of Xmas things so bells, reindeer, Xmas tree etc and each child given a list then we go to look at Xmas decorations in people's windows or outside on their house and kids tick off the ones they find. Chocolate bar for winner who completes their sheet first then home for hot chocolate with marshmallows on top. (Mini marshmallows Less than £1 at Aldi/Lidl and can use to decorate cupcakes too).

Threading popcorn to decorate the tree.

I save all my old Xmas cards every year and use pinking shears to make gift tags from old cards. DGC love doing this and use a hole punch and gold thread to make them look really nice. They make some to take home for DD to use too. Write them out with a gold pen.

You can buy packs of Xmas paper chains and even quite young children can manage to do them. Then hang them up in the room or on the Xmas tree to decorate.

Xmas colouring sheets add a little glitter then cut out and stick on the fridge.

I used to take DC to collect for comes earlier in the year and I dried them. Then at Xmas DC painted them silver and gold and we arranged them into fireplace with Holly I picked from my garden.

All of above activities cost less than £10 each some less than £5.

When my DC were young and we had so little money I used to do lots of these things to make special Xmas memories and as adults my kids still say they had magical Xmas as children and felt they did as lot more than a lot of their friends even though I spent very little compared to many of their friends.

Also never go into debt to buy expensive Xmas gifts. It is not worth it as after all it is just 1 day.

Collect fir cones.

We’re not well off but spend the same amount on Christmas. I only really noticed when I downloaded an app and it adds everything up. I was shocked that on presents and alone last year I spent over £2000. We do have a big family but i spread the cost out and start early so don’t notice the sting. This year I’m cutting back tho I’d rather spend it on more holidays and activities now DC are older and have everything they could ask for.

Try this for size:

Works do £0.00 - if you have to pay, make an excuse and don't go.
Outfit for works do £0.00 if you're not going, if you are, wear what you have already.

Panto tickets £0.00 - Xmas present from grandparents to dc.

Santa visit £0.00 - get other relatives to take them.

Carol concert £0.00

Christmas decorations £0.00 - there are more than enough in the loft already and have an artificial tree still going strong after 20 years.

Wrapping paper £0.00 - already bought loads in previous years and still have lots left, and you also saved all thegift bags, ribbons and bows from last year's presents as well. Gift tags £0 - cut up last year's saved Christmas cards.

Total so far £0.00

You are then free to spend all your money on food, drink and presents.

I think xmas can be as cheap or as excessive as you want it, and neither option is wrong.

When my kids were little we were broke. So no trips anywhere, no tickets to see Santa, no pantomimes, no Christmas jumpers etc.

Now we can afford it, they are older and not as interested in that sort of stuff.

I keep my old lists so I can see what I spent. It was £730 on gifts for 7 people. I also spent £200 on food, but we had 12 people to feed over 2 days so actually I think that's pretty reasonable.

I save £60 a month, plus save all my clubcard vouchers. I also have a "round up" acct so when I do my weekly food shop, the round up is saved and I already have about £80 saved. By December, all told, I should have close to £1200 to spend. Its nice to not worry about how I'll fund it, after years and years of struggle.

I think it's really easy to spend that amount . People say it's ' just a roast ' but these day's Christmas is the whole of December, trips out , meals out , pantomime , light trails , hairdresser to make said person look nice for the season , secret Santa at work , Xmas jumpers , pj's , bedding , Xmas eve boxes , presents for pets , dog sitter to cover days / nights not at home , the list goes on and on before you've even started on the presents , food , alcohol .

I agree you don't have to do all this but if you can afford it why not and the amount of social events invited to it'd be miserable not to join in .
Christmas can be as much or as little as your budget allows though and I'd never get into debt for Christmas.

I read the average spend for Christmas is around 5% on annual income and I would say that is accurate to us.
obviously your spend may be higher or lower based on how much family you buy for, how many dc you have, whether you host the dinner, how many activities you do etc.
we have 5 dc between us, so can easily spend £150 on advent calendars alone, and the pantomime is easily around £300. It adds up quite quickly

We spend a LOT on Christmas, but very little of that is stuff that is wrapped and under the tree. I’d say less than a quarter of our spend is on gifts. It’s the other things - the “experiences” is where our money goes - spending time together as a family really. So not necessarily “from a store”

We spend about £700 (across the month of xmas not including standard things like rent, bills or 'normal weekly food'), I don't really know how people spend so much more.

Thats 3x £150 on the kids, £75 on DH, £40 on other family (tiny family) £40 on the annual pantomime, £0 for the free annual Santa at the galley & that leaves £95 for food and other little bits we need.

Maybe its because we are veggie and don't spend £200+ on a butcher and we have a reusable tree/decor so no going to buy one and don't do expensive lapland train rides and stuff etc... but it still seems insane to me that people can spend so much.

Well firstly, we don’t have a tiny family. Secondly, we do do things like a ‘train rides and stuff’ (we usually pick one ‘experience’ a year, usually costs about £200), thirdly we aren’t vegetarian, fourthly we have a real tree… so really you answered your own question in your post.

Its still insane that a few extra things quadruples the budget.

Aren't you lucky to be able to live that luxury lifestyle.

Yes we are, very lucky.

@caringcarer That’s a lovely post 😊

You can do a fantastic advent & Christmas for not very much. Christmas is a feeling, you don't need to spend loads achieving it.

We put £70 a month into a Christmas account. This covers presents and panto tickets. We have a £20 limit on family, £100 ish on our children and have a lovely time.

We spend extra on food and drinks and that's about it. Probably £100 per DC on pressies. Nothing for adults. Plastic tree and decorations we've had for 20 years. Hate pantos. We play board games and watch movies and see friends and family. All free.

We spend about £1000. This includes DC gifts (about £250 each) gifts for each other and gifts for family (we only buy for the children and the adults do secret Santa.)

The Christmas food shop isn’t much more than usual, we’ll buy a Yule log, mince pies and a couple of tubs. Never buy alcohol as we ALWAYS get given at least a couple of bottles. I also save up all of my nectar and clubcard points all year so will do the big shop at whichever of those supermarkets I have more points with, will usually pick up a bit extra with the other supermarket.

Experiences wise we don’t go mad, usually do Christmas at Dunham Massey (NT) and a pantomime, then lots of home activities like baking and watching films together.

To be honest £1000 is more than I’d like to spend but we save up for it and I absolutely love Christmas 🎄 I can see how spending would get out of hand if you have more DC and a big family! I really recommend secret Santa for adults, it means you get one really lovely thoughtful gift rather than 10 bath sets. We also take it in turns to host and everyone brings something to contribute which really helps.

Forgot to add, a probably unnecessary luxurious expense, the last couple of years we have taken to buying a bottle of champagne that we drink on Christmas Eve when DC are in bed. We’ll order Chinese, wrap presents and drink the champers and I look forward to the quiet tipsy evening of last minute prep before the chaos begins!

I’m not sure exactly how much we spend, not as much as that but probably not far off. As a few have said it’s the whole month, it’s not just one day.
We have school Christmas jumpers day now, Christmas fayre, and the dreaded Christmas cards the children design and then they send you a form to order keyrings and magnets and other tat.
Presents, DH has a lot of siblings each with 2/3 children, plus parents, plus my siblings and their kids and that really adds up.
Presents for the DC, letters from Father Christmas, bits for the bastard Elf etc etc
We host every other year so money for the food, the desserts the booze.
The tree, we get a real one, Christmas markets.
There is only so much we can reign in, so I save through the year and DH gets an end of year bonus in November which really helps.

@CandleWick4 if your interested in knowing I recommend you download an app. I did as was shocked how much I spent however like I’ve said previously I start very early to spread the cost and not to notice the sting.

I could do with properly seeing how much we spend. I save £80 a month. My parents give myself and my brother £150 as they usually go to one of us and want to contribute. Presents we only buy for the kids in the family. I try to stick to somewhere between £2-300 for my 2. £40 each on nieces and nephews (3 of them).

However I start buying foodie bits as soon as possible. DH and both kids are off for the whole 2 weeks, so my food bill goes through the roof. So I have a storage box ready to start buying bits as soon as they will stay in date. A bag of peanuts one week, couple of tubes of Pringles when they’re on offer, Christmas pudding and stollen when it comes into the shops. This spending I don’t usually count as long as my weekly shop still remains within budget.

I guess it depends when ‘Christmas’ starts and ends for you. My kids are older so December is a normal month until everyone finishes work on Christmas Eve or the closest working day. So for us it’s from then until we are all back in January. DH and I do have Christmas work dos but they’re nothing fancy, mine is part funded by work, DH and DS1, they just all go out for a drink.

I thought that too .
Really shows how letting your imagination and time for your kids can make it magical .