Christmas decorations 7.5k

[Cleo888]

Hello,

I would like a honest opinion do these pricing look fair or they are taking me for a mug. I thought we would hire a Christmas decorators to decorate our home thinking it would be practical to have a company set it up and take it down.
The final pricing remains the same whether you keep the decorations for 2 weeks or 2 months. The contract will be for 2-4 years the final price is payable every year.

Staircase garlands £1100
Outside doorway garland £550
Kitchen garland for above cupboards £550
Inside lights for glass (both areas) £1700
Living room fireplace garland £275
Inside 8ft tree , fully lit and decorated £950
Drive lights for pathway£180
Icicle lights for roofline and top windows £420
Access equipment to install lights and take them down £500
Total price £6225
Plus vat @£1245

FINISHED PRICE £7470

7.5k? Crumbs!

Why don't you buy the decorations etc. you like then pay a handyman to help you install them? Like a taskrabbit?

I think that only the super wealthy would pay for their house to be decorated for Xmas. So the price obviously reflects the expected market.

Seriously, I don't know anyone who would even consider paying for this. It's strictly for people with money to burn.

I also agree with a pp that paying for this seems soulless and sad. We only do simple decorations (nowhere near as elaborate as your plans), but putting them up and decorating the tree is an integral part of our Christmas.

That is insane. Absolutely insane. What's wrong with a box of decorations you dig out of the attic every December and add a couple to every year?

Are you Melania Trump?🤔

Lots of people round here get it done. You have to pay a premium for them to come to you quickly after Christmas to remove them all, otherwise they can be left up for weeks, while they get round to you

I hate decorating for Christmas and would gladly pay someone to do this. Alas my budget is more like £7.50.

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Fucking hell. I spent about £50 last Christmas on new decorations at B&M and thought I'd gone a bit OTT.

I can't advise you, we live in different worlds 😂😂

I need to stop reading Mumsnet. It’s like being in a parallel universe.

I think they cater to a specific clientele, for whom £7k is pocket change. They probably turned up to your house and realised it wasn’t going to be a good match!

Bloody hell, I'd leave them up for at least 20 Christmases at that price

MN at its best.

I imagine a lot of minor celebrities have them for the instagram

If it walks like a mug duck and quacks like a mug duck...

150k salary is not even close to what you'd need to think about that much on decorations each year. I mean you'd have to earn c.17k to pay for it after tax.

You say it’s for time saving but I guess it’s what your priorities are.

For me making the time to put up Christmas decorations is a highlight of the year so we would never out source it.

As others have said it’s so sterile and no time saving would be worth it for me regardless how much it costs

There are children in my daughter’s class at school who are actually homeless & several others who are living in poor quality housing. That’s all I can think when I read this post.

Keeping up with the Jones’ just gets worse and worse.

When you say garlands do you mean like floral arrangements? Because those prices seem quite similar to wedding flower prices to decorate venues etc

It probably sounds about right (of course it costs a ridiculous amount of money for someone else to decorate your house to a professional standard) but that doesn’t mean you have to do it. Have you got a creative friend or relative who you can pay expenses plus £20 quid to go down The Range and do a middle of the road budget version for you?

UABU though as you should be planning for Halloween first unless you’ve already decorated 😉

I think you're asking the wrong audience here because this seems absolutely bonkers to me sorry

Are you the Fresh Prince of Bel Air?

I know someone who looks like the Wish version on Tom Hardy and I think I could get him to do this for £2K if you're interested?

It's completely ridiculous, but I think you already know this.

We got a quote last year for getting the outside of the house done with icicle lights, nothing fancy at all and not a huge house - it was £699 so in comparison your £420 is not bad!

Instead we paid the window cleaner £50 to do it.

We also bought a prelit tree from Balsam Hill for £500 which at the time I was horrified at it but at least we have it every year now. You’d be paying £950 to borrow the tree for one year..
These companies are crazy what they charge but if you can afford it and want it why not!