What is your Christmas budget?

[KittyPup]

I’m considering trying to cut back a bit this year as DH thinks I go a bit mad at Christmas. I’m not sure I agree so I’m just gauging what others do.

I put away £250pm all year and everything Christmas related comes out of that 3k. This includes gifts for our 2dc (approx £400 each), gifts for each other and dc in the family, Christmas food shop, Father Christmas trip, Christmas jumpers, any new decorations / wreath making workshop, fresh tree etc. Basically anything Christmas related in December and then the day itself and a few days in between.

Can I ask what your Christmas budget is? Or do you just not track as you’d rather not know?

I don’t have a strict budget either but I guess I must spend a similar amount to you if including days out too. We’re going to Butlins for the wkd plus around 5 events planned (panto etc). Then Christmas Eve boxes xmas pyjamas and jumpers. I’ve already bought a switch and various other toys. My children are 6 and 7 and I want to make the most of it whilst they are young.

I’ve just sat and added it all up. It’s £600.
That covers gifts for dc plus their partners, gifts for 8 nieces and nephews and gifts for partner. It also covers food. I buy throughout the year.

But this is a good example of why these threads get such different outcomes. You think of things like the joggers as being part of the Christmas spend. I probably have to spend similar on clothes but I just think of it as day to day spend. Neither view is right or wrong just different.

We save €84 a month so have a pot of €1000 (no children ourselves) for gifts, Christmas dinner (family), Christmas party (friends), and any new decorations. We normally go over budget but not by a huge amount, and that figure doesn't include activities but we don't do a lot of those anyways.

I think it's important you agree on a budget as a family, how much would your DH like to spend?
Of course it's all relative but £400 seems like a huge amount per child for presents.

I save £60 per month and in my local authority we don't pay council tax in Feb or March so I save that £400 on those 2 months so in total I have around 1500k in the pot. I spend that on Panto tickets for the 6 or us. £100 for turkey and trimmings, some extra food. Each DC I spend £150 x 4 (they get large gifts from both the grandparents so this takes the sweat off us) rest goes on a Christmas day trip and gifts for family.

I buy all Christmas jumpers, cards and wrap in the January sale for the next year. Normally 70% off and from September through to Christmas week I buy a selection box or Christmas chocolate with the weekly shop so I have a little stash to add to gifts.

Yeah they weren’t for Christmas that was just getting her some new clothes because she needed them so not part of the Christmas budget at all!! 🫣

M&S Christmas dinner is £300.
Buffet is £200.

We tend to stock up on booze from Bookers - £250.

The two kids get a £500 each which they use to buy things they want throughout the year. We don't do lots of presents as they are 15 & 18 and not into getting a pile of crap they don't want, they prefer the money.

We do a Secret Santa with my family to make life easier for everyone as there are a lot of us. £60.

A nice bottle of wine and chocolates for DH's parents and mine - £100.

Real 10ft Christmas tree is about £100.

Fuck off Elon 🤑🤣

How many times do you need to buy or replace tech though? We all have basic smart phones which seem to last a fair few years and so the job. We each have fairly basic laptops which again, some to last.

We are going away to Barcelona for Christmas. That IS the present! Will get a couple of stocking fillers for adult children and then spend about 40pp on sister, bIL and their children and my mum. I hate the over consumption, people bankrupting themselves for what is really 1 day!!

We just hand our old phones down to the dc roughly every 3 years so those aren’t gifts. Teenagers don’t need brand new iPhones.

I've been pondering the whole Christmas thing myself during the last week. I've decided I'm not going to be forking out on needless tat, slaving away in the kitchen for hours or sitting in a food induced coma which makes me feel like I've entered the twilight zone for days on end.
This year they're (dh and 2db) having sporty stuff and we'll be heading out mountain biking and walking for the day before heading home for some bubbly and a buffet style supper which I'll quickly throw together. We don't really have a budget per se. I've managed to grab a good deal on a decent second hand mountain bike for my youngest and my eldest will have a new pair of running shoes. Probs not everyone's thing but it works for us

No children in our family, so I buy for sister, DBiL, parents and a couple of friends. Plus the wine for a 3 night stay with DSis and DBiL and a few extra bits. And a couple of birthdays around that time. About £1200 all up. I save £100 a month.

I wonder how many fathers and DHs are sitting there at the start of January thinking about how they manage christmas and the savings they need to set aside.

£1K on presents, about £600 on Xmas days out and another £600 on food and drink. We love Xmas

Don’t have a budget, always ends up costing an arm and leg, exacerbated by doing any early shopping, as the list grows as the days pass. Each year I swear we will swerve all the money into a caribbean holiday. To show DD the real meaning of Christmas is time with your family, in a 5* - somewhere mummy doesn’t lift a finger. Yet here we are with no booking and days to go…

@Statsquestion1 and @twistyizzy . ATM we are not pondering Christmas but thinking about a house move. I find the Christmas extravaganza a bit much.

Have never saved for it or had a budget. Have never gone mad on spending either. To us Christmas has been about a tree and decs , some presents and family. Christmas dinner isn’t expensive really- always had a frozen turkey and veg isn’t expensive. Took DDs to see a Santa every year at the department store or garden centre. Always had a lovely time.
Now DDs are 21 and 25. Last year spent between £100-£200 on each. I buy for DH (£100 and 3 chn in the wider family(£20 each). That’s it. We gave up adult presents years ago and just enjoy each other’s company.

I get where you are coming from. I do only spend £150 on each. They are 12, 10, 7 and 2. The eldest has my old phone. That was free when I upgraded I've never had to buy a phone yet as I will only buy them at secondary school age. My 10 year old again will get my current phone when I upgrade. They all have Amazon Fire tablets that were about £100 on Prime day so that's the only tech I've bought and that was just one Christmas when they were 7. The 10 year old still uses this. I'm fortunate as both sets of parents (only grandchildren on one side) spend around the same so it takes the heat off us. They end up with around 12 gifts to open each which I feel is more than enough as relatives come later in the day with more (my sister and cousin etc).

£100 per child for under the tree and about £30 per stocking.

in my family gifts are small so about £5-£10 per person. We write lists and get small things they want (mostly random kitchen gadgets).

total for my half is circa £500 (I buy for more family members of mine than DP does) as a whole it’s around £900.

I have 5 family members and DH has 6. He spends about £20 on each of them and I spend about £30 each on mine. We usually spend £150 on each other and we're always at an in-laws on Christmas Day and boxing day so we spend about an extra £100 on some nice food and that's it.

Don't bother with the Xmas eve boxes, Christmas jumpers etc.

This year we have decided to just get each other a smaller gift £50 worth and spend a date day together in the new year or go out for a fancy meal tomorrow.

We spend around £250 on each of our children at Xmas. Sometimes a bit more if 1 of them want something in particular as a one off such as a games console. I like to do at least 1 main present and a stocking with little bits. DH and I spend around £100 on each other. That leaves around £200 to cover everyone else's gifts in our family.

We spend around £150-175 on Xmas food and drink. £150 for either a Santa breakfast event or meal out somewhere in the run up to Xmas.

Christmas days out weren’t a thing 20 years ago thank god! Neither were Christmas jumpers, Christmas Eve boxes, light trails and all the other commercialism. Social media makes it worse as everyone is showing off what they’re doing and this makes everyone feel shit and like they have to keep up! So glad it wasn’t about in 2000-2010.

we try to keep it under £800
£100 each for the 3 kids
and the rest on special food and drinks for big family Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and boxing day meals… and maybe the odd experience

we don’t buy other adults a gift each but do sometimes do a secret Santa where everyone shares ideas of what they actually want to save giving unwanted gifts.

I absolutely love Christmas and this budget doesn’t make me feel at all restricted.

like PPs our kids get all electronics second hand from family who are upgrading / no iPads all cheaper options.

I always seemed to do £800.

I try to cut back and still get to that figure.
So with inflation, I consider I am in reality, cutting back each year.