How much did Christmas cost you?

[Sam9769]

With all the people you had to buy presents for and the general festivities over Christmas, how much do you reckon it cost and what would you say is the average cost of a Christmas present for a teenager?

I had a budget of £500 for my teen which didnt include festive days out, pantomime etc. All in all approx 2.5 k on everything for dec, christmas and new year

I haven't added it up... but something like:

£1000 for gifts (DD, DH, parents, siblings, cousin, aunts and uncles).

£1000 for food and festivities.

£1000 all in

I haven’t checked the final number but I think about £2000 including everything Christmas related

Including dinner out on Christmas day for 8 of us, about 2.5k - gifts, extra food, decorations etc

£3k. Absolute madness, I've made myself a list for next year on what isn't necessary and what is. We've got a dining room full of booze and boxes of biscuits/chocolates that will still be sat there at Easter.

1.2k with panto tickets.

Just over £2k for presents plus about another £500. More than I can reasonably afford and a bit cash strapped for January not helped with two of my kids having January birthdays.

About £1000

£60 for presents (only nieces and nephews to buy for)
£50 for train fare to my mum and dad's house (they didn't want any money towards the food, I did ask)
£80 for a new outfit for my work party
£50ish for the meal and soft drinks at the work party
So less than two hundred and fifty quid all in. Bargain! 😁

Under £1000

£2250 all in - includes all good and drink for all our families on boxing day and Christmas day, nights out and presents for everyone.

I think maybe £300 on Wisley Glow and a pantomime, £300 on food above our normal budget (but including lots of guests at meals), £60 on a tree, £250 on gifts, £50, extra petrol/ parking, plus £200ish on cards and stamps. So not much more than £1000.

Last year it was under £300. We didn't host, and my husband had just been made redundant so money was tight.

Christmas this year felt extravagant - lots of lovely new decorations, all inherited, and days of what felt like feasting, plus a fairly full house. But adult presents have a small budget by agreement, and children get just as much from parents at Easter as at Christmas, spreading the cost.

In spite of an awful year losing three members of our immediate family and several others, it's been a joyful Christmas so far.

Just done some quick maths and about £2k. That was for gifts, food, drink and festive activities.

£400 all in. But we have a rule in my family to only buy for kids which saves a bit, and neither myself or DH drinks alcohol.

Not to be a spoilsport but there's another, much longer thread about this elsewhere on MN ... The Cost of Christmas?

For me is was much less expensive that last year but that wasn't b/c I was actively trying to cut back. I don't usually set a budget per se but buy the sensible things people want. Sometimes they want sensible, expensive things but other times not.

Last year, I spent about £1,100 for gifts and nearly another 1K for groceries in Dec and that doesn't include the incidentals like extra nights at the pub. This year was about £600 for gifts and about £750 for groceries.

£200 on food. £100 per child so £400. Total £600

Presents for 4 (teen & young adult) dc, plus two sets of parents and two siblings and 3 dc’s other half’s : £5000.

Thats not counting money spent on taking them all to a Christmas event and eating out and drinking (9 of us) on Christmas Eve. Which was probably another £1000.

And we’ve eaten out loads and been for lunch/walks to several national trust places over the Christmas period.

Christ - a lot! Might do a Christmas with the Kranks next year and just eff off to the Caribbean.

Overall about a £1000 for gifts, food and going out.

I have a budget for housekeeping each week ( as I imagine most people do), so bought stuff in advance and stored/ froze them . As long as I didnt breach my weekly budget those items ( decorations ,cards, flim flammery, even some food close to Christmas) did not come out of my Xmas Budget. No adults exchanged presents and cards were only sent to people I would not see. All guests brought something towards food needs but mostly extras to lift the meals out of the ordinary. All year I use my credit card for all spending ( including holidays, ) and pay it off when its due. I earn points which can be used to buy groceries , gifts or almost all necessities. We had the nicest Christmas full of fun and laughter and the actual.amount of Christmas budget spent was £55. Ill get points on that when the bill comes in .

About 1500. Most of it (almost £900) on an airbnb plus travel costs as family lives 5 hours away.
Gifts were about £400.

I would say 2.5K . I don't want to spend so much next year.

£200: I absolutely refuse to buy into the hype and get into debt or overspend. We only buy for the children. I bought some decorations from a charity shop . We always eat decent food which is mainly home cooked from scratch., I made some extra nice things ! I do buy a few stocking filler presents over the year which helps . I'm a pensioner so have to be strict with my spending .

I thought it was
£500 on presents
£500 on activities such as the pantomime and light shows.
£200 to £300 extra on food.
However I’ve just gone through the bank statement and we’ve spent about £1200 on eating out with couple friends, individual friends, family members etc.

Less than a £1000 all in.