How much did Christmas cost you?

[Jbrown76]

And how long will it take to pay it off? Or how long will you be skint for?

It'll be Summer before I'm in the clear 😓

What makes you think someone who can afford £175 trainers also can't afford to help with a new car or house deposit?

The original question was how much have people spent not have people got themselves into debt.

Probably £1.6k including all gifts, trip to Lapland UK, Ice Skating, Panto tickets, food, decorations etc. No debt as a good year but I think next year I will try to put away a bit each month to spread the cost a bit!

My bonus pays for Christmas pretty much, I've used no credit and will be heading into January the same as any month. I've spent a little extra on days out, panto and ice skating etc which is to be expected.

I had an easy Christmas this year. I'm single so no partner to buy for, and the things DS asked for plus the little things I bought him came to £175. But he had a £575 school exchange trip in December so he still did fairly well.

I'd saved up, so I'll clear the credit card in January.

I didn't add it all up but I am thinking it was around £700. I start mid way through the year so it's more manageable.

I would never get into debt for Christmas. If we can't afford something, we don't get it.

about £250 but i only have one child would never go into debt, it's all budgeted for as we budget for whole year to include Christmas food, presents, outings come from day trip fund, eating out from personal discretionary spends

I budget £150 per child for my own children. For that £150 my eldest child got a branded hoodie, 2 pairs of earrings, glossier lipgloss, a book, and a stocking full of chocolate/face masks/a silk pillowcase/a mug/toiletries etc plus some perfume from Father Christmas (we also have little children so even the 18 year old still gets from Father Christmas). Felt like plenty and she was really happy.

If they want anything that costs significantly more then we give them cash towards it and they save the rest up. We have gone slightly over budget in the past to get them something decent that they’ve asked for but wouldn’t go over £200 as that would have too big an impact on the rest of our budget.

It’s nice to spoil them and get them what they want though so if you can afford it…

I just don't buy expensive things. DD's big present was a laptop but it was OH's old laptop so cost nothing, DS didn't get anything particularly "big". Then it was things like books and toys and clothes that I got on sale.

£350 - presents, 1 trip and food contribution to my mum. Our kids presents and stockings were £50, £15 limit for each niece/nephew and a present for my mum. £10 charity gift and DH and I bought a joint present for £60.

We can afford more but I don't see the need in spending loads of money at Christmas and we go on holidays instead.

I think we probably spent about £1k. We only have 1 DC so that helps but we spend a lot on him. Then 4 nieces and nephews and parents. Plus a small gift for 2 children of close friends.

I hosted but parents bought the meat. So all in all not bad. But we save up for it - I wouldn't go into debt for 1 day.

Ditto!!

I did buy expensive things- ds's presents cost £300, dp's £200. £100 on a Christmas tree. But there were only the three of us. I used up all my old cards and didn't send as many, maybe £30 on postage. No special Christmas trips out this year though we did some nice walks. Maybe £100 on extra food, £80 on 6 bottles of cremant then we got given some wine for the meal. I was ill all Christmas so hardly drank anyway. A few small gifts for other people, I'm good at buying high impact cheap things (earrings and books FTW).

If you're hosting a big Christmas of course it's going to cost a lot but I really do recommend books all round - a single bookshop trip and max £8-20 per person, then toys strictly from charity shops. You just have to fight the 'huge pile' aesthetic.

No idea....but its all paid for. No going into debt or dreading the credit card bill.

I save £100 a month for it so £1200. Presents for 2 DGDs, 2 DDs, SIL, mum and DH comes to £400. Cash to 2 DDs £400 and £200 on extra food and drink and a Christmas party. I started saving this month for next Christmas so will have my £1200 for Christmas 2024 by beginning of November 2024.

£250 on presents and some extra on food.

The problem is with that kind of level of spending they expect it or better every year, so your bar is set unbelievably high. If you can afford it that's up to you obviously. But when I was younger my parents did this every year- expensive items, too much really. Then when I was 14 we lost our business and my Mum lost her job. Everything stopped. So that was a shock for us kids but a big life lesson for me. I've been careful literally ever since with never creating expectations I might not be able to meet if there's a life changing event. Might not be a popular view- I know many people say if I can spend it I will.

Probably around £1000 - family of six

I budget monthly and put about £100 into savings so I don't go into debt for it.

Up to 1k, no debt as we spread buying presents/food over 3 months and I recieved a small one off payment from work which paid for my oldest DD laptop.

I would say probably around £1,700 ish but we have a bloody huge family and buy for 23 people not including my 4 dc, me and dh. No debt from it though as we save for it through the year.

I don't 'host' so no real food costs except those I bring with me

Presents for parents £230
Presents for siblings & their partners £80
Presents for nieces and nephews £120
Family theatre outings £45 tickets (free/heavily discounted from work), meals out / travel there £120
Pannetone / chocs / vino for those who hosted £100
Cards / home xmas decs / charity wreath workshop £50
Work Christmas meal £50
Still to do - £50 gift to grandfather
= £845 I think?

I received:
£80 from parents
A £60 heated blanked and £20 hot chocolate from siblings
£50 from grandad
£25 meal out from sibling
= £235 plus meals for 3 days, of which we do have fancy free range turkey, whole ham etc so it will have cost my hosts quite a lot

I earn £30k, I sold a week's annual leave to cover xmas (around £350 post tax I thought). I always make sure to build up pot in advance rather than have debt after.

Easily 4k. Three teenagers ,so expensive clothes and presents for the day. No loans, money saved throughout the year. We don't live in the UK so there's a bigger emphasis on Christmas. It's normal here for kids to get clothes for the 25th and 26th December and expensive gifts.

£400, I save up with Park Xmas savings through the year.

Probably about £1,200. 2/3 of that on presents for me and my teenager. I set myself a present budget and buy myself a present and have it giftwrapped.
Rest on Christmas treat type food (we don't eat here on the 25th) and presents for about 14 friends and family members.

No debt. I work on the principle that I can't afford debt, I'd hate my monthly budget to be reduced by paying debt back.

I always have a quiet food shop month in January though, eat from the freezer and just buy fresh fruit and veg, it means I can put most of my January food budget towards our new year break.

To clarify, I say this because I'm a budget fiend and went £30 over 😅

No idea - maybe £500 or slightly more including outings. We have got a big overdraft but that’s because we had unexpected household expenses in Nov and Dec.