How can we have a nice Christmas

[ZanyPombear]

I know Christmas is ages away don’t shoot me. How do you afford to have a nice Christmas if you don’t have much money to spend? I still want to have a nice time

Also check charity shops, I've got a few shared presents of board games the whole family will play like monopoly, backgammon, chest for literal pennies!

@WitchyBits I don't like the sound of piss in blankets 🤣

Having a nice time does not need to be related to money.

Going to a Christmas light switch on/ Christmas carols in a church is usually free.
Wandering around looking at your local area's decorations is free.

Christmas baking is very low cost - make and decorate some Christmas biscuits/sweets - can also be used for gifts.

Limit gift buying - both the number and value. Buying expensive gifts for everyone you know is a very new and unwelcome idea. Go back 50 years and a single gift with a few stocking gifts is much more normal. Let family know well in advance if you're not planning on doing adults gifts.

Christmas hot chocolate/Christmas crafts/Christmas films - all very low cost.

Wrapping - get some lining/brown paper and get children to decorate it or it's fairly easy to make gift bags (wrap around a cereal box or smaller) to put gifts in. Making fabric gift bags from old material scraps is fairly quick and easy to do and can be reused year on year.

Board games, treasure hunts with clues around the house, playing Christmas music - all free

Write down what you spent last year (roughly) on things:

Food
Drinks
Presents
Decorations
Outings

Now looks at how you can cut back on each thing.

Food - what do you actually like to eat? Don't spend money on things that won't get eaten, just because it's "festive". Iceland are pretty good for getting things like pigs in blankets etc, and because they're frozen, you only need to cook what you'll eat. As others have said, chicken instead of turkey will be cheaper.

Drinks - if you drink alcohol, can you cut back a bit? Or if you're having guests, ask them to bring a bottle. Again, start looking for deals now.

Presents - cut down as far as you can. Most adults don't need presents, so just agree to not bother (do it now before other people start buying though). We did this a few years ago and we haven't missed it at all. For kids, set a budget and stick to it. Buy second hand from EBay where you can - small kids won't notice or care; older ones you can explain that you were able to get more for your money second-hand. Pick up stocking fillers (if you want them) from now, but keep track of what you spend. Charity shops can be good for things like bath bombs etc; also shops like B&M etc.

If your kids are young, you can buy them things that you'd be getting them anyway - we give ours boxes of their favourite cereal, and it's one of their highlights every year!

Don't bother with buying gift bags etc; unless you can reuse some from last year, it's too expensive. Likewise cards - we just don't do them any more, except for a couple of people who we know really appreciate it.

Decorations - use last year's (we've had the same ones for decades now; we buy the odd new one every now and then, but it's not a major spend).

Outings - do free things, like going into town to see the lights. Church and school fairs often have a Santa for a couple of pounds (in fact, we went to one Church Christmas fair that was amazing: lots of craft, decorating cookies, a free Santa, and a little nativity play that ran every hour or something. The kids adored it and our total spend was less than £5.

Also, think outside the box - our children rarely get the bus, so we take the bus into town to see the lights, and they think it's amazing! Another local church had a Christmas tree festival (free) - just lots of trees decorated by different groups in the local area, and again it was brilliant (cost us about 50p each for drinks and shortbread; absolutely fab!).

With young kids it's fairly easy because they have no expectations and just love lights. If they're older you might need to be more creative, but you have the advantage that you can explain it to them a bit better.

I prefer the winter solstice,for me it has more meaning.
Light a fire outside and sit round with mugs of mulled wine. Lovely.

Asda did a deal where the main Christmas dinner cost less than £25 all in

Last year I wrote down what worked and what didn’t. What food we ate and what we didn’t.From September I start putting 1 item a week in my trolley. You could make some gingerbread biscuits or if you have children B&M have cheap gingerbread houses. You could make mince pies with ready made pastry and a jar of mince meat. We go to a local light switch on and we have a box of children’s Christmas books we bring out of the loft along with some dvds so we snuggle up under blankets to watch them. Stockings are always things my children need. I never buy plastic ‘tat’ that they won’t use. So things like books, socks, toiletries etc. We always play board games a lot over the holidays.x

Know where the best decorated houses are and do a special Christmas walk - back home for mulled wine and hot chocolate. Make a special event of it.

Go to Christmas Eve mass or other free church events.

Make home made decorations or Christmas cookies.

Collect free foliage etc to decorate house.

Look out for free activities in museums or eg the Santa motorbike or Santa race.

If you want nice family photos order a Christmas back drop off temu and do your own

All adults agree not to do presents for each other.

start stock piling long dated food and drinks in advance. Every weekly shop pop in a tube of Pringles or a bottle of pop etc to hide away.

buy the kids presents throughout the year too when you see things in the sale.

do things that don’t cost the earth like Christmas movie nights in with hot chocolates and everyone in their pjs or drive around to find the best Christmas house decorations.

I buy most of DDs clothes as secondhand bundles on eBay. Whenever there’s a favourite character in the bundle, I sneak it off to the gift cupboard. Got PJs, dressing gown and a jumper put by already, cost maybe £1 or £2 each

If you check your local Facebook groups, especially the council, they'll list a lot of free local Christmas events. The Christingle service and Carol service at the prettiest church if you have kids (usually free mince pies and a lot of laughing). Free Santa visits in all of our local shopping centres, albeit only with haribo as a gift. Real deer parades through town, craft sessions....

Look in charity shops for presents, especially kids presents. Loads of like-new books and games for kids, photo frames or candles for adults.

Pretty much every is feeling the pinch - suggest a secret Santa. Or if buying for extended family/in-laws, buy one present per family (like a board game, wine, food hamper) rather than individual presents for each family member.

It fully depends on your circumstances, what you consider is a nice Christmas, who do you buy for what your expectations and budget is?

Maybe ask MNHQ to move this to the Christmas board, it runs all year with lots of tips and ideas.

Joiin the Christmas bargains threads on the mnet Christmas board, people post live discounts and bargains.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5163365-christmas-bargains-thread-1-just-in-the-saint-nick-of-time

I bought a tassimo coffee machine a few yrs ago for £35 following a tip from there.

Also, sell anything you don't use, want or have outgrown to generate extra cash via eBay, vinted or fb market place.

Can you take on an extra shift at a shop or bar/cafe/restaurant? Loads of temporary Christmas jobs being advertised now.

My local butcher still runs a 'Christmas club', if there is something like that use it.

Consider buying second hand, particularly for toys.

Can you make anything? I like to make pickles and chutneys so give them sometimes as gifts (although I don't do Xmas).

Find out what is free or cheap in terms of theatre / cinema / events. If you have an FE college or uni nearby there are usually student productions that are cheap or free. Carol services and church fairs are good options.

Do things. You could make an advent calendar with different activities. So things like go for a walk to see the decorations people have put up. Go into your nearest town to see the lights. Make mince pies. put up decorations. You get the idea.

You don't have to have turkey or even a roast dinner. Have a look which take aways are open and get Indian or Chinese food for a change.

We hit a local church (not our one) with a Sunday School nativity play. Nothing to get you in the mood like shambling small children with tea towels on their heads. Every year I think the (teenaged) DC won't want to come, but they love it. We fondly reminisce about former Josephs who stole the show, the wise man who stormed off in a huff, the year when they had a thousand angels and one shepherd etc. etc. Christingle is a nice service - lots of singing and you get a free table decoration. School Christmas concerts (if they are advertised, I consider them fair game whether I have a child there or not). Often there is a bucket for donations, or cheap refreshments for fund raising.

Walk in the woods to gather holly and whippy sticks for wreath making. There is an estate locally where the residents go mad with their Christmas lights - always good for a stroll. We reuse the same advent calender each year (one with doors and a picture). We take turns to open the doors and have a choc from a selection box each - we started doing this because of allergies, and kept it up because the choc is much nicer than the advent ones!

Go to the nearest town with a light-switching on event. Take your own treats or have a budget that suits - easy to get derailed by all the stalls.

If you local Lions/Round Table have a Father Christmas float going round, look up the schedule and build some tension on the day it hits your road. My kids now go and help on a few evenings with this - pay it back.

Christmas films and snacks. Nativity play dinner on the last day of school (we all have to dress up using things from around the house - just a bit of silliness that marks the start of the hols). Board game tournament over the holidays. Card nights (with drinks and snacks). Light candles. Christmas music as much as you can stand it. Make decorations for the tree, make an event of dressing the tree.

Cut back on presents. Offer good wishes and hospitality instead. Stockings with useful things in them. Start buying gradually (I bought choc coins and lip balms this week, last week I bought pigs in blankets for the freezer).

Secondhand is not only cheaper and more environmental, but an item that has already survived one household is much more likely to last in yours. So much "new" stuff is tat that will fall apart instantly. Clothing unravels and comes apart at the seams. Toys that break after a small amount of play, causing heartbreak. You are paying less to have someone else have the heartbreak of roadtesting the item!

Look for things on offers, supermarkets will have offers. Plan food for the family.

A lot of what I buy is stuff I'd buy through the year anyway. It's just wrapped up as Xmas presents. For example, pens/notepads/sticky notes/whiteboard markers for school, new knickers and socks, hot chocolate.

We stopped off doing presents for adults last year (though I still get something for my dad).

Kids aren't keen on turkey so I tend to just get a chicken.

You've had lots of good ideas already.

I'd add, placing the attention on spending time together and seasonal activities rather than materialistic stuff. Talk this up as being about the environment rather than saving money, if necessary.

It's more fun to give than receive, so for everyone old enough, agree to a challenge of buying each other a thoughtful gift second-hand.

Bake together rather than buying in treats. The right recipes work out substantially cheaper, plus it doubles as an activity.

Research what local churches have on. Carol concert in a cathedral, nativity service in a rural church where a farmer brings a donkey, etc.

Look out for second hand board games/escape room in a box.