Christmas - Is anyone else looking forward to it but dreading it at the same time 'coz they are strapped for cash?

[LadyOfTheFlowers]

I am.

I was very lucky last year and got lots of help with presents for the kids and I know it is only August but it will be here before I know it.....

Just want to know I am not alone really and wether anyone has any tips/ideas?

I would just echo what collision and MrsWeasley have said, Christmas is about so much more than what we buy and give each other.

If your children are small, they really don't need much and you can start out as you mean to go on, keeping Christmas as non-commercialised as possible. If your children are older, they are old enough to understand that all the marketing hype they see is exactly that, and also to understand a little about family finances and not having everything they see.

One of the things I love about my children is that they are really genuinely pleased with small gifts, any present is great to them - and my children are aged 14, 12 and 10 so they do know what's out there. And yes, they do sometimes say 'oh, I'd love one of those', but in the same way I might look at a gorgeous house in the newspaper and say that looks lovely. They don't expect expensive presents.

This year, keep things as simple as possible. Make as many gifts as possible for family and friends - or just make them a lovely card and explain things are a bit tight this year. If your children are very young, buy as little as possible. If they are a bit older, either buy them one medium-priced thing they really would like, or if they're more impressed by the number of presents, buy loads of smaller gifts to wrap up. My own children are very different - one is happy to have almost all of 'his' budget go on one big thing, while another prefers to write me a list of smaller, cheaper things. So she ends up with more presents but both are happy with their result. I also find that some of our relatives ask what our children would like, so I 'delegate' things from the children's Christmas lists to relatives - that way the children get things they really want and I don't feel I have to try to fulfil all their wish-lists! The children are all very good at suggesting ideas from £5 upwards, so there is always something suitable I can suggest to a kind relative!

Food needn't be a real issue. Christmas lunch is really a Sunday roast with a few more trimmings. A Christmas pudding is dead easy to make, as is Christmas cake - buy a few extra ingredients in the next few weeks and you're done! There are lots of foodie treats you can make ahead and freeze, so you feel you have something special. But really there's no need to go mad on food and drink, I think sometimes people go to extremes and end up with a period of pure gluttony they don't really need!

For next year, if you want to feel more prepared and less stressed, try to put some money aside each month if at all possible. What I do is set my total budget for Christmas, divide that by 12 and each month put that much in a savings account. Then the money is there throughout the year if I see something suitable for someone. Even small amounts really do make a difference.

Have to say, I also don't agree that the older the children, the more you have to spend on them. I also have one teenager and one nearly-teenager, but they don't get any more spent on them, the budget is the same. Teenagers don't need Ipods, computer games or expensive jewellery - or if they think they do, they are old enough to wait or to save towards them!

For example, my children have sometimes had a joint Christmas and birthday present if it's been something big. And this year my son decided he would like a computer of his own. So for his birthday in February he had cash from his dad & I and from his grandparents. He is saving £5 a month from his pocket money throughout the year. This Christmas he will again have money from us parents, and for his birthday in Feb 2008 he will again have cash from us and from his grandparents. He has worked out he should then have enough for what he wants - but he will then have waited approx 14 months for it and had few presents for one Christmas and two birthdays. I'm really proud of him for doing this, he's only 12 and usually likes to splurge any money he does get, so he's being really patient and mature.

Sorry, got a bit long-winded, but I really think the marketing boys have won if we think teenagers really 'need' loads spending on them.

xmas! my gran rang me this morning and told me it was 4 months to xmas day. cheers gran
no ideas really, just like everyone else has said, try to buy a few bits every week/fortnight between now and then. dont overstretch yourself. check out the buy and sell in the papers - i know my niece just sold al her bratz and barbie dolls and a bagfull of accessories for £30, it was probably worth treble that. there are good bargains to be had.

Agree with a lot of the posts here. I saw a thread on another site about making hampers up as presents which I thought was a lovely idea and people had posted up some pictures, some looked really good.

There were things like winter warmer ones, gardening ones and loads of other ideas. You can get baskets cheaply in places like Wilkinson's and scouring the charity shops is a good place to look, then gradually get cheap bits and pieces as you see them. Bit of cellophane and a ribbon and things can look really good.

If you look on line you can find lots of bargains around. DS's main present this year is a scooter which has cost £12 and DD is going to give him a remote controlled car which was 99p in a charity shop, I got it last year when he was a bit young for it really.

Don't know if you have The Range anywhere near you, but they have loads of good stocking fillers for 99p depending on the age of your children.

Keep an eye on sites like hotukdeals.com for discount codes.

The Book People have a lucky dip thing going on for £7 I think at the moment which will make good presents.

Me.

We are going to be debt free this year, but living on benefits.

The girls will get a few gifts each (do they really care if they are only a few pounds each?) Ds will only be a maximum of 4 weeks old, so no worries there.

Me and DH rarely spend anything on each other anyway.

Our biggest cost will be food, as we are having my dad over tihs year for the first time ever, he usually does christmas for us all, but as we will be in our new home and closer, it will be nice to repay him in some way.

I limit £20 to each close family member (brother,SIL,parents etc)

They are here

I thought I would do a bird one for our elderly neighbours. I've found a wicker roosting pouch type thing for £1 in the Range, going to add some of those fat balls, bag of peanuts, bird seed, possibly one of those bird feeders you stick to the window if I can find a cheap one and a 2008 calender with birds on.

not alone, I have been buying DC presents since jan!! My own fault but I have DS 4 in oct, DD1 2 dec 16th and dd2 1 jan 5th so to spread cost have pretty much bought all their stuff. Only thing is DS is asking for a camera which dh has told him santa would bring

Have only read the first few posts, but we're in a similar 'really can't afford it' situation. I have been saving monthly but would like to spend very little on the people we HAVE to buy for, and maybe actually spend something on myself and DH for a change

I have already started buying stuff in the sales. Mainly for the kids I have to buy for. I have got all of ds's pressies now too and all for £20 from ebay. I got 2 bin bags full + more of toys for him(he'll be 9months). I didn't mean to get that much and he won't get it all(some will be going to charity shop) but I was on the look out for a particular toy and it was in the bundle, so was a great deal.

You could try scouring ebay now, will dc's know or be worried if it's second hand? I would think that ebay gets quite expensive near christmas. How about looking at bootfairs too? They have some really nic stuff sometimes (after sifting through a huge amount of tat that some people think will sell)

And we may well go for the eating elsewhere option(though not with my side of the family) since that is cheaper. Or the other option is to combine our lunch with BIL and his family. That way i'd think it's cheaper more work for me but hey, it's only a few more potatoes and veg

I'm really looking forward to christmas this year as dd will be 3 1/2 and it'll be the first year she'll probably get all over excited. Can't wait oo oo and i've got to make ds's stocking too, that's gonna be fun, yay can't wait[sad git emticon]

my kids are getting a couple of small surprises this year, i am so fed up of being made to feel i have to spend a fortune on presents for them when they already have more than they will ever play with/wear.

we have not had a family holiday abroad yet so thats what we are going to do instead,

pile of junk that costs a fortune and is broken 2 weeks later

or

save like mad to get a family holiday that will provide years of wonderfull memories.

not a hard choice, christmas is not what it used to be, when i was younger it was all about getting all my family crammed around the dining table and playing silly games until mid-night, now its just money money money

I think I panic all year about xmas. Have the kids birthdays 11/11, 06/12 and 12/12 too.

My mum keeps on at me to cut down the kids lists, but they don't ask for that much and I feel awful as they get sod all from me throughout the year as it is.

So far I think I have brought ds a Spiderman top in the sale, and the dd's have a high school musical ticket each but obviously I had to buy myself one too as I am taking them, so not cheap really.

Dd1 wants a digital camera for her trip to france next year (nutty tries hard to ignore that this is the trip to france thats not yet paid for) and some Bratz thingy.

Dd2 and Ds want a nintendo ds each, and stupid me agreed, although thankfully I can get them at a slightly discounted rate.

Actually, can we just cancel xmas.

Nutcracker, if you haven't purchased a ds for your daughter, I'm selling mine, it's pink, the only thing is I never kept the box, I'm selling it with 3 games for £80 or just the ds for £50, if you are interested let me know.

Back to the xmas bit, since my son was born 4 years ago we stopped buying for the adults and now only buy for the kids. My son gets 1 main pressie and just a few cheapies, my nephew is a year older than my son and my family have commented that when they visited my brothers house on xmas morning their living room looked like a toy shop, the sad thing behind this is, they hardly spend any time together as a family so I think they overcompensate by spoiling him with material things.

I don't mind that we cannot buy our son everything in the shop, but we learnt from his first proper xmas when he was 18 months old, he opened his first present then didn't want to openany others as he wanted to play with the present he had opened, if children aren't used to getting lots then they won't expect it, my brother and sister-in-law are getting themselves into a bit of a mess b'cos even though they can afford to buy things for my nephew, if he gets loads of presents, he will expect more as he grows up.

When it comes to xmas we make it more about the day than the presents, like I said, we buy him 1 main present which we know he will love, last year was a black and decker work station which he still plays with then we get him a few bits and bobs like pj's, pencils, underwear etc, then we do special things with him on the run up to xmas like make our own decorations, baking, visiting the lights being turned on.

When our son has received a present either from us or a relative, we make a big deal out of it saying 'Oh wow, what a lovely surprise'or 'thats a nice present you're very lucky' and now he is 4 and a half he still gets a lot of joy with opening presents and will be happy with anything he gets, he's not fussy at all.

A lot of the tips that others have already posted are the ones I use, like picking up little bits in the sales or car boots and using a supermarket saving card, I use Asda, and lastly what I'm doing this year is gift baskets for the kids filled to the brim with little bits, kinda like a lucky dip. We also make presents for the grandparents, something special from our son.

I think I may have waffled on a bit so will leave it here, lol xx

Mine have both asked for a pink ds too, already, and it's still August! When I said if they had that they wouldn't have anything else they just said ok, we really want one, so I am keeping an eye out. I will get a few little bits, but only stocking fillers. I only spend about £10 a head on close family, and do a secret santa with a group of friends, which is cheaper than all buying each other gifts. Food is the biggest expense, but I buy biscuits, pickles, crisps and other stuff with a long shelf life early, when on offer.

I don't think you HAVE to spend more on teenagers but things like clothes (which the girls like to get) are more expensive as obviously they are bigger and adult sizes! To be honest i spend a fraction of what my friends and family spend on their kids, that doesn't worry me but i actually like buying and giving them gifts it makes me happy. I will not get into debt doing it though, thats for sure