How much do you spend on Christmas, all in?

[walkwalk]

Just wondering as growing up we didn't have much, so didn't spend much. Now I am a bit more financially comfortable and we have a budget of £750 this year - that's for absolutely everything (tree, food, booze, gifts, treats, activities...). It feels like a LOT but then I read on here about some peoples traditions (Christmas Eve hampers with new games, treats and pj's for whole family), and very impressive gift lists for the kids etc.. sounds lovely but it's kind of blowing my mind, doing the mental math, they must be spending thousands??

Just curious, obviously look away if you prefer not to talk money! :)

Around £500 ish I think.
Includes presents, food and drinks (only two of us this year, not mixing. I work in a hospital and relatives are vulnerable)

A little more is normally spent on socialising. We usually go somewhere for a night in a hotel/night out/markets but tier 3 so that’s not happening. Couple of nights out with friends/family to local pubs/eateries again nothing happening. We usually go to the carols at a NT park too but that’s free apart from parking and not happening this year

I love Christmas and love the build up. I just don’t need to spend loads of money on it. We had lovely Christmas times as children with great memories. But it was pretty basic, no trips or festive days out etc but we never went without present wise: think a tv/Hifi or console. Was very family orientated too.

Some of these posts mention large amounts of money, people are very lucky that they can splash the cash for the festive period. It’s their money and their choices.

About £1000 but we do have 4 kids. We will spend less than usual this year. We don't buy loads of decorations but do spend quite a bit on extra food and wine.

This year around £700. Cheaper than usual as I'm not hosting and all our usual outings are cancelled.

About 1.5-2k I think. Gifts take up most of that... I think we probably spend about 250ish each (so 1250ish) for a family of 2 adults and 3 kids. It sounds a lot but actually it doesn’t ever look like a big pile as it’s mostly two or three quality presents each instead of lots of tat. The stockings are maybe 50 each with the little fun things like sweets, colored pencils, DS games, etc. Then there are the gifts for our parents, the cousin secret Santas, the work secret Santa, etc. Then there is all the food and things like Christmas tree, Christmas cards, a new decoration or two, school whip-round for teachers, obligatory purchase of crafts the children have made fo the school Christmas bazaar, bonus for cleaner... it adds up. In the years when we host, it’s probably closer to 2.5k.

I budget about £1k. This is for gifts including DD birthday and food. We reuse decorations and have a fake tree.

Budget of £1400

@WillSantaBeComingToTown

My DS £500 plus £100 stocking, My DD £300 plus £50, my DD BF £300 plus £50. Nieces and nephews x 6 £400. Parents and in laws £200. Charity gifts for children £500. DH- £20 in stocking. Dog and DDs dog 350 . No other gifts dont gift to adults.

Usually food and drink C £1000, this year probably £500

You spend £500 on charity gifts? That's very generous and kind. I thought at first BF meant best friend!

Tree nothing. Bought a very nice fake one 2 years ago.

Decorations also nothing. We have lots.

2 x teen dd. £200 each max inc stockings.

Dh wants nothing so about 50 max on bits.

My side, Mum and 2 sisters, on has a bf and a dd - 150 between them.
Dhs side - one aunty as his mum has just died. £50

Random friends £30 for boxes of token biscuits or chocolates.

Food...cooking for us 4 christmas day, mother and sisters coming on boxing say for buffet. £100 extra on butane we would normally buy. We aren't big drinkers at all.

About £800 all in.

You spend £500 on charity gifts? That's very generous and kind. I thought at first BF meant best friend!

No boyfriend- well snout law- they live together in a house they have bought

Yes_ DH and I don't do gifts to each other- instead I give to charity. I am a governor at one of the most socially deprived schools in the country- we buy for their children and their families- so I know they go somewhere that makes a difference. It will be more than £500 this year as its a tough year for lots of families.

I never think to add it up so here’s a good chance!

Gifts for DCs x3 ages 9, 6 and 4- £180. Tracked on a spreadsheet so I know what I’ve bought and stashed away during the year. I buy a mix of new items on offer and second hand bits. Santa only brings one gift to our house, we don’t bother with stockings as neither DH or had them ourselves and it seems like extra faff, DCs get all other gifts from us in a red felt sack. I know this cost will rise sharply in a couple of years when the eldest asks for electronics Etc.

Gifts for other family members including DH- £130.
Only spend about £15 on DH as we have an agreement to save the cash for a weekend away together during the year instead. We have a tradition of writing a long message in each other’s cards detailing the memories we’ve made during the year past- we have 16 of these from each other now and it’s one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

Teacher gifts, Cleaner and postman tip (he deserves it, is a star with my many deliveries etc)- £50. Waiting to hear whether Covid rules will allow teachers to accept gifts this year...if not this figure will be less as will just give cards with a personalised message instead.

Food- we don’t go overboard tbh. There will be 8 of us here on Christmas Day. I buy a large free range chicken, 2 trays of ready made pigs in blankets, 2 bread sauce mixes, Otherwise just the usual veg I’d buy for a Sunday roast. Dessert- small Christmas pudding for the 3 people who’ll eat it, a £3 frozen chocolate dessert for the others. Plus 4 bottles of Schloer when I see it at half price, tub of chocolates £3.50 on offer. Cheese selection pack £4 Lidl, Ham, crisps and snacks, part baked rolls, chocolate Yule log etc for Christmas evening £10ish. For Boxing Day I’ve bought a 3 fish roast from Lidl about £7, just served with usual veg.

Tree- same artificial one we always use, I bought it 3 years ago on Gumtree brand new in box from someone who changed their mind, £20. Usually buy at least 1 or 2 new decorations for it £10.

Cards bought directly from charity shops to ensure they get the most benefit, approx £6, wrapping paper approx £4. Reuse same gift bags each year/ ones we’ve received from family members.

Crackers- since last year, we no longer buy them out of environmental concerns and the acknowledgment that they are pure tat really.

Alcohol- DH always gets gifted at least 6 bottles from suppliers via work, we aren’t huge drinkers anyway so this does us.

Christmas craft kits- £60- wouldn’t normally spend this much, but got them at the start of second lockdown to keep the kids occupied and us sane. Includes baking kits.

Days out- we are suckers for these, usually do at least 2 in the run up for Christmas and pay for my DM to come too- maybe £130 for both. Plus the pants, although we usually go there on DDs birthday which is close to Christmas as a birthday treat, so perhaps I shouldn’t include it in these figures but it’s about £60 for 6 tickets through an am dram theatre company.

Advent box (instead of Christmas Eve box) - box was bought 4 years ago for £20 and gets reused each year. This year’s contents cost £5.

Christmas clothes for the kids- probably £70 for a couple of different tops each. Nothing new for me or DH.

Charity donations eg extra to food bank for Christmas appeal, raffle tickets to support school etc £30. Although I won a decent prize in school raffle yesterday so maybe it’s cost neutral?!

I’ve probably forgotten things, but all this looks to be approx £770.

Less than £80.

I only bought for my two sisters and brother this year. Gifts were food items like a mix collection of nice quality chocolate bars and a specific Korean noodle brand.

My family has never traditionally celebrated Christmas though. I live alone so won't be seeing anyone either.

I’ve never totalled it up, which means we are fortunate and don’t have to budget, as such for Christmas. What we spend over Nov and Dec in the run up to it, just goes on the credit card which is always paid off in full each month.

However, I would think it might be around £400 max if everything is added up. It might be significantly less, but I know things quickly add up.

We are reasonably well off but not that interested in big piles of presents, or vast excessive eating and drinking. We will have a lovely Christmas lunch and a nice box of chocs and some nuts, plus some special cheeses and snacks for the evening, but I’d think the extra food bill is well under £100. I always feel hugely full up on Christmas Day and find that if there are too many treats, they just can’t be eaten anyway.

We don’t have a budget as such for children’s presents. Some years there has been a big present like a laptop if it’s been needed, but if it’s not, probably £20 for a stocking plus another £50-70. For my DH I wouldn’t go above £50 and about £20 for family members.

Lots of years we have spent more on going out at Christmas than this year. So no theatre trip, no meals out with several different groups of friends or family. To be honest, we might have saved £300 on that kind of thing this year.

I think often people who worry that they haven’t spent enough or do a lot of comparing are struggling a bit more for money.....they feel that what they buy shows how much they love their family and need to prove themselves. I understand how that happens if they grew up without much themselves. It’s easy when you do t have to budget to poo-poo people who get worried about this stuff or into debt over Christmas.

It’s never worth getting into debt though is it for a big blow-out Christmas! Who will remember afterwards the difference between £75 spent on Christmas food and £500? They really won’t...and it’s not worth struggling in the following months or having to scrimp and save beforehand to fund it. Small children especially don’t know the price of things and love the little bits that can be bought very cheaply. The idea of a mountain of presents being the norm or even desirable only comes if adults tell the children that’s the norm.

Probably about 1500 but we have 3 kids and we host Xmas dinner. How does anyone do Xmas dinner for 70? My Turkey costs more than that!

How does anyone do Xmas dinner for 70? My Turkey costs more than that!

Not everyone has turkey, most peoples doesn’t cost that much. And some people have a lower budget to stick to. What a fucking horrible comment.

@BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze

How does anyone do Xmas dinner for 70? My Turkey costs more than that!

Not everyone has turkey, most peoples doesn’t cost that much. And some people have a lower budget to stick to. What a fucking horrible comment.

Yeah that's a shitty comment. I'm vegetarian so my Christmas Dinner costs less than 70 easily. Also as you say people are on lower budgets. I'm sure you can get a turkey for way less than 70 quid.

@gottakeeponmovin

Probably about 1500 but we have 3 kids and we host Xmas dinner. How does anyone do Xmas dinner for 70? My Turkey costs more than that!

That's wonderful for you. We simply can't afford that amount so spend about £12 on a frozen turkey and do loads of veg which are usually about 20p a bag from the big supermarkets. £70 is what I'd spend on a week's food for 5 teens/adults, not one meal.

I know how much we've spent on Christmas by checking the spreadsheet I keep. It's great. I started it in 2008 with a tab for family gifts and another tab for the dc's gifts. It's helped me keep track of what I've bought, avoided buying duplicate gifts for the same person just because it's something they like, and kept track of which edition of a series of books for example we gave someone too.

Most of all it's cute to look back and identify the years where child x was into Dr Who and child B was into Disney Princesses.

Interestingly, in 12 years we've spent roughly the same on everything as although prices have gone up, ways of saving money and being savvy have come along too (thankyou internet!)

^^I wonder how some others feel when they read about the huge amounts being talked about here? I guess the message we need to be giving more than ever is that plastic tat, overindulgence, piles of presents and the biggest stocking in the world is not the way to create happiness.

I think I’m one of the bigger spenders at about £1000. DS has asked for a new desk chair and light (old ones broken) and some clothes (most of his are too small). I did say he could probably have wangled all that out of me without using up his Christmas presents but he says he doesn’t want anything else. I have spent my budget of £300 on him. I don’t think you can judge other people’s overindulgence and plastic tat without knowing what they’ve actually bought.

I think it also depends on your family lifestyle. My children don't get much 'stuff' during the year, so they get some clothes, etc., at Christmas that many people would get 'just because'.

^^I wonder how some others feel when they read about the huge amounts being talked about here? I guess the message we need to be giving more than ever is that plastic tat, overindulgence, piles of presents and the biggest stocking in the world is not the way to create happiness
I think it depends on your lifestyle through the year and the size of your family, and whether you're hosting or not.

We'd rather be more frugal through the year and then for birthdays and christmases give each other really nice gifts than have more stuff that's of less value. Although we spend more, we are quite deliberate about what we buy each other and buy things to last.

Nope, I am def not adding it up incorrectly, and anything bought early gets entered as an item in the Christmas category on the budget, so it all gets added up anyway. (I said €300 earlier in the thread. We're on track for this.)

Our Christmas dinner does cost a bit more than an ordinary dinner, and we have extra snacks for around Christmas time, but because Christmas dinner is big and also generally cheap foods (chicken, potatoes, sausage, bacon, veg) it takes the place of one day's dinner and lunch, and generally does for leftovers for lunches for a couple of days as well, which offsets a larger outlay. Because there are just the four of us, it doesn't cost drastically more than a normal meal would, and we are not big drinkers, neither do we drink fancy stuff - one bottle of €4 wine will do us - so our Christmas food shop really isn't any more than €50 over an ordinary shop. That's not chipped away throughout the year, it just doesn't cost very much!

Stockings I don't spend a lot on - any one stocking item shouldn't cost more than €2/3 (IMO) with most around the €1/€1.50 mark, and there aren't a huge amount of things in there. The boys this year have got choc coins, novelty bath stuff, an orange, which we tend to have in the house at this time of year anyway, some mini haribo/milky ways, a pack of oreos (or I might do mini cereal) and then 2 little gifts each (stickers/novelty game/bubbles/whoopee cushion) - about €20 altogether for the two of them. Yes, some of that is plastic tat, which is another issue entirely. But the point isn't for the stocking to be wow or huge, it's just something to occupy them with for a short time to stave off the temptation to dive into the main pile before we've even managed to get a cup of coffee. I do pick stuff I think will be used and appreciated. But I am baffled sometimes by things marketed as "stocking fillers" which to me are more things I'd see as main gift material. Stocking fillers to me are edible, consumable, novelty versions of normal things like bath bombs, socks, magic flannel etc. I didn't get socks or flannel this year because we have loads of both which are still fine.

Laptop or console would be a mega gift here and isn't something we've done yet. We've had consoles, but not as Christmas gifts, more as family purchases as they are used by the whole family. We also keep the older ones and DS1 has had those for his sole use (he is 12 now) or second hand - e.g. the handheld types. It may be DS1 will get a laptop for school in the next couple of years, if that was a Christmas gift then we'd expand the Christmas budget for it. But currently we all have computers, except the toddler, because DH works in an IT company and he bought a couple of old machines for about €50 each a few years ago when they upgraded. Those machines have been upgraded in turn with parts from our own computers, and we just replace/upgrade parts in the more up to date ones (DH's, then mine) and cascade them down. DS1 will probably at some point in the next few years need/want a more up to date computer than he has access to at the moment, but for school work, something that was top of the range 10 years ago is still fine and we get good mileage out of all the parts this way.

Kids get clothes throughout the year because I buy second hand bundles or when I see sales and as they grow out of things. I do give clothes for Christmas sometimes, but it would be something special like a character hoodie or cosy pyjamas, not the bulk of what they're wearing day to day.

Yes I do think the cost will go up once DS1 becomes a teenager and if/when we host or travel again.

I would guesstimate about £1700 but that includes gifts for everyone and food (we don't really drink so alcohol isn't included).

That’s a good point about the food Bertie. I’ve said £200-250 on food upthread which is for 6-8 adults and 2 DC, but we eat nothing but leftovers on Boxing Day and usually the few days after. We have a turkey curry but would have all the ingredients for that anyway so our normal food bill that week would be reduced. Plus we normally have lots of booze left over too.

@gottakeeponmovin

Probably about 1500 but we have 3 kids and we host Xmas dinner. How does anyone do Xmas dinner for 70? My Turkey costs more than that!

What an out of touch charmer you are @gottakeeponmovin .

We do our Christmas food shop on Christmas Eve and buy a reduced turkey - it has become a tradition. We usually pick up a turkey for around £25.

@gottakeeponmovin are you aware that you can buy food at varying prices? Mind blowing isn't it?

Aldi

Large frozen turkey crown, feeds 10 £13

Large gammon joint £5

Potatoes £1

Stuffing mix 30p

Carrots, parsnips, sprouts 20p per bag

Pigs in blankets £2

Christmas pudding £2

Cream £1

You'll get plenty of change from your £70