Christmas Spending

[dancingqueen5678]

I don't know if this helps and might be quite childish to adults but when my friends and I were in college, we couldn't afford to buy each other gifts (there was 8 of us in the group) so on the last day of college before the Christmas holiday, we would all bring in a "party" food and have a buffet type thing to celebrate. Was much cheaper than buying presents and it felt really special cause we would all make the effort to celebrate together. I don't know if it's do-able but it's just an idea

 

[Hastaggifted]

I am genuinely shocked by these comments and think I may need to re evaluate what I do
I don't set a budget I just buy presents until I think it looks like they have enough. I have 3 children and must spend up to at least £600 each?! They get one main present each, last year was playstation and bike along those lines. Then smaller presents and then stockings

 

[judsmum]

I am genuinely shocked by these comments and think I may need to re evaluate what I do
I don't set a budget I just buy presents until I think it looks like they have enough. I have 3 children and must spend up to at least £600 each?! They get one main present each, last year was playstation and bike along those lines. Then smaller presents and then stockings

You don’t need to re-evaluate! It’s each to their own! I don’t budget either, my son gets on average about £600 at Christmas from us sometimes less, sometimes more! It’s irrelevant what other people choose to spend or not spend. The only thing that really winds me up is posting to Facebook a huge pile for showing off purposes and also when people say ‘I’d much rather have days out/experiences with my kids rather than spend loads of money on presents (or things along those lines) as if those of us who do choose to to spend more at Christmas don’t bother!

 

[Clairer86]

I have a separate savings pot for christmas because i refuse to get into debt. I am pretty organised though, and i seem to be pretty good at finding bargains throughout the year.
We have 2 kids- an almost 9 year old and a 6 year old so its absolutely magical and i love it! Christmas for us is throughout the whole month of December and i love doing the north pole breakfast, all the elf on the shelf stuff, and i always use the money we have saved to go on days out. We have a sunday lunch with Santa, panto, a grotto visit, and a visit/sleepover at gullivars world booked for this year. To me its just as nice and important to do that with my kids as the actual christmas day is.
I am not a snob, and i often buy things from ebay/pre loved so that helps. I suppose some people would say i go over the top in terms of our north pole breakfast with all the personalised name signs and whatnot, but i love doing it for the kids and seeing their faces light up is absolutely amazing.
As for money, i have about £1,300.00 in my christmas savings pot- but thats for everything- the gifts, days out, elf on the shelf things, food, christmas eve boxes, stockings, we do the christmas shoe box appeal, and the salvation army thing etc. Whatever is left i will put towards our holiday fund.
I dont have a set budget for the kids but i dont buy for the sake of it to make their pile look bigger- quality over quantity is my motto. And i refuse to buy just for the sake of it, in the past i have done that and its not worth it and the kids dont care! I would say the gifts/stockings/xmas eve boxes for my 2 kids probably come to about £300/£350 per child.
I do love christmas, i love the month of December. I love being able to organise it with my special trusted christmas notebook, i even get excited organising the christmas eve boxes and filling them- although they are not cheap to do, especially when you add up the PJ's and the other bits that go in there. And i love dressing the table and making everything nice, and hosting christmas lunch.
Im certainly not crass and i would never post photos and show off on social media because i personally find that distasteful, especially when they post "ohh i wonder if thats enough". Im always suspicious when i see those kind of posts!

In general i just think you do it your way, and i dont compare what we do with others because everyone has their own idea to what makes christmas special. I refuse to try and keep up with the Jones's because everyone has their own budgets- some people might think i go way ott, and equally what we spend might be nothing compared with other families. But i do bloody love Christmas and the whole of December. I think im just a big kid tbh!

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

I don’t have kids but I’ll be honest Xmas spending by people in the UK is imo ridiculous.
I think if you can afford it theb do the big spend on birthdays and Xmas should be about family, and if you are religious about Christ. So for Xmas I would say either something small but nice or something they need.
Depending on the childrens age I would say about £25 - £75

 

[Mrs Cucumber]

Two of mine no longer believe and its still magic. The excitement is still there, we still put out stockings etc. I was still getting santa gifts when I was 19


No it hasn't got more expensive but my kids prefer small quirky gifts. Big gifts are birthdays only. It's always been that way so they don't expect more.

We do birthday's as the big present too as it's their day.
My mum still does me a stocking, I'm 32, married with kids and she always texts me on Xmas morning saying he's been with a pic of my stocking

 

[LT31514]

This year my family have decided to do a secret Santa, the youngest “child” is 30 and we are all married so the last few years it was getting out of hand. We were just telling people what we wanted. We usually would spend about £50 on each person. This year I think the budget is planned for £40 which is far better. Also, I live abroad so coming back home with all the Christmas presents was getting to be crazy and I needed to bring an extra empty suitcase. Also, now I live abroad, it’s far more important for me to just be with family all together and watching Christmas tv and eating everything. We had already decided to do secret Santa this year but with Covid and everything, it’s really made me realise how much we overspend and what’s really important.

 

[Raininvain]

The greatest gift you can give to people is to say lets not bother with xmas presents.
I think the exception is with your parents and children. Though I do think kids don't need thousands of pounds spent on them.. Surely the day is about spending time together and having a nice meal not getting the latest Playstation and thousands of other things.

 

[Jamhead]

Usually around £150 per child but we're spending more this year as we've not been away on holiday and they haven't been out on a single fun daytrip since March. So we have the money there to do it and I would like to treat them. We aren't going over the top and I wouldn't give them a massive pile.
I spend around £15-25 on nieces, nephews and friends children.
Family secret santa for all the adults with a £25 budget.
I love buying gifts for people and really enjoy wrapping them all too. Christmas is one of my favourite times of year

 

[Raininvain]

Out of curiosity, what do you do on Christmas day?

I usually go out for the afternoon walking in the countryside or on my bike. We do have a meal at lunch time, but it the veggie/vegan version and just the main meal, not the whole thing.So a nut roast/butternut squash roast with vegetables. I think the whole thing is ridiculous to be honest.

 

[caitlinbullen]

£200 per child, including stocking- we have 5. We don’t buy for the adults in the family so that makes it a bit cheaper! I save £100 a month so by the end of the year I have £1k for gifts and an extra £200 for a big Xmas/New Year shop.

 

[BettyCrocker]

£100 or less for the kids. They get 1 big gift from “Santa” and a stocking with a few bits from us.

£50 or under for parents/adult siblings/nephews & nieces

£50 - £100 on husband

 

[Elles20]

I don't have kids but I'm so surprised reading this thread on how much some spend on their kids for Christmas. I am curious as to how much is spent on birthday presents. For me, birthdays beat Christmas by far. I don't care for Christmas at all and wouldn't be upset to not receive anything for it!

 

[under the ivy]

I like the sentiment of Christmas but I hate the consumerism of it and how it becomes a competition. I’m going to be cutting down this year due to learning to drive/saving for a car/don’t really want to be in a busy city centre shopping. Can’t say how much I’ll spend because I’d rather buy people things they want than spending for the sake of it. Food wise - I just treat it as a normal weekly shop with the obvious Christmas dinner bits added and some treats/alcohol.

 

[Daisymai]

For those that have older kids, do they still do a Christmas list? My little ones do a letter to santa but my eldest has informed me she doesn't believe in santa now! What do you do when they get older? Just ask them?

Me and my brother would still write a letter to ‘Santa’ when we were older because my sister still believed in him. We were told to go along with it to keep it special for our sister. It must have also helped out our mum in knowing what to buy!

 

[Suebigfatsue87]

I set budgets purely because I think I should because I grew up in such a restricted budget and think it’s what I should do. I also think I shouldn’t spoil the kids though evidently it happens. I won’t lie I think I’m going over already

I buy for two kids, age 7 and 13, husband, 3 brothers, Nan, step mum, four close friends, secret Santa at work, one niece and i think I’m at 1800 already. Unfortunately for me, I have adhd and I can be impulsive so this spending seems to hit hard in the night when my meds have worn off!

 

[F the dust.]

My husbands work run a saving club..so they deduction money from his wage each week and we get it back in November. It's a godsend having 4 boys. Covers presents, food and any new decs.

 

[busybody]

I’m definitely struggling this year, budget wise. I don’t have young kids or niece/nephews to buy for, but it’s the ‘done’ thing in our family to buy gifts still for the adults. I can only afford £15/20 each and there’s about 9 to buy for Since Covid, I have come to realise its not about the material things - you can’t take any of that stuff with u when u pass away - and it is more about the time spent together etc. So I think I will try handmade gifts or restaurant/shop vouchers this time round.

 

[Daisymai]

I was following this thread last year and I was wondering due to covid/ job loss/ increasing gas, grocery prices etc if people were struggling this year.

My budget is usually around £50 for my family but this year I’m at the end of my maternity leave and have a lot less coming in. I’m just hoping my family don’t think I’m being stingy when they receive less that what they usually get from me this year

 

[Ilando]

Our baby will be 4 months old and won’t be getting any presents from us. Might seem mean but he’ll get them off family, I’d rather save and have a longer maternity leave with him and he already has so much stuff.