Sorry to mention the C word but how much..

SkintGypsy

I save about £600 and that will do my children, nieces and nephews, godchildren and grandparents. Will also cover Xmas food and travel to Scotland to see inlaws and down south to see my sister. It's not really presents that cost us most, it's the expectations to go to see relatives at their homes or have them over to ours. Unfortunately Xmas is about loved ones, and if you don't live near them it can be costly just to see them, presents aside!

asp746

its just me and the two kids for xmas and the last couple of yrs the family have agreed we just buy for our own. i just do a normal shop xmas week to be honest but with a few extra chocolate & biscuit goodies.

present wise i've two teenagers so one wants a camera & ghd's, perfume and other bits & bobs and the other daughter wants a pay as you go blackberry -and its her birthday too:mad:

generally speaking i cant complain but i do have to start now getting the stocking fillers in - i've just bought a big tray of ferro rocher on offer for £3.50 instead of £7.:j

also we're away for new year so decembers salary is our spending money so i've only really got 3 paydays left - scary

goingforward_3

My car runs on LPG which i always buy from Morrisons as it the cheapest but also means we get the shopping vouchers, i save them up all year and usually have about £90's. We dont drink so only have food to buy and that more than covers any xmas extra's . If there is anything left over then i use them to get the kids a dvd each.

We dont really buy many presents either, just our 2 children, my parents and sister and my inlaws.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Good grief is it that time of year all ready !!!! I think christmas (in terms of presents) is really just for the children and there should be less "pressure" or expectation of presents for adults.Best

bluebag

I save all year with park and give everyone vouchers...£30 each to buy a bit of something or to take the sting out of a bigger purchase.

I buy and collect presents for my kids all year long (the grabbit thread has been great for this)

Food, not much more than usual, few homemade cakes a tin of chocs a couple of roasts and a few bottles of plonk ....Oh! and a bag of party poppers from the pound shop.

I get all my cards, wrapping paper, candles, napkins and the like in the January sales the year before.

I've used the same old linen tablecoth and mats for 25 years, the kids nearly murdered me when I suggested a change, 'it's tradition innit?' they said.....sigh!

Lovely times but hard work, the best bit for me is the days start getting longer right after it.
Good wishes y'all
bb

saltnvinegar

ms_london wrote: »

Being a single person with no children I appreciate I have different circumstances, but I find it scary that people seem to go completely OTT for the sake of ONE DAY, and then spend the next year paying it off. Why?? It's not as though Christmas is a surprise each year, it falls on the same day.

Thats exactly the SnV clan look at it (and we have 4 children!).

We have strict gift rules (i.e immediate family and very very close friends only) and also a strict budget of £250 which is saved over the year and covers presents and food for the Christmas week.

For close friends Mrs SnV is a great cook and baker so we tend to do home made hampers/baskets.

The important thing for us about Christmas is family and getting to spend time together.

SnV

RoxieW

We.re budgeting 1.5k this year.we have 3 children who we budget £200 each and buy each other a big present as well. We also buy gifts for immediate family and friends IRO 20 -30 pounds each. On top of that is the Xmas food shop (we stay at home ive the festive period) and the tree, Santa visits, maybe a nice day out somewhere etc. It all adds up pretty quickly but I absolutely adore Xmas so I don't mind and we're never in the position of paying back it back in Jan.

chevalier

Most of my nephews and nieces are grown up now, so get a cheque to top their phone up with . But the younger ones I try to get something no more than£20 in money, but it might have been on at more than that i just get it cheap or with vouchers etc.

We live down under and turkey is impossibly expensive to buy. Even on OH wages, so we started a new tradition where we each have our favourite food, so the boys have hot dogs, i have smoked salmon, OH has steak etc. So we are all happy an no mound of turkey left over to figure out what to cook with it (only have a small freezer unfortunately).

chev

mummyroysof3

i have 3 children and have pretty much finished my buying for them apart from a few bits for their stockings so ill be visiting the pound shop/wilkos for them i dont spend a set amount as i start buying bits starting in july time. they get plenty of stuff from other people who usually tell me how much they want to spend and ask for sujestions as its better than buying them lots of stuff they dont need/want.

for parents, which we have 6 of, its usually wine/chocs/toiletries in a nice 'goodie bag' for them i usually get them delivered with my tesco shop a few weeks before christmas as i dont have lots of room to store them and im worried the, chocs/wine will 'disapear' lol

as a rough guess i bet we spend less than £300, on our 3, 6 parents, 5 grandparents, 3 neices/nephews, 2 of the kids friends, my cousins 2 kids

wow best get writing a list of ideas lol

themull1

About £900 - £1000, i buy for my two kids, husband, mam, dad, bro, two sister in laws, father in law, and about twenty other people, i do the food over xmas, i have family over for the dinner, get a real tree, but actually don't go mad with food!! and don't buy much alcohol.