so fed up and worried about christmas

highjewelgreen

Hi Susie,

It's a battle. My advice would be sell some stuff on Ebay, there has to be things lying around the house that you and the kids don't need/want and they will be someone else's perfect Christmas gift.

My sister gets her kids to make cakes / cookies for the rest of her family/friends so she only has to buy the ingredients and she spends the rest on her kids.

Finally shop wisely. have a good look round charity shops (you can drop really lucky sometimes) and if you are looking for kids toys try somewhere like Home Bargains or Ebay.

Kate_fixing_it

I have four kids and the fact that none of them could remember what gifts they had by New Year dawned on me a few weeks ago. Last weekend they wrote letters to Santa and they are not getting anything that's "off list". My teens have asked for 3 or 4 things each, dd2 wants one particular item and whilst DS2s list is long a reply from Santa explaining there are millions of children in the world so he can't have all of it but will get some has left him satisfied. DH and I have agreed a £20 limit IF there's cash left after the kids presents are purchased under the £200 budget.

We begin the festivities when the town lights are switched on and have free or very cheap plans for each weekend. Today I'm off to buy cheap art supplies for the 99p shop and I'll print some festive pictures at work so that Saturday will be spent making a huge Christmas collage. There are two free channels of Christmas movies for entertainment and we'll maybe bake some things if I have ingredients in.

As for decorations I'll be cutting some holly from my garden and we'll go for a walk and pick some pine cones to cover in glitter. All free.

Years ago I was a single mum and literally had nothing. I have never forgotten that year.i only had two then but they don't remember. We played with what they already had, spent time outside and stayed up late watching movies and old TV repeats. I asked them recently and they honestly don't remember.

What they do remember is the Christmas we spent a whole day cutting up snowflakes and sticking them all over the dining room, The Christmas we were dancing to a "Christmas kitchen disco" (courtesy of YouTube) and the Christmas we took silly photos of Grandad asleep with various teddy bears posed next to him after dinner.

There are no bad memories for them.

Please please don't consider missing the bills. Christmas will be a distant memory next summer when you haven't caught up on the bills and there are debt collectors at the door.

The best gift is your time. I only wish I'd realised all this a decade ago. As it happens I'm currently still paying for last Christmas...those gifts they don't remember have been dug out and are now on eBay for a fraction of what I paid and so far it's looking like the best festive season ever and I won't be paying for it next year which is the perfect gift for me.

Huge thanks to all that have posted ideas on this thread. There are loads I'll be using this year to make our festive season memorable and many I'll continue using when the tree is packed up and back in the loft.

Kate x

Kate_fixing_it

And by the way, my favourite and most enduring Christmas memories are putting a metal detector over my nan's knee replacement (20+ years ago when they used metal) and cuddling up with my grandad to watch white Christmas and Little Women on TV .

My worst was finding my mum sobbing in the kitchen because she didn't have the money for the toy my brother had asked for (I think I was about 8) 27 years on no one can remember what the toy was and whether he got it or not.

Kate x

FBaby

Forgetting whether you are genuine or not (not sure how you can confuse rent and mortgage payments....), what matters is expectations. If you let your children believe they will get what they want and then they don't, they will inevitably be disappointed. It is not too late to seat all of them down and explain the situation, say that you will make sure they have presents to open because that is half of the fun regardless of what is inside, but that it will be token things. However, you are now back to being a family and that's what will make it special as you will be able to do things together. Ask them for ideas of what they think would make Christmas still special this year.

Look at deals, do you have nectar/tesco points you could use? Won't anyone in the family give the kids presents? Maybe they could give them so they are under the tree rather than waiting for them to come to hand them over.

tudorfan22

No you guys mention it, I can't remember any of my presents really..... Even last years?!?! But I do remember watching the grinch with my family, and food and the usual Xmas songs, and Xmas telly!!! Xmas shouldn't be about presents, it should be about quality family time

Mozette

By the way, Christmas next year will be on the 25th of December.

Shovel_Lad

Mozette wrote: »

By the way, Christmas next year will be on the 25th of December.

:eek::eek::D

ERICS_MUM

My siblings and I grew up in the 1950s and 60's and my parents managed to buy us modest presents, but 50 years later I couldn't tell you what we got.

However I can tell you about how we "helped" Mum make the Christmas cake, squeezed lemons to make lemon curd and cut pastry out for the mince pies. Paxo sage and onion stuffing went down a treat with the turkey!

We had a tiny artificial tree which got more and more bald every year. I've still got 3 old baubles and when my 50 year old brother noticed them on my tree last year he whooped with joy and went on to talk about the others we had.

Grandad used to grow a couple of hyacinths in a bowl for Mum and I love the smell - reminds me of those days. Dad always bought a bottle of Emva Cream sweet cyprus sherry and I had my first sip when I was 10 !

We had a lovely childhood on very little money but loads of happy memories which remain vivid even 50 years later.

Give the gift of happy family memories - priceless.

Linda xx

MrsGSR

Just my twopennies worth here. We have a strict budget for the each child, we save throughout the year for gifts and food. We are by no means lavish, as we both work in retail the few days we have off are precious, having fun together is the most important thing.
As a child, my parents had very little money and like many others I don't remember many presents but I do remember having my grandparents there, what we ate, what we played and decorations we made and of course helping to choose the decorate the tree.