Family cant afford Christmas

Primrose

Tell your wife to tell them. "I'm really sorry but we've already allocated our Christmas charity spending this year and it'/ gone to the really deserving refugees in Syria who are genuinely without food, clothes or a roof over their head".

Loz01

No way would I lend them £500!!! Who leaves it til a week before xmas to buy all the food and presents? Load of rubbish. If they're that badly off, a food bank will help them. Are they still smoking? Theres no way they need £500. If you feel like you need to help in some way, send them a £30 Asda shop, you can get £1 delivery with smart price pasta and meals and tins of basics.

Proxima_Centauri

annandale wrote: »

OP must be pondering what to do

According to their profile they logged out 2 minutes after starting the thread and haven't been back since!

Sam_Fallow

As this is just a fictional scenario, I would burn their house down. Problem solved. Enjoy your £500.

For those who are still debating what action to take, your guide line should be that whatever you do this year will be expected again next Christmas.

GwylimT

If the situation is real.

I would take a small food shop to them and possibly buy the children a few small xmas presents, I would take them around on xmas eve so they're less likely to be sold.

We don't celebrate xmas, we just do birthdays, theres no way the cost of these reaches £500 per year!

Bogof_Babe

If they are that f.eckless just buy them five frozen microwave turkey dinner ready meals, and a £1 box of mince pies for pudding. They might be able to cope with that, assuming they have a microwave of course.

As for presents for the kids, many charity shops sell jigsaw puzzles for 50p or £1 each. Wrap up three of those, and maybe some little hats/gloves/scarves sets from Poundland.

Owain_Moneysaver

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

As for presents for the kids, many charity shops sell jigsaw puzzles for 50p or £1 each. Wrap up three of those, and maybe some little hats/gloves/scarves sets from Poundland.

But they wanted a 60 inch telly and an X Box. :rotfl:

Lunar_Eclipse

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

cloudy where do you live exactly. I'm not sure if your post is a joke as well. I don't think this can be serious. If it is I would love to be In Your world. Do you know any 11 year olds that live in for example London or Surrey. I love your idea but it's not how the world is.
11 year olds go to school and mix with other kids. So no- love is not enough at Christmas

I agreed with Cloudy's post, I thought the sentiment was spot on. We lived in Surrey for 12 years but moved across the county border recently; I also grew up in Surrey (a different part.) My kids go to private school and have a comfortable life.

They do not get showered with expensive gifts at Christmas, although they do receive gifts. There is (mainly!) a lot of snuggling on the sofa watching movies, carol concerts, walks in the woods, games nights at home with friends etc - typical Christmas holiday stuff? These are not interspersed with extravagant shopping trips, outings to the theatre or expensive meals out, though there will be a lot of chocolate consumed!

As a family, we won't spend £500 on Christmas in total, so I also wouldn't be lending this amount to the family mentioned in the opening post. I would probably deliver a Xmas Eve hamper though, with some nice food, pjs for the kids, a Christmas movie, possibly gingerbread house kits etc. I'm curious about the £500 mentioned; I think the majority must be for household bills given their circumstances.

Love is absolutely enough, always.

Poor_Single_lady

But if you haven't gone without money then you're not in a position to judge whether love is enough.

If your kids have plenty you are very lucky. Poor kids know they are poor and I imagine that rich kids know they are rich. Not being one I can't judge.

Imagine children going to school knowing that they are poor. Then on Christmas morning no presents. Then they go to school and everyone is talking about what they got.
Imagine being a parent and not being able to provide. Imagine how gut wrenching that would be.

It must be lovely to have so much but please understand choosing not to spoil your children is completely separate from being in a position where your kids have very little and you can not afford to provide them with basic Christmas gifts.

seven-day-weekend

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

But if you haven't gone without money then you're not in a position to judge whether love is enough.

If your kids have plenty you are very lucky. Poor kids know they are poor and I imagine that rich kids know they are rich. Not being one I can't judge.

Imagine children going to school knowing that they are poor. Then on Christmas morning no presents. Then they go to school and everyone is talking about what they got.
Imagine being a parent and not being able to provide. Imagine how gut wrenching that would be.

It must be lovely to have so much but please understand choosing not to spoil your children is completely separate from being in a position where your kids have very little and you can not afford to provide them with basic Christmas gifts.

So, they have to learn to deal with it. I don't believe in spending just because everyone else has, and doubly so if you can't afford it.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but THAT's the way of the world, some people are poorer than others.