Average Christmas spend £748?

Not much ..........spent 30 quid on posh Santa Grotto visit and family coming over Christmas so will lash out a fair bit on food.

No presents for kids they are very small and get enough as it is.

Another £30 so a close friend can take her kids to a Christmas film.

I am keener on experiences than stuff now.

I did buy a huge toy pony (interactive) to stay here and be used by all kids on visits, she is resplendent in the shed and scares the life out of me and the dog (£75 e bay)

So a largish spend and I will be putting the heating on !!!

GD birthday on the 28th will be putting on a little party and paying for that.

agreed

I've no idea. I buy things in drips and drabs and don't keep track of what I've spent. I should think its a reasonable estimate but I have quite a few to buy gifts for. This year, DH and I are going to a hotel for Christmas as both children are away so it's a bigger spend obviously.

I probably spend £2much! Most of it goes on DGDs, who are the light of my life, but I can't resist spoiling their parents a bit! I only have my pension, but I save a bit all year for Christmas. None of us are great drinkers, so booze isn't a great expense, but we probably go overboard on food.

I spend £60 on each grandchild and we have a Secret Santa for the adults. Every year we say that the childen get far too much especially when you add presents from other relatives. We say we're going to do something different next year but when it comes round it's same old same old.

I have just completed my spreadsheet for Christmas which has come to £663 for presents for 7 adults and three children. I don't tot up the food as there is only two of us and it doesn't cost that much more- there are a few restaurant meals to add in but it doesn't blow the budget.

Having had a mum who went through the war. She taught me how to do lots of things on a budget. But I have the most loving and amazing daughter who asks for nothing but is always there for us. So my husband and I do like to spoil her.

mumsy, I don't think that it necessarily means that Christmas revolves around the cost - just that someone did a survey about how much we spend having, a happy time.

Like Ann, we have a large family to buy for and to feed and water and rhat all costs money.

I was an only child, and both parents no longer here. My oh is not close to his brothers or we do not even send cards to them. I have a daughter,sil, 2 gs, so of course buy for them ,oh, his daughter, a friend, and an elderly neighbour so that is my present buying. We don't really drink, so have last year's bottles ( except perhaps for Baileys ) we don't go mad food wise and don't eat meat but we do buy nibbles and other goodies. I've made the cake and making mince pies etc. But it certainly wouldn't be in the £700s but we don't really set a budget.

Boolya,,its not about the thanks ,that just makes YOU feel good,s about whether you care enough about the people in your life to give them a gift .My other half doesn't like christmas ,he wouldn't buy any presents for anyone ...so I buy for his family ,always have ,and my sisters grandaughter and my friends grown up kids and .........I like giving ppresents .

Quick mental tot up.
Pressies for H S D and her SO. GCx2 great nephews x2
Food n drink
I tink in my case you can halve the £748

sounds harsh but i spend what i spend! i usually try to stay with about £25 per person [daughter, son and 4 grandaughters] and a bit less for friends i exchange presents with [down to only one these days unfortunately] however i usually spend a bit more on the granddaughters who live with me.
food shopping these days is shared between my daughter and i but i still find we spend quite a lot at christmas time.
some of it is the chocolates, etc what we traditionally buy and some for the ingredients for granddaughters to make sweets - also a tradition in my family.
but christmas is one of the events during the year which we look forward to and celebrate as much as we can. hang the expense - you're a long time dead!!!

We have stopped buying for DH's siblings and their children. Got fed up of never receiving thanks in any form. If they can't be bothered then neither can we! Oh that does sound very bah-humbug which we are not!

as long as people spend within their means ,whether its £10 or £100 a head for presents is irrelevant ,its THEIR choice .When someone else starts to pay my bills they can criticise how I spend MY money .People aren't religious nowadays so Christmas IS all about presents and parties and food,sad ...but thats how it is .Ask any mum or Granny what the best bit of Christmas is and they'll tell you seeing the happy wee faces ripping paper off presents.I love giving nice things to the people I love so anyone who wants to curtail my spending is not likely to succeed

I was glad to read that figure, because we spend about that and I was feeling guilty about it that it was too much! As the family grows with son's and daughter's partners/spouses and more grandchildren and the extended family, I don't cut down on what I buy a child because another one has come along, so the amount grows each year. We don't like to stint on the food and drink either.

sad that xmas revolves around the cost, its the thought that counts not how much you spend.

I know I don't need to justify myself and we need to note that the figure quoted is an average, but I have 10 GC and step GC, if I spend £40/50 on each, and only one is not school age,that is a big chunk. I have friends who spend £500 on each member of their family which includes GGC, They are the most generous couple, to their family, friends and their church that I know and they get enormous pleasure in sharing their largesse,

Nor me. I have bought few presents this year, really. I think this is actually the first time it's dawned on me just how unnecessary the buy-fest is. Some toys and clothes for the wee great-grandson, and a couple of bits for pals who I know will have bought for me. These are mainly little things that are more just wee gesture than anything else.
I'm just so aware that there are so many families who are struggling just now. It seems worse than ever this year.

Nor me.

Not me

Over that in ours too. I think it's best that I don't reckon it all up. ?

Well over that in this household anyway.

In our house its a lot less than £748, maybe we are just scrooges. We agreed to the Secret Santa for all the adults so that all our grownup/just starting out grandchildren don't spend lots of money on presents so that only leaves 4 littlies to buy for.

But Christmas spending is more than just presents. There is the food, drink, parties and/or meals out, new clothes, even the break in Gran Canaria. If you take into account all the extra spending over Christmas, I am sure the average is over £700.

Phew, I was feeling really extravagant as we also spend at least that much over all!