Soldato
~£2k, ~£350 of that is food/drink
How much do you spend on Xmas in total?
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Soldato
How much I've/we've spent over the years has varied greatly, depending on how we were doing financially and where things were with our jobs. This year, because I've had no income for 12 months due to my long covid but not being ill enough to qualify for ESA or PIP thanks to really high eligibility bars, I'm spending less.
Back ~10 years ago I put together an X99 and a Z170 pc system bought from OCuk for us both just before Xmas, but her Z170 system is what I'm typing on because my X99 died ~4 years ago.
Back ~10 years ago I put together an X99 and a Z170 pc system bought from OCuk for us both just before Xmas, but her Z170 system is what I'm typing on because my X99 died ~4 years ago.
Paying £90 a head for a roast dinner. Yes, it's a soul destroying experience, my family call me scrooge for refusing it. This year the family are all staying in a lodge in Cornwall so I've been bent over the alter of Christmas expenditure in other ways.
I'd almost understand if it was special. But it's bog standard. There's nothing special about any of the courses.
Is a nice pub but again, not special
I've never been sort to appreciate fancy food. But at least if you're paying a lot you expect something special.
Each mouthful will be about 5-10 pounds!
Or could be a over a weeks worth of shopping for both of us.
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Caporegime
This year.... Jeez honestly 200 quid or less probably less.
Going to dinner at brother in law's. We'll all split the bill but Xmas food in Sweden is peasant food. Cheap AF.
It's first time in 5 years we haven't hosted. I'm so happy to not be going near a kitchen except work ... Lol FML ...I'm working We doing. 250 Xmas dinners to staff and patients but that's relatively easy and very well prepared.
Going to dinner at brother in law's. We'll all split the bill but Xmas food in Sweden is peasant food. Cheap AF.
It's first time in 5 years we haven't hosted. I'm so happy to not be going near a kitchen except work ... Lol FML ...I'm working We doing. 250 Xmas dinners to staff and patients but that's relatively easy and very well prepared.
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Soldato
We did the Xmas lunch at the pub a couple of years running.. the first was simply that we had no kitchen due to building delays over COVID, it was quite good and convenient, sure it was more expensive by some margin but the convenience was great, only 5 mins walk from the house, and no cooking/washing up.
I think it was only £45/head though.. normal fayre, perfectly OK, about the same we'd do ourselves, so no real complaints, we went back a second year and the quality nose dived.. now it's been taken over by Greene King and they are asking £43 with an OK menu, so again, not that bad!
I think it was only £45/head though.. normal fayre, perfectly OK, about the same we'd do ourselves, so no real complaints, we went back a second year and the quality nose dived.. now it's been taken over by Greene King and they are asking £43 with an OK menu, so again, not that bad!
Yeah 45 is absolutely fine especially for Xmas. No real issue with that. 90 is a different ball park.
I guess if they can charge that.. Why not
It's not just pub food tho is it, it's at least a dozen people giving up their Christmas with their families to work and earn some extra coin. I've no issues paying extra on Christmas day, as long as the nosh is decent. If it's 90 bones for heated up frozen food then they can all get in the bin.
Soldato
Perhaps I could recoup some of the cost of Christmas selling (what I have been told it easily restaurant quality) dinners for £90 each. Could have the garçons (smelly teenager) serving the wine at £9 a glass, for the stuff I picked up in Sainbo's for £7.75 a bottle. Reckon it would pay for the entire period if I could fill a table of six. 
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Not a lot. I've massively lost interest in it.
Completely given up on doing cards as well. Not just for Christmas either. They are such an antiquated load of nonsense that make zero sense in the modern world. One of those things humans stupidly cling onto, even though they are largely irrelevant.
Completely given up on doing cards as well. Not just for Christmas either. They are such an antiquated load of nonsense that make zero sense in the modern world. One of those things humans stupidly cling onto, even though they are largely irrelevant.
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Yeah cards are weird. It's nice to send very personal cards. But generic cards to people you think about, but don't care enough to see? Nah!
I reckon I'll be at around £150.
Presents are the majority, £50 for my wife, £20 for my eldest and probably £10 each for 5-6 relatives.
Quite a few relatives have said not to get them anything, and they'll just buy stuff for the kids. I've found buying food to be quite a nice option, at least it'll get used and it's not just cluttering someone's house. For the kids, I'm not convinced they really understand what Christmas is at their ages, so they've got no expectations and other than making sure they've got a few things to open (i.e. not feeling left out) there's not much to it. Sure, I could spend £200 on stuff, but I don't think they'd notice the difference.
I probably spend a little more on food, but in-laws always do Christmas dinner. When we were hosting that probably cost us another £60-80 or so, but I was pretty good at driving the cost down by buying strategically.
Presents are the majority, £50 for my wife, £20 for my eldest and probably £10 each for 5-6 relatives.
Quite a few relatives have said not to get them anything, and they'll just buy stuff for the kids. I've found buying food to be quite a nice option, at least it'll get used and it's not just cluttering someone's house. For the kids, I'm not convinced they really understand what Christmas is at their ages, so they've got no expectations and other than making sure they've got a few things to open (i.e. not feeling left out) there's not much to it. Sure, I could spend £200 on stuff, but I don't think they'd notice the difference.
I probably spend a little more on food, but in-laws always do Christmas dinner. When we were hosting that probably cost us another £60-80 or so, but I was pretty good at driving the cost down by buying strategically.
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Associate
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I'd say I've spent about £2500 so far. This is by far the most expensive Christmas of my life. I usually spend no more than £1000.
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Soldato
My Wife didn't have the best childhood (narcissistic mother, Dad separated and emigrated to Canada, her Mum would steal the money out of the cards he'd send, then throw them away and tell her "Dad's forgotten about you again").
My parents had very little to start out (Mum was training to be a nurse, Dad was a junior rating in the Navy).
My youngest sister was born with encephalitis and severe epilepsy, so each Christmas was treated as "potentially her last" - so whilst my brother & I got very little, my Mum would spoil her beyond belief. It was really hard not to resent our sister (who is now 38 and just as spoiled/entitled).
We agreed before we started a family that we'd make sure our kids would never experience Xmas & birthdays like we did, so we do spoil them. We don't set a spending limit exactly (we don't go beyond our means), but we make purchases throughout the year and take advantage of sale events (Prime/Black Friday, etc).
The Wife goes daft with balloons & banners the night before their birthday and she bakes their favourite treat (brownies, flapjacks, cupcakes & cheescakes), so the kids are always excited on the morning.
Our son had his first gaming PC in 2020, which I put together and spent around £1800 (including screen, desk, chair, peripherals, etc) - which was about 3x what we spent on the girls.
The following year he didn't have anywhere close to that amount spent and our middle daughter got tickets to a concert.
As a family, we don't live extravagantly and we prefer to spend our money on experiences (travel, days out, etc) than just endlessly buying "stuff". If there's something the children want, they put it on either their birthday or Xmas list and we decide whether we can afford it or not, whilst trying to keep things fair between the three.
My parents had very little to start out (Mum was training to be a nurse, Dad was a junior rating in the Navy).
My youngest sister was born with encephalitis and severe epilepsy, so each Christmas was treated as "potentially her last" - so whilst my brother & I got very little, my Mum would spoil her beyond belief. It was really hard not to resent our sister (who is now 38 and just as spoiled/entitled).
We agreed before we started a family that we'd make sure our kids would never experience Xmas & birthdays like we did, so we do spoil them. We don't set a spending limit exactly (we don't go beyond our means), but we make purchases throughout the year and take advantage of sale events (Prime/Black Friday, etc).
The Wife goes daft with balloons & banners the night before their birthday and she bakes their favourite treat (brownies, flapjacks, cupcakes & cheescakes), so the kids are always excited on the morning.
Our son had his first gaming PC in 2020, which I put together and spent around £1800 (including screen, desk, chair, peripherals, etc) - which was about 3x what we spent on the girls.
The following year he didn't have anywhere close to that amount spent and our middle daughter got tickets to a concert.
As a family, we don't live extravagantly and we prefer to spend our money on experiences (travel, days out, etc) than just endlessly buying "stuff". If there's something the children want, they put it on either their birthday or Xmas list and we decide whether we can afford it or not, whilst trying to keep things fair between the three.
Soldato
All in, probably £4K which is a lot. It’s mainly made up of buying (Was one, now two) puppies.
Soldato
Which breed?
Be grateful you're not paying COVID/Lockdown prices - our Poppy was "cheap" at £4½k (others were selling for £6k+).
I know of litters struggling to sell for £850/pup.
Soldato
We fixed that issue when we had kids.
No driving up and down the country visiting people over Christmas, dragging the kids around, if anyone wants to visit us that's fine, but we're going nowhere
Soldato
Which breed?
Be grateful you're not paying COVID/Lockdown prices - our Poppy was "cheap" at £4½k (others were selling for £6k+).
I know of litters struggling to sell for £850/pup.