# How much do you spend @ Christmas?



## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

It's coming up to that time of the year & just wondering what others spend on the Christmas season - gifts, food/alcohol, decorating, etc.

Responses can be multiple & are NOT public for protection of our $ privacy & to save a few marriages!!!!!!


----------



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Judging from our Visa bill after Xmas...way too much!!!

I said between $1,100 and $2,000. I'm not feeling too Christmasy yet this year (first Xmas without my dad) so probably won't do as much entertaining as we've done in the past. 

Hubby knows exactly how much we spend as he does most of the spending!!!


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I think I mis-voted. 

I budget $300 for gifts. <- And that's how I responded.

But I do spend an extra $100 for decorations and random Christmas things. 

And baking supplies cost me up to $200. Those DARN macadamia nuts.


----------



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My expenses are going down as the nieces and nephews are reaching adulthood. I now generally give one gift per household of immediate brothers/sister, and then smaller gifts for personal friends, trainers etc. So I'd say 700-900. 

I no longer decorate for Christmas and since my mother died, we no longer have the big family get togethers with meals costing hundreds. Very simple and more spiritual now.


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Sunrise said:


> My expenses are going down as the nieces and nephews are reaching adulthood. I now generally give one gift per household of immediate brothers/sister, and then smaller gifts for personal friends, trainers etc. So I'd say 700-900.
> 
> I no longer decorate for Christmas and since my mother died, we no longer have the big family get togethers with meals costing hundreds. Very simple and more spiritual now.


We're reducing as well as everyone gets older and the kids are becoming adults. We're decorating, but it's a minimal scheme that is easier to take down. We started this last year when we had work going on inside the house during the month of December and I didn't want the dust getting in the decorations. We liked it, didn't look too cluttered and it allowed us to not hassle with keeping it clean or spending days taking things down, which is always sad. Simple and spiritual is definitely our plan for this year as well.


----------



## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

During Christmas 2009, we travelled to the Dominican Republic for the holiday. We travelled with my sister and her family, brother-in-law's mother & my mother. We made a pact that there were to be no Christmas gifts other than a little gift obtained off the beach! 

As we were gone, I did very little decorating & it took me less than 15 minutes to "undecorate". It was WONDERFUL!!!! 

We spent Christmas day on the beach basking in the sun while Santa arrived in a fishing boat much to the delight of the young children.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Not only did we get a wonderful vacation away from the cold & snow but it actually saved us $$$$$.

The only negative was that we couldn't take our furboys  Two of them stayed with their co-owner/breeder/grandma and the other stayed with my daughter.


----------



## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Back in 93, we were living in an apartment while buiding a new house. DS was stationed in upstate NY. The apartment just didn't feel like home so we booked a condo in Killington, VT for a ski long weekend instead of presents. I took all the fixins for Christmas dinner, pies, cookies in the car. Our son met us there with 2 Navy buddies who couldn't go home for the holiday. 

On Christmas Day, we got dinner in the oven and headed for the slopes. The kids and Penny's Dad went to ski school. I took to the bunny hill for the very first time on skiis. It was 30 degrees with big snow flakes falling. Perfect Vermont Christmas. It was one of the best Christmases we ever had. 

btw, when you're on skiis, what LOOKS flat is NOT flat. :curtain::bowl::doh:


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Now that we have eight grandchildren it can get VERY expensive. And to be honest, I don't like buying meaningless toys that will be broken or cast off before I see the kids again. So I have started buying them books and this year also getting them Husker clothes because they are all Husker fans.

Also this year we are giving the adults money. I don't have the energy to go hunt down personal gifts for every one. I may sound like a Grinch but I really can't walk around that much.

I am no longer buying for my sister's families etc. We give our parents gift cards.

Last year after Selka died I wasn't in the mood to decorate much so we just put up a small tree and my St. Nick/Santa collection. This year I may decorate more but may stay with the little tree.

Simple and Spiritual sounds wonderful to me!


----------



## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

We buy for the grandkids and any family members still in regular school. College students get small gift cards. Each other, really nothing! We go to my sisters for Christmas and she decorates, so we just have evolved to nothing in our house. Hopefully when we retire, I will have time to decorate the house and yard as we used to. 

But for Thanksgiving this is OUR thing. Over 20 people for 4 days, I spend a fortune in food alone. Thankfully all the fun things God gives us for free (acres to run, ponds, hayrides). I just don't tell hubby what the final cost is and feel this is money we would have spent on a vacation, but lots more fun.


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Well, I just ended up spending more than I planned on a gift for hubby, but he'll love it so I'll readjust the budget elsewhere. 

Deber, your Thanksgiving sounds like so much fun and the perfect way to enjoy and be thankful for family!


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

I hit the jackpot on sales today!! I had three 20% off coupons for Barnes and Noble (I'd already bought all the grandkids books on line with a 50% coupon) so I got hubby's and some friends gifts there. 

Then went to Penney's and they had all their Husker attire on sale 25% off ! Plus if you spent $80 , you got another 20% off the total. So I got all 7 grandsons Husker jerseys! I am thrilled! Love a great sale!


----------



## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

Not as much as I wish I could.

There was a time when I had no debt and could blow like $1000 on Christmas presents for everyone...

This year I've been unemployed since mid-August so its not likely I'm buying a whole lot!


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Debles said:


> I hit the jackpot on sales today!! I had three 20% off coupons for Barnes and Noble (I'd already bought all the grandkids books on line with a 50% coupon) so I got hubby's and some friends gifts there.
> 
> Then went to Penney's and they had all their Husker attire on sale 25% off ! Plus if you spent $80 , you got another 20% off the total. So I got all 7 grandsons Husker jerseys! I am thrilled! Love a great sale!


That's fabulous!! 

I'm laughing at my hubby. I was giving him huge hints on what I want for Christmas on our early morning walk and he wasn't getting it. I finally told him if I didn't get them for Christmas I'll just go buy them after because I really need them. He went out "shopping" this morning, presumably to get them before he forgot what I mentioned.....and came back with a very expensive gift for himself! :uhoh: I'll probably go buy them next week and tell him I've got him covered! :smooch: The benefit--it will be exactly what I want and there won't be a need to return any of it!


----------



## bbuzz (Aug 8, 2010)

Penny's Mom said:


> Back in 93, we were living in an apartment while buiding a new house. DS was stationed in upstate NY. The apartment just didn't feel like home so we booked a condo in Killington, VT for a ski long weekend instead of presents. I took all the fixins for Christmas dinner, pies, cookies in the car. Our son met us there with 2 Navy buddies who couldn't go home for the holiday.
> 
> On Christmas Day, we got dinner in the oven and headed for the slopes. The kids and Penny's Dad went to ski school. I took to the bunny hill for the very first time on skiis. It was 30 degrees with big snow flakes falling. Perfect Vermont Christmas. It was one of the best Christmases we ever had.
> 
> btw, when you're on skiis, what LOOKS flat is NOT flat. :curtain::bowl::doh:


Five years ago my partner and I had a vermont ski Christmas! We came over to the USA to work and play for 8 months. At x-mas time I was working as a ski instructor and even though I was working I had a great Vermont x-mas!! 

Taking to the bunny hill for the first time sounds like I wonderful x-mas, and a bit of an achievement!! Yes small hills seem like mountains when your starting out!

For me the best x-mas would be having lots of friends and family playing in the outdoors somewhere remote.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I have always been poor so I bargin shop all year long. I have a great family my son who is 19 this year doesnt care if the gift is used or not. Last year I bought him used DVD's of a couple of tv shows he likes. So I usually spend around 75 to 100$ for all the gifts I buy 3 family members and 3 really close friends. Food I dont do much extra there either. We are thankfull everyday.


----------



## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

I would love to be able to drive less than a day and rent a real cabin with a fireplace where it snows at Christmas and have my kids come join us........but as we are in South Carolina, there is no way you could be sure to find snow within a day's drive from here.


----------



## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Dallas Gold said:


> He went out "shopping" this morning, presumably to get them before he forgot what I mentioned.....and came back with a very expensive gift for himself! :uhoh:


This reminded me of one of the first Christmases when my daughter was using her own saved up money to buy gifts. She selected a present for her dad, then saw something she really wanted for herself. She struggled with it, then put the original present she picked for her dad back, saying "he wouldn't really want that" and instead got him a giant plastic paper clip (which fortunately cost so little, she could afford to buy herself a gift).
He and I got a good laugh out of it (and actually, since he teaches, the giant paper clip wasn't too bad a gift)


----------



## BIGDAWG (Sep 28, 2008)

Gwen and I have not been buying each other gifts for the past few years, we have been spending the money on our trips to the sunny south. But this year she said we have to also buy each other a small gift, she set a $20 limit :doh:


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

My DH and I don't usually get each other Christmas gifts. His birthday is the 20th so he gets separate gifts for that day. 
We ususally buy one bigger gift for our "Family" gift but this year we are saving up for new quartz countertops!


----------



## BIGDAWG (Sep 28, 2008)

I think a trip to Puerto Plata in January is MUCH better than a sweater that I don't like... :


----------



## Gwen (Aug 9, 2007)

BIGDAWG said:


> I think a trip to Puerto Plata in January is MUCH better than a sweater that I don't like... :


Since we aren't going to the sunny south this year, a $20 "from the heart" gift is appropriate! ....& a "from the heart" gift does not mean a sweater!


----------



## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

What if it was a Golden Retriever sweater? lol


----------



## BIGDAWG (Sep 28, 2008)

Gwen said:


> Since we aren't going to the sunny south this year, a $20 "from the heart" gift is appropriate! ....& a "from the heart" gift does not mean a sweater!


How about a $20 lottery ticket? :


----------

