How much do you spend on Christmas?

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I thought it would be interesting to see how much the "average" family/person spends on Christmas on gifts, decorations, food, etc.

I'd say on average my husband and I spend about $350-$400 on gifts, but we don't buy for tons of people, and we don't exchange gifts with each other.

We probably spend about $30 per year just on decorations (We really got into it this year, though and spent too much. We couldn't resist with my 6-year old nephew coming to stay with us for 10 days!) and maybe an extra $50 on food.

Altogether that's about $500, and we don't have any children (no human children anyway )!

How much do you spend?

[Freedom]

I never really keep tracked of it.

I buy a present for Dad. My brother and I do not exchange gifts. I get a few odd things here and there for 3 or 4 friends and mail those out; and they mail me presents. Dad isn't able to go out and buy gifts. And I plan a nice dinner for the 3 of us. Maybe $200 total? Not typical, I am sure of that.
I really don't need to buy decorations at this point. Once I bought my house, Dad let me bring all the things form his house; all the things we grew up with. Plus I have what I acquired in 15 years of apartment living. So maybe a little bit for the extra lights that's it.

[cassiesmom]

Every year I spend more than I'd planned to! But I'm with pembroke_corgi, a few hundred dollars sounds about right.

[Argranade]

For my family there's me, my 2 brothers plus mom dad,

Then there's the rest of the family which is 13 people.

All together we spend from $1,500 to $2000 plus,

Probably more this year since my dad is planning to save more for us.

I'll be buying myself a laptop so my dad can save some more money lol.

[carole]

I have bought into the commercial side of xmas for way too long i think, however this year we are going easy as we are saving for a trip to the gold coast australia for my two children.

We are not buying for each other this year, and we buy for our two children, my sisters two children and my great nephew and that is it.

It is always an expensive time all the same as we have seven birthdays from october right through to december.,three of which are in december and very two close to xmas.

We are spending around 350 dollars, nothing much on food as we are being taken out to a buffet restaurant by my parents as my late 50th birthday celebration ,xmas dinner combined, and decorations, i only buy a few if i see something i really like, i am giving my xmas tree and decorations to my son and his girlfriend as i never use it because the cats would tear it to bits, well at least two of them would, i usually put up a wreath, and a few bits of sparkle, a few ornaments ,and we have a set of xmas lights outside and that is it really.

I always purchase really neat xmas cards on sale the year before,so that i can give expensive quality cards , and that is about it really.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

We spent about $200 on Nathan and about $600 on other family members and friends. I've bought a few new decorations, maybe $50 worth? Justin bought me a new camera and some accessories, may $1000? I got Justin an ATV for a birthday/Christmas gift, it was $3500.

[catnapper]

Gosh you guys all get away cheap! I'm used to around $1,000 including gifts, wrapping, decorations, food, etc. Every year we swear we'll be cheap and not give gifts, but every year its the same. I order a $260 gift for mom and dad this afternoon

[Catlady711]

I, my hubby, and my mom all do a Christmas Club account in the bank every year. We put in $5 or whatever each week and get a check around Halloween. Mom usually does about $500 per year, hubby and I do $750 a year each.

My $750 buys for hubby, mom, cats, coworkers, and a few other family & church members. We buy wrapping paper at the after Chrismas sales for 50% off or better and stockpile it along with tape, bows etc. So we spend very little anymore on those expenses. Buying a tree (haven't done that in 2 years) comes out of our 'household expense' fund which is for misc. items we want for around the house. We only do 1 small party between Christmas and New Years for immediate family only, just snacks no actual dinner, no gift exchanges.

[crow_noir]

Between $5 - $75 depending on how much we can afford.

This year it's going to be between $5 - $10 :-(

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

We are most likely going to be spending $1000+ on gifts alone. DH gets two turkeys from work as a gift. We always go out for Christmas dinner, I probably won't have time to cook anyway.

[anna_66]

In the past it's always been around $1000+ because I always go overboard and buy tons of gifts for everyone.

But this year I really wanted to be thrifty (yes, that makes me feel better than saying cheap)
With the prices of gas, food, hospital bills, dentists bills and all the other necessities plus my work being extremely slow I don't want to dig myself into any deeper hole than I already am.

I bought gifts that I would like to receive, not just any ol' thing that's "cheap".

As for food I don't really spend any more on that than I do any other time.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

As I will be paying it off until the summer I guess the answer is too much!!

[jackie]

I buy gifts all year, whenever I see something unique or for a good price i but it and stash it in the closet. Most of the time I don't have a clue who its going to be for! LOL

I suppose all in all I spent about 1000 on Christmas, that includes mom and step-dad, aunt, uncle, a few cousins, boyfriend, and 3 friends. Not too bad seeing as it is only once a year.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!