How much should you spend on Christmas?

But how much should you be spending on the festive season?

According to finder.com, the average person spends over £550 on Christmas in the UK.¹ On average this can be broken down as:

The statistics also show that in 2018, just over 40% of the average person’s budget was spent on children. And on average, people bought between 5 and 10 gifts.

If you’ve looked over your finances and worked out how much you can afford to spend on Christmas, allocating your money in a budget can be useful.

You may want to allocate around 50% of your Christmas allowance to gifts as these are the biggest cost on average, according to the research from finder.com. You could split this 50% down further by allocating certain amounts for your children, parents, siblings or friends.

Food and socialising are another big cost, so you could allocate the rest of your budget to cover this. If you’re hosting Christmas for the family you may have to budget more for food, so think about the specific costs you’ll have for different events.

And social activities with friends, work parties and days out with family can all add up and take a chunk out of your finances. Make sure to factor in travel costs like taxi fares, as well as the cost of the activity.

Explore: Everyday Budgeting

Saving well in advance of Christmas can help reduce any stress you may have about covering the cost. Putting a little bit aside each month can add up over the year, and go towards gifts or food.

If you can’t afford to save directly out of your pay cheque, you could try other methods of savings. For example, saving up spare change or rounding up what you spend to the nearest pound and saving this. Saving small amounts of money can quickly add up. There may not be enough time to make the most of this, this year, but it could be a useful habit to get into for next year.

Explore: How to save money

¹https://www.finder.com/uk/christmas-shopping-statistics