The holiday season is one of the most exciting times of the year, especially for kids. Unfortunately, many families are having to celebrate the holidays differently than they usually do because of costs. Last year, LendingTree reported that 36% of American adults went into debt to celebrate the holidays the way they wanted to. That came out to an average of $1,181 per person.
A mom named Sian, who shares content about motherhood and living on a budget, shared in a TikTok post the things her own family was going to have to give up this holiday season because they couldn’t afford them. She said, “This time of year, there’s so much pressure to do absolutely everything, so hoping this helps bring some reality to that!” No doubt many other families can relate.
Here are 3 holiday traditions a mom said her family is forced to give up this year because they can no longer afford them:
1. Matching Christmas pajamas
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We’ve all seen those ads with adorable pictures of families decked out in matching Christmas-themed pajamas. It can be pretty tempting to buy a set when you know they’ll provide the perfect photo-op. Sian’s family is giving this up, though. She revealed that she buys matching sets for her kids for “cheap” or through a resale platform, but she and her husband just re-wear the same Christmas pajamas every year.
“I think matching pajamas are dead cute, but when you weigh half the price of them, it’s, like, literally ridiculous for a pair of pajamas,” she said. “No point buying a whole set of new pajamas for the sake of one day.” She’s absolutely right, really. Taking a look at the matching Christmas pajamas from Old Navy, a pair of women’s pants is $24.99 when they’re not on sale, and a simple t-shirt to go with it is originally $14.99. Going all out for the whole family adds up quickly.
2. Christmas-themed outings
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“This is something that I used to, like, fall into,” Sian admitted. “I used to think, like, as a parent you have to, like, do as many Christmas things as you can … Now we do, like, one family day out that, like, we meet Santa on. For the rest of the month, we just look for, like, low-cost, cheap activities, or even free activities that you can do at home.”
It is really easy to think that you have to do all the things to have a meaningful holiday season, but that’s not true at all. Think about how much fun you had during your own childhood when your parents took you on a drive to look at Christmas lights at night, or set up a holiday craft station.
An annual consumer survey from the National Retail Federation found that Americans were going to spend an average of $890.49 per person “on holiday gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items.” While a lot of that money surely goes to gifts, there are so many other activities that people feel obligated to participate in as a part of Christmas as well. It’s okay to get out of that consumerist cycle.
3. A no-budget Christmas
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Some people who are really financially fortunate have the opportunity to take no-budget holidays. This means that, for Christmas, their family doesn’t put a cap on spending. As Sian said, “If that is you and you’re able to have a no-budget Christmas, then, like, that’s amazing and … I’ll be living my Christmas life through you.” For many people, it’s simply not realistic to plan a gift-giving holiday without any sort of budget, though.
According to Bank of America data released in November, about 24% of households in the U.S. are living paycheck to paycheck. If that many people are struggling to make ends meet and save any money beyond what they have to spend on essential expenses, it’s no wonder that having a no-budget Christmas is out of reach. “We just don’t have an infinite amount of money just to go buying loads of presents,” Sian confessed, which many people will understand.
It probably felt really vulnerable for Sian to share this information on such a public platform, but she’s undoubtedly helping so many other parents out there who have a hard time accepting that they can’t do absolutely everything they want to do for the holidays with their kids. It’s not realistic to participate in and spend money on everything, especially in this economy. Parents are becoming more and more creative to make Christmas special without their kids feeling like they’re missing out.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
