Do you have a Christmas Budget

[mountainmike]

I found this forum because of the mess we've gotten ourselves in this holiday. We ended up spending far too much for Christmas than we should have which are going to make things really tough in the next few months. I should know better because this has been a recurring theme for the last few years. I realized what we really need is a Christmas budget.

I though maybe some of you have already created a Christmas budget (or know someplace that has one) which I can use. Also, I would like to know how much you apply to each category and any reasoning you might have for this. I know our budgets aren't going to be the same, but I need some good rationale when the family gets it next year and starts complaining. Any help would be great.

[ladonnarosso]

If you JUST want to know about a budget for Christmas spending, we set aside about $75/month throughout the year in a side account so we end up having about $900 to spend on christmas presents (we both have large families). That way we can still get nice gifts, but it doesn't seem like such a blow to our wallets during a short period of time.

A more complete budget throughout the year might do you more good in the long run though.