(Newswire.net — August 5, 2017) — Christmas is a time of year for celebration and joy. It’s a time for the kids, for families and not for turkeys. But Christmas can also be a time of great difficulty and financial hardship. If you’re struggling with debt, as so many Americans are, then Christmas is a time to dread and not to enjoy.
But what is the actual cost of this season? Just how much money can the average family expect to spend on Christmas? It’s a long way away right now, but judging by the look of these numbers, you mind need the next 6 months just to prepare your bank balance for a sizable hit.
Food and Basics
Someone has actually taken the time to calculate the cost of the 12 days of Christmas song. They determined that if you were to buy everything mentioned in the song, then you would need in excess of $200,000, the bulk of which would go on the swans.
This index is not as random as it sounds and is actually used to determine the rising costs of Christmas, but what’s the cost of actual items that we use during the season?
According to some estimations, the average cost of Christmas dinner has risen year on year and will set the average family back around $100. Once you factor in other seasonal snacks and food, as well as a few drinks to wash the Christmas blues away, this increases to between $200 and $300 per family. Not bad, right? Well, it gets worse.
Gifts
The average American will spend as much as $700 on gifts at Christmas, an amount that increases depending on how many children you have. This amounts to over $450 billion spent every year on gifts, an increasing number of which are being bought online.
And that’s before you factor in the cost of decorations. Even families who keep it simple can expect to spend around $100, the majority of which goes on a Christmas tree. According to a study by Xmastree Express, one of the biggest reviewers of seasonal trees and decorations, the amount of money that someone is willing to spend on a tree increases considerably if they have young children, with the highest amount seemingly being spent by parents of young children who are keen to impress for the child’s first Xmas.
Things to Consider
This is a lot of money to spend, and when you consider that a lot of it is going on goods being made in India and China, as well as tech produced in Korea and confectionary made in Europe, it’s a warning for the U.S. economy.
One study by ABC News calculated that if we were to spend just $64 more of our gift budget in U.S. stores and on U.S. goods, then more than 200,000 jobs would be created, many industries would flourish and a sizable chunk of the national debt would likely disappear.
Now that’s food for thought.