What's the price of celebrating?
Celebrating Christmas in Ireland costs more than in any other EU country, according to a recent study. Research from Deloitte suggests that households here will spend, on average, €1,399 on the festive season, double the EU average. While it might seem like a lot, it actually looks to be somewhat wide of the mark. We broke Christmas down into 12 categories and found that, even by scrimping on food (we left the crisps, crackers and cake off our shopping list) and not going entirely mad partying and buying expensive wines and spirits to drink at home, it was hard to escape the season of goodwill for less than twice the estimated average.
1 Food
As Christmas approaches, Irish people tend to stock up on food as if they are heading into a nuclear winter, which might explain why we will consume around 6,000 calories on Christmas Day and put on an average of half a stone. The Deloitte survey suggests that the average household spend on Christmas food is €251. This seems to be way off the mark. PriceWatch filled a virtual shopping trolley in Superquinn made up of a small turkey, ham, biscuits, mince pies, breakfast, melon, plum pudding and a few other Christmas Day essentials. There was nothing in our basket that was out of the ordinary and there were no high-end products either. The cost of our 24 items, enough to feed a family of five comfortably on the big day with a few leftovers for grazing on St Stephen's Day, came to a fairly hefty €255.08.
2 Drink
Not wanting to overdo it, we limited ourselves to a case of beer, four bottles of red wine, two bottles of fairly ordinary looking champagne, a bottle of brandy for the lighting of the plum pudding and one bottle of whiskey to make Irish coffees. The bill came to €173.91. Now add two adults going to the pub three times over the Christmas period and having four pints each on each occasion - hardly excessive by festive standards - and the bill for alcohol rises to €300.
3 The Christmas party
While your company will hopefully fund your Christmas party - at least to some degree - it is unlikely to keep you in booze all night and will certainly not be paying for your taxi home. There might also be a kris kindle to factor in. We'll allow €30 for taxis, €30 more for drinks and another €10 for a gift for someone you don't know. So there's another €70 gone and, as there are two Christmas parties to go to in our imaginary home, we double it.
4 The tree
If you bought a fake plastic tree some years ago to economise, shame on you - you may as well just cancel Christmas and be done with it. A real tree will set you back €50.
5 Decorations
Working on the assumption that you are not planning to bedeck your house with enough festive illumination to put a small Las Vegas casino to shame, you should get away with spending under €50, including your lights - presuming you're not starting completely from scratch. The cost of your decorations does very much depend on where you buy them. You can pay close to €50 for a single, very tasteful bauble in Brown Thomas or for the same amount buy enough cheap decorations in Penney's to adorn your tree and your neighbour's tree. We'd recommend the latter option. Fairly ordinary Christmas lights will cost another €30.
6 Presents
While the Deloitte study found that the average spend on children was €121 - twice the European average - parents PriceWatch spoke to plan to spend considerably more. One father spent €400 last year on presents for his two children aged six and one. He expects Christmas to cost even more this year. Another reckons there'll be little change out of €400 for each child. It's not hard to see why: a 4-gigabyte iPod Nano costs €209 while game consoles and phones don't cost much less. When clothes, books, and other bits and pieces are factored in, the price of presents rises significantly. For our imaginary family of five we allow €250 per child and €100 per adult, taking the total present spend (not including friends and relatives who are getting nothing this year) to €950.
7 Santa Claus
No Christmas is complete without a visit to Santa Claus, hidden away at the back of some absolutely packed shopping centre; you'd perhaps want to allow €15 per child, a total of €45. Then there's the ice-skating (€50 for our fictional family) and a pantomime (another €70, not including treats), which takes the total cost of Christmassy outings to €165.
8 Christmas cards and postage
While PriceWatch neither sends (nor receives) many cards, others are more organised (and more popular). The downside is that if you're sending 40 cards which will cost you at least €20, you'll need to spend another €0.48 per card on stamps. Suddenly another €40 is gone.
9 New clothes
If you have any money left after all the present-buying, you might like to buy yourself a new shirt or frock to bedazzle your colleagues while you dance ironically to Nik Kershaw tunes the at the Christmas party. Set aside €100 each for these. Embarrassment on the morning after comes free. Children might also be in the market for new clothes - both to sleep in on Christmas Eve and to wear to church services or to the neighbours the following morning. Another €350 has been spent.
10 Transport
If you want to visit relatives either down the country or in the city you'll need to get there. A return trip cross-country from Dublin to Galway will cost you about €50 in petrol - this doesn't include a stop in Harry's of Kinnegad. If you're going to take a train, an adult ticket costs €40.50 while children's tickets will set you back €20.50, taking the total public transport cost for the return trip to Galway to more than €140.
11 Power
The savage increase in energy costs announced this autumn has been made slightly less savage in recent weeks thanks to the Energy Regulator rescinding its earlier decision to raise the price of household gas by 34 per cent and the price of electricity by 20 per cent. Even with the reduced increases, the average monthly gas bill is well in excess of €100 while the monthly electricity bill is currently around €60. Assuming more gas is spent cooking and heating over the festive period and more oil is burned keeping the Santa on your roof illuminated, we will allow €50 for Christmas-related energy costs.
12 Charity
Whether it is to assuage the guilt of spending so much on your own family or the result of high-profile marketing campaigns, donations to charities rise significantly at Christmas. They certainly need it. Last year the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) spent €41 million to help families in need. You might expect to give another €100 to charity in the form of Christmas cards, direct donations and contributions to flag days and carol services.
The PriceWatch total household spend for what looks like a fairly standard Irish Christmas is an eye-wateringly expensive €2,590 - and the new year has yet to be factored in.
