Dear LPG,

Now that 2020’s Christmas has come and gone, I wonder if I am the only reader who has had a look at their finances and found that there is still a lot less in the bank than they thought?

I always suspected that last Christmas would be all but cancelled in spite of the so called Covid-19 Christmas holiday, and I usually have no problem balancing my Christmas budget, but in the knowledge that I was not going to see most of my family, and consequently I was not going to be able to give them their presents personally, I started buying more than just my food shopping on-line this year.

I don’t think that I spent that much more on gifts, but we often don’t realise just how much difference the postage aspect of getting those presents delivered really costs. The thing that I enjoy most is seeing the little ones opening their presents, but what is a present without the Christmas wrapping paper, even if you have to watch them do it on-line? After all, many of us have learned to do that for their birthdays throughout this covid-19 year.

I was really pleased to discover that many of the websites that specialise in presents, offer a gift wrapping service so that you can send the younger grandchildren’s gifts direct and ready for that all-important rip-off moment on the big day.   Delivery of my on-line groceries seems worth it because, even when it was safe to go out yourself, it would cost me more in taxi fares to get my groceries back to my home than the delivery charge. I continue this as the young birthdays come around and it worked really well but it is when you multiply that delivery cost and the gift-wrapping cost of each present that the pinch is really felt. I found that for me the average combined cost of gift wrapped delivery was up to a conservative £8.00 per item, and with 5 grandchildren that was an extra £40.00.

Now, we have barely got past the start of this new year but we have learned that we are back to square one when it comes to lockdown restrictions, which doesn’t instil me with a lot of confidence that we will be free of this by next Christmas. 

So, I resolve from now that when talking to my family’s youngsters during the course of the year, I plan to start throwing a hint or two about how grown up it is to receive the present that arrives in a brown box or wrapped in brown paper, that Santa sent through the post officially addressed to its recipient, and to remind them that those presents are just as special as the gift-wrapped ones.

I strongly suggest that all readers that qualify as grand and great grandparents do the same.  

MP, New Cross.