My wife just spent over $500 on Halloween — she needs to be stopped

I'm generally a reasonable person.

my wife is Therm“spending my husband's cash,” and she has equal access to our funds because she is an equal in the marriage.

She doesn't have to ask my permission for anything, and she doesn't have “pocket money”…but Halloween is changing my mind.

“We only have two packets left until Christmas…how can we afford that?”

Halloween in our house started a few years ago when we went on a round of trick-or-treating with the neighborhood kids.

Then last year, my wife thought it might be a good idea for the adults to set up chairs and drinks and take turns taking the kids to some houses.

But this year she wants to up the ante and host a party at our house. When she consulted me about it, I said that sounded like too much effort for something that was supposed to be casual.

“Just plastic glasses and a cheese board,” she assured me.

But the “appetizers” included fancy helium balloons, costume accessories (including a wizard's hat for me), a sushi platter, and an order of soft drinks, beer, and wine…I did the math and it came out to about $530.40 (800 dollar). Australian dollar).

That was before the so-called “boo basket” came into existence.

A Halloween that doesn't mean anything costs almost half a grand (1K AUD).

And there are two more payments left until Christmas.

“$800 is all you need for Christmas.”

I think the root cause is that I'm confused. I accept that Halloween is the latest fad, and I don't want my daughters to miss out on cute costumes and trick-or-treating.

But does it need to cost this much? I have a feeling that if we don't curb it, it will only escalate further in the next year.

My wife could have people bring bottles or plates…but she doesn't seem to care about money at all.

The other thing is that as a father and provider, I accept that Christmas is an expensive time.

And again, I don't want to write off my family, but I wish they had taken into account the huge cost of Christmas closer to this day.

Should I tell my wife that we're missing $530.40 (A$800) from our Christmas budget? I really don't want to be a spoiled sport…or should I say Grinch?