Christmas fairs are about to start in my country, or should I say in my city as there are places where the whole madness has already started last month. My plan is to visit the fair each year, mostly to take some gifts for less fortunate children, as there's the local motorcycle association that is organizing a charity event each year. This year it is announced to be on the 13th, on Saturday, but more about this when the time comes.
The Christmas tree 🎄 is already set up, actually we have two in the city center, and the rest is coming this week, but nosy reporters have already have done a tour of some fairs in other cities and know how much it's going to cost you if you can't keep your appetite in check. Everyone knows what these fairs are offering is overpriced and a few times more that on any other day, but the numbers have shocked me still.
A traditional dish in my country is stuffed cabbage and it goes not only for Christmas, but Easter too. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's minced meat rolled in cabbage leaves and cooked along with smoked ribs or pork knuckles. Looks like two cabbage rolls are going to cost you 8€, which is madness if you think what you can buy with 8€. You can buy a whole cabbage, one kg of minced meat and bread too. One would say it worth it, if it's good, but seriously, can be better than you make at home? Just because it's sold at a Christmas fair? To give you another example, with 8€, you can get a whole meal, like Transylvanian vegetable soup, a big schnitzel with potato salad, sauerkraut, two small slices of bread and dessert too.
Renting a plot at these fairs costs you an arm and a leg and all those costs are added to the price of products and services and transferred to the buyers. This is not a secret, it's a no brainer and a known fact as these vendors are there to make profit. The funny thing is, life is getting harder each year, cost of living rises month by month, more and more people are complaining about making ends meet becoming next to impossible, yet you see the crowd spending money like crazy, even at these places, where, as I mentioned, everything costs three or four times more.
This means some people definitely can afford those prices and even better, they are willing to pay for the experience. I could afford it, but I care about the value I get more. I can make my own stuffed cabbage, crepe, hot chocolate, lángos or whatever they are selling. The only thing I can't make at home is the kürtőskalács or horn cake in English, but I know where to buy it at an affordable price, so no need to finance other people's lifestyle by paying double. At least I don't feel the need, or makes me happy.
Manipulating emotions has always been the most powerful tool in marketing and no matter how poor people are, there will always be spending money they don't have, especially at these events.
Getting yourself into debts to finance your Christmas should never happen, but for many, a day or two of so called "happiness" worth more than getting their finances in order, or keeping a healthy balance. Even more sad then spending money you don't have is, spending it on unhealthy food and alcohol.
For some, celebrating means eating and drinking. I'm sometimes in conflict with family, when they ask me to bake 5 types of cakes and biscuits. My reply to them is: "Your stomach is the same size as it was the day before Christmas and the healthy portion of your daily intake is the same as well". Then why eat like a pig? Yeah, you guessed it right, they are not happy, but they know I'm right.
These events always remind me of my grandmother, who I used to decorate Christmas tree with. She grew up in a poor family, raised four kids basically on her own, worked her whole life to be able to support them and she knew the real value of Christmas. We used to wrap walnuts in chocolate paper to hang it on the tree and we made our Christmas biscuits as well, that were also hung on the tree. Christmas was never about luxury and spending money on shiny things, but about being together.
I'm already planning my surprise for the less fortunate, but more about that when time comes.
So, tell me, are you spending money at these crazy expensive fairs? Especially when you know you can get everything at half price elsewhere?
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