When I first heard the phrase “Detty December” in 2019, I thought it meant that something had happened to make that particular December dirty but hearing it again the next year made me wonder how December had become dirty. I later learnt that the word was DETTY and not dirty and that it had been coined by the artist Mr. Eazi in 2016 after his Happy Boy Tour. I must say that at first I was unimpressed and amused by the term as it sounded like a word from the trenches. But the term has stuck having found its way into the urban dictionary and even becoming another subject of dispute just like Jollof rice is, between Nigerians and our neighbors the Ghanaians.
The Urban dictionary defines Detty December as “a time in December especially in Lagos, Nigeria when you lose your home training and party with all your might to make up for the hard work you’ve put in from January till November. It states further that the themes involve concerts, vacations, party and bullshit. Long short, Detty December means a frenzied, holiday-long lineup of fun activities that range from clubbing, concert-going, carnivals to sightseeing and camping.
Though the term is new, Nigerians have been “dettying” December for a long time. Ever since I can remember, December is a time we all look forward to because of the holidays, the flurry of activities, Christmas festivities etc . It is that time of the year that bonuses known as the 13th month are given, that companies buy foodstuff for their employees and that gifts of all kinds exchange hands. It’s that one time families find time to bond, when those in diaspora popularly known as “I just got back” (IJGB) come home flaunting their accents and foreign currencies and those in the towns visit the villages and hamlets in their flashy new cars and city clothes.
It’s that time when reunions take place, when marriages are celebrated, when end of year parties are hosted by the rich and poor alike. It’s a time to flex and show off all we have managed to amass in the year. I am quite the extrovert sometimes going for multiple parties in one day and December is my dream month and favorite time of the year and I know that I am not alone.
However, the times dictate that this yearly routine of “dettying December” might be taking its toll on us and our pockets and maybe, just maybe, we should rethink many of the activities we will be partaking of in this season or at the least rethink the part we play in those activities. The reason for this is very obvious, we are going through a bad patch economically and everyone even the rich are feeling the pinch. Food and services are at an astronomical high and there seems to be no respite in sight. Security is stretched to the limit as it is and it is not the time to expose oneself to undue attention.
However, the way it is looking, it seems that we are going ahead with the celebrations as if nothing is amiss. The parties are going ahead as usual, each one more flamboyant than the last, hotel and events prices are set in foreign currencies. Tickets for concerts have risen astronomically with one artist selling his base tickets at N70,000.00. Yet with all the furor raised when the price of the tickets became public knowledge, they are said to have been sold out. From the forecasts, it seems Nigerians are going to be spending as much as we did last year to detty the December whether or not we can afford it.
Detty December comes with its own expenses and because there’s usually a flush of money in the system either as a result of the end of year bonuses or monies brought back from those in diaspora. We tend to spend money without a thought of January, which is looming round the corner. Many of us will take loans to buy the aso-ebi or clothes for the many parties we will attend, make our hair, buy gadgets or cars and presents for our loved ones.
However, going into debt for holiday spending has adverse effects not only on our purses in the New Year but also on our mental health. Kia-Keating says finances play a key role in stress levels and when people spend more than they have, or go into debt, their stress multiplies,”…Financial stress often increases conflict in family relationships, because of the spending itself when partners don’t agree or because of the sacrifices involved in trying to pay back the debt.”
So how do we ensure that this December does not end up dettying us?
- We must forgo every iota of shame and learn to say, No. No to unplanned expenses like aso-ebi, overly priced food and entertainment and even decorations. I read somewhere that people are paying N750k for Christmas trees and then some hundred thousand Naira more to decorate them. No to family members who have come to expect a certain level of expense from us either by way of entertainment or gifts. No to joining certain trends like wearing matching pajamas for photo shoots if we can’t afford them. No to everything that will make life tougher for us in the New Year.
- Keep money aside for expenses that will rear their heads up early in the New Year. Expenses like school fees, food, rent etc. The secret here is to pay for one’s expenses as soon as money gets in your hands and not afterwards when you might have spent them on non-necessities. As Ademola H Adigun recently opined in his social media handle “There is nothing like Christmas bonus. It is part of your pay. So it’s not a bonus. It had been built into it at the point of design. Spend wisely. January is often long. “A bonus” should be money you invest not spend”
- Shun retailers and sales. The retailers are aware that there is extra monies in our wallets and their plans are to get some if not all of those monies into their own pockets hence sales etc. Sales induce us in thinking we got an item for cheap when we may not even have wanted or needed that item in the first place. That is not to say we shouldn’t get good once in a lifetime deals but to ensure that we buy those sale items because we really need them. I have started blocking most of the retailers on my social media platforms especially Instagram as they seem determined to send me back to the village empty handed.
- Plan, budget and stick to the plan. This is not to say we should not let our heads down, unwind or even treat ourselves out after all we have worked hard all through the year and as we say in these climes we need to chop the head of our lives but I know firsthand how easy budgets can be ruined when we don’t stick to them.
- Rest. It’s a holiday and we should not spend it jumping from one event to the other. Our bodies need to rest from all the hard work it’s done all year long and staying indoors will help us curtail our spending too.
My prayer for us all is that this December will not detty us all but that we will detty it within reason.
