Anticipating the sting

Normally I get a nice little bump in my last five paychecks over the calendar year because I've already maxed out my annual FICA limit. That bump allowed me to sock away some extra cash in October and I'm expecting the same for November, but it turns out that I'm not going to be able to put away as much extra as I wanted without pretty much turning into Scrooge, because I have a bunch of different expenses all hitting at the same time. They include:

Doorman tips: $400
Holiday tips for building staff are customary and expected in New York. We have a small building staff, so I give each of them a holiday card containing $40 to $100. The porter gets the most because he does a demanding job heroically; the super gets the second most because I'm secretly not very impressed with him but at the same time need to be able depend on him to be responsive when I have non-emergency repairs. The doorfolk who are nice and friendly get more than the ones who sit there sullenly and don't make eye contact.

Food bank donation: $500
I raise money for the food bank from other people during the holiday season, so it's important to put my money where my own mouth is. This is a cause that really matters to me, so I consider it one of my fixed holiday expenses.

Other donations: $200
This is also the time of year that other people are doing fundraising, so I normally cough up $50 if it's a cause I believe in, sometimes less (e.g., a token $25) if I think the organization doesn't utilize its funds efficiently.

Homeowner's insurance: $250
Self-explanatory.

Passport renewal: $75
It's only once every ten years, but my passport expires in February so I'm already in the soup if I get asked to travel for work in the next couple of months. (We have a pretty strict travel ban on at the moment, so I'm not expecting it.)

Dentist: $200
Yay, I need another crown in December! I already maxed out my flexible spending plan, but about 70% will be covered by insurance as long as I don't get whacked in the upcoming layoff. If I do, this will cost a heck of a lot more.

Christmas gifts: $350
Ugh. I was almost entirely off the Christmas gift train for years, but I always give my mom restaurant gift certificates for Christmas and birthdays because she NEVER lets me pay when we go out. Beyond that, I need to get a couple of things for my SO and his kids. SO is good about agreeing on modest gifts, but he doesn't want to waive gift-giving altogether. I don't overdo gift-giving with his kids because I don't want them to see me as a gift machine or make either parent feel like I'm trying to compete, but there's no way I'd ever not give them Christmas and birthday gifts. Finally, I need to pony up something fairly respectable for SO's brother and his partner since they always include me in the annual family Broadway musical event.

Marathon travel: $150
Car rental, gas, meals, and hotel. I'm sharing a room with one person and pooling car rental and gas with three.

That works out to just about $2000, but there's not much I can do to bring it down other than skipping the marathon (not gonna happen), going completely bare-bones on gifts and doorman tips, and cutting out charitable donations. The FICA bump covers close to everything, but even if it didn't I've made my peace with it.

Do you have any special end of year expenses? What are they and how do you plan to cover them?