Christmas Gift Giving - Who do you buy for??

[Grendalynn]

My question now is: Who do you buy for?? Ok, so we have tackled what we buy, how much we spend, where we go for dinner, what Santa or Mom and Dad give.... I have learned a lot and have gotten a lot of differnt answers...

With times being tight, our family has cut back on who we buy for. It used to be that the adults on each side of the family put names in a hat and we drew who we bought for - with a $50 limit, and all kids were bought for. But between the economy and the factthat our families are multiplying like gremlins, this year we will be buying for just kids and immediate family members....

So in short - who do you buy for? And if you want to - how much you spend on them... ((Its also thereputic for me to type out and get organized))Thanks! Here is my list for this year:

Besides my DH and our 3 boys....
DH parents - $50 GC + family photos
my parents - $50 GC + Family photos
nephew - 6 month $10-15 each
4 nieces - 4, 7, $10 - 15
2 of my sisters since they dont have kids - $20 each
Family gift for my DS and her family - Wii/board game & pizza GC - $30
Great aunt - family photo & $20 Petco GC -
DHs grand parents - Family Photos & ?? $20
DHs brother & his wife - $25 dinner GC
8 - Beautifully bagged Cookies and/or candles for teachers and co workers -$5-10 each

**pictures (taken by my sister, printed at walmart - $0.10 each)

Rough Total: give or take $340 +/-

We will also be hosting a Cookie Swap and Beer tasting party for all of our friends to participate in. Kind of our Christmas party/gifts to one another. Just beging together and making memories around the holidays is special!! And we will also go home with cookies for Santa and the men are happy with their Beer!!

[cjnix29]

We have cut waaay back in recent years. We buy for our parents, $50 each, so $200 total. Then we buy for our son. and niece and nephew on my side, $40 a piece. We don't buy for siblings, or the nieces and nephews on my husband's side of the family. My trouble comes with teachers, etc. I don't know who you should buy for and how much you should spend.

[luvmy3]

I buy for my kids and dh, and myself
On dh's side we pick names for nieces and nephews since there are 16 of them. I don't have any on my side but we have some family friends whose kids we buy for.
And of course we get gifts for parents and grandparents on both sides.

[Darcy03231]

My four children
My parents
DH's Mother
My nieces & nephews (6)
DH's nephews (2)
Grandma
Foster children (2)

My spending varies from year to year depending on what our financial situation is.

[acename]

My husband has a big family and he insists on still buying for everyone and their SO(even though 2 of them never buy for us or our daughter, not that it matters but it bugs me). So anyway, here's my list:

My parents
DH Parents
Dh grandmother
DH aunt, uncle and cousin
My sister, her dh and 2 kids
DH 3 sisters, 1 brother and all 4 SO
Daughter's sunday school teachers (although these are just really small gifts)

I try to keep it under 20-25 a person but it's really hard. Hopefully on DH's side once everyone starts having kids and all that we'll draw names or something.

ETA: Oh yeah and we buy for our daughter too! lol

[Irin997]

My list:

DD8
BF
Mom
Dad
Grandmom & Granddad
Fav Aunt
BF's Mom & Dad
BF's Bro #1
BF's Bro #2 & Wife
BF's Nephew #1
BF's Nephew #2

That's it, although it's a lot of people for me. There are other people in his family that buy for me but I can't afford to get them anything and they understand (me being the single mom I am). I'll probably make those people cookies or something.

[budbeerlady]

We are down to Dh, DD and myself. 2 nephews ($25 each) and the In-laws (3 @ $50 each).

[msmayor]

Both my family and DH's family realized long ago that gift giving was getting out of hand, and that our kids really were getting WAY too much. In addition, it got to the point that no one really knew what to get, so we were getting the nieces and nephews gift cards. It was as if we were all just trading $20 bills...so we put an end to it.

Same with parents and brothers/sisters. Neither set of parents wanted to see us spending money on them, especially since they had all they really needed. Brothers and sisters were too concerned about their budgets and wanted to cut back. So we don't exchange gifts there either, but rather just make sure we spend time together over the holidays. Being together is gift enough.

So my gift list is terribly simple. My husband and my two kids. WAY less stress and it has made shopping for gifts fun.

[Ava]

My extended family voted to suspend our gift exchange this year, so I only have immediate family to buy for. I also don't think my partner & I are buying gifts for each other; we're on one income while she stays home with DD, so things are tight. My definite list is:

Mom
Dad
Sister
MIL
FIL

Have no idea what we're buying for anyone yet. My mom & sister have birthdays at the end of this month, so I need to come up with birthday gifts for them first.

We also don't know if we're going to buy anything for DD. She'll only be 8 months old, so we originally said we'd just let her grandparents/aunt/others buy things for her (because I'm sure she'll get plenty) but now I'm thinking I want to get her something for her first Christmas. If we do get something, it will be small/inexpensive.

[foltzy]

My parents
My sister and her partner
My 3 nieces
DH mom and step dad
DH nana and step grandfather
DH brother
Our 2 kids
Then DH and me

[mom2val]

We buy for :
DD - don't ask - at least $500
My parents - $150
DH parents - $80 (they spent maybe $30 on our whole family)
DH & I each have 1 grandmother still living- $40 each
My brother, his wife and 3 kids - used to be $30 each but this year they are having money woes so we are spending $150 on each of their kids... so we'll spend $500 on the family
DH brother, wife & 2 kids - $200 for family -

DD's best friend & 2 brothers ( we do a pot luck with this family) - $75

Teachers gifts- 3 teachers $75 total

[HunnyPots]

We will buy for DH and I and our two college-age kids. Everyone else will get a plate of homemade cookies or something similar. It was a rough year for all of us so no one needs to be spending money on useless knick-knacks anyway.

[JandJ]

No kiddos yet, and we cut way back the last few years - for example, no more exchanging with friends or extended family. Besides gifts for me it's:
DH
DMIL & FIL (usually a couple gift)
Sister
Brother
DSIL
2 Nieces
1 Nephew

I give to my friend's kids, 5 in total, and spend about $5-$10 each. We also choose a child from the Salvation Army giving tree and probably spend the most on that child than anyone else! DH doesn't have siblings and we don't buy for aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. We do homemade gifts for our neighbors and co-workers (I bake and DH cans and makes pickles). We've done that the last few years and everyone looks forward to them now!

[MaryKLady]

After reading your lists I've decided I spend WAAAY too much. Next year will be a little different as my shopping is done for this year.

myself and DH
DD
my parents
DH's dad and wife
DH's mom
niece and nephew
goddaughter
DH's grandparents
DH's step grandmother
my grandmother
my godparents
my uncle
my aunt and uncle
two of my friends
my nail girl
my hair girl
DH's hair guy
the garbage men
not the mailman, he made me mad again this year
tons of cookies for friends and neighbors
some bottles of wine for party invites

[sksjasams]

Besides our DS11, this is our list:

DSS28 $50 cash
DSS's fiance $30 target gc
DGS6 $75 in gifts
DSD27 $50 cash
DGD8 $75 in gifts
DGD5 $75 in gifts
DSS21 $100 cash (still in school and no kids)
My DM $50 in gifts
My DD $50 movie gc
DH's DM $50 walmart gc
DGod-daughter $25 gc
DGod-son $25 gc
teacher $25 gc - may need to buy for more teachers this year though
daycare director $25 gc