Christmas Budget

[ajksmom]

It's that time of year again. I'm sure there are those who may already be done with their shopping, sigh, I wish I was one.
Looking at our list and receipts from last year and it looks like there will be more to buy for, another sigh.

How in the world do you afford it?
What does Christmas cost you?
How do you handle when the families keep growing larger? And the kids start having "friends"? And the nieces and nephews start having children?

I love giving, shopping and finding that perfect gift is a challenge that I really enjoy but each year it gets more expensive. I'm a SAHM and we've got to watch our $$$!!!!

We are a family of 5, myself and DH, #3 DS's (21,17,3). 2 mom's/grandma's, 1 dad/grandpa, 10 siblings/aunts,uncles, 21 nieces and nephews with 5 children, 2 GF's to DS's, never mind all the others! We spent $1800 last year. I've spoken with some family and they don't have a clue what they spend altogether so maybe I'm getting a bargain, I don't know.

I know my ?'s may be prying into personal territory, I'm just trying to get an idea of whether we really are spending too much. And also what you do when each year the families keep growing!!!!

 

[maxie]

We spent about $1200 Canadian last year. THat is for 1 DS (1), each other, 2 Mom's, 1 Dad, 1 BIL and 1 SIL, and 10 nieces and nephews.

On my DH side they do not exchange gifts between his siblings and on my side we draw names ( that's why there is 1 BIL/1 SIL gift) but may cut this out this year. We do not buy for nieces and nephews over 18 years of age for birthdays or Christmas on either side (only 1 out 10 is over 18).

 

[Jalva22]

I'm married with 2 elem age kids. We buy for them; both sets of parents; two siblings, their spouses and two nephews on my side; two siblings, their spouses, and three nephews/nieces on her side; teachers; sitter; two angel tree gifts at work; a couple of close friends. We spent our $1,800 budget last year and probably a little more. It's insane.

I have 4 brothers, 3 sis-in-laws, 9 nephews/nieces on my side, and my parents. We do a drawing each year. Brothers each give to one brother, same with spouses, same with each of our kids. I really think it's time for us to just play the dirty santa game, at least among the adults. Everyone gets a gift, everyone spends less, and I think it's more fun anyway.

 

[JetMom]

I have never totalled up my spending. I am, however, the "clearance queen".

I just ordered dolls on amazon.com for 2 of my neices. I forget the name of the doll, but it rides a radio controlled scooter and is about 12" tall. Originally priced at $30, I paid $5.98!

I was in Target last week and bought $65 worth of Harry Potter toys for my DS's for $14.

I have a huge family and I love buying gifts that look expensive, but are not. It takes a little longer, but is so worth it to me.

BTW - I buy for my 3 DS's, my parents, DH's parents, my Grandparents(2), 10 nieces, 3 nephews,one adult sibling from a random drawing, 2 good friends, children of 2 other good friends, teachers, bus driver, and my assistant at work...as well as small trinkets for the children in my pre-school class.

 

[mommytotwo]

I am another person who has never actually totalled what I spend each year, but this year I have to buy for 18 kids-that includes our kids, our friends kids, my husband' nieces and nephews and my cousin's child.
Then for adults, I have to buy 25 other presents. That is not including 4 other presents that we do with our friends as a Secret Santa. And my husband has to purchase a gift for someone at work.

 

[CajunDixie]

DH and I decided to tone down all the money spending for the holidays. Its ridiculous to go out and buy tons of gifts. Last year we bought his brothers (adults) fun things that were just goofy gifts because Christmas is so not about all the money spent to us, it's about being with family and having fun. For my neices and nephews (bro has 8 kids and his GF has 2) we just bought one large gift (complete aquarium set) for the whole family. A couple of the kids live with their mom but I refuse to send stuff to her house.....she returns stuff and keeps the money. For our parents and step-parents we bought restaurant GCs. For his stepSis and her DH we bought a couple things from Pier 1 that they had asked for....they just had bought their first house. For our kids this year we are going to take them on vacation and we'll have to wait to see what Santa brings but most likely he'll bring them each one big/expensive gift. Most likely on our vacation we'll go to my bros that has all the kids and will take them all out to eat errrrrrrr or maybe with that many we'll just go buy 15 pizzas and have a nice night at their house. Next year B-I-L will have his first child/children and I'm already planning to buy all kinds of noisey/messy toys........revenge is soooooo sweet.

 

[NeverBeentoDisney]

I never really add up what I spend each year. I get my DH something that he has looked for all year usually and that I know for sure he will use.

Also I have already started my christmas shopping. I bought toys for my neices at Target for like 2.50 for nite lights they can use when they go camping. I bought another family member a disney snow globe for almost 1/2 of at the Disney store. My suggestion is to start early and get things on sale or clearance.

 

[2minnies]

Sounds like I'm in the minority but our families have cut way back. Gifts to the kids, parents/grandparents/great grandparents
(big gift from the entire family). Kids all exchange names with a $10/limit. Teachers get group gifts from the class. We spend the rest of our "budget" adopting a family and providing gifts and a holiday meal. Total spent is under $500.00

 

[Mic]

I never keep track of what we spend at Christmas...I'm afraid to! We have 3 girls(16,14, and 10) and one son(11) of our own, and 20 neices and nephews between both families. My husband and I each have 3 sibings, several of whom are on a second marriage with step-children, and finding a time that we can all get together has become insane! Both of my sisters have to "share" their firstborn with an ex-husband's family , and it's never on the same day. My brother has a young son who lives primarily with his mother, and my husband's sister has her 2 sons until noon on Christmas day, meaning we have no choice but gather with them on Christmas Eve. So, after several years of getting frustrated over the whole situation, I made a radical decision last year. For my 2 sisters and brother, I gave a gift for the whole family...a trip to WDW this Christmas! We will be there from Dec. 19-24(the 23rd for one sister) at the Boardwalk Villas. I used my DVC points to pay for the 3 studios, and rented out enough points to a friend to spend the same week there to help cover the cost of the 4-day hoppers. I printed up a nice "packge-type" brochure for each family last year, and placed it in seperate boxes from their other gifts.(I wanted everyone to have enough time to request that week for vacation). I explained what the gift included: a room, 4-day park hoppers, and 2-3 dinners during the trip. I plan to bring a small tree, so I asked that each person make(or buy) one ornament to put on the tree, and we can exchange small gifts one night in my 2-bedroom unit. Each of my siblings has one "old" son(15-17), and a young child(2-5), so this is the perfect gift. The older kids can tour the parks together, and spend time at DQ, and I can spend time in Fantasyland with my neice and nephews. My DH won't be able to go because he can't get that week off(he works for UPS), but I promised him I would not spend a lot while there. So far, I've purchased a t-shirt for the 3 younger kids, and I'll probably give the teenagers $20 each(or maybe a DQ ticket). For my sisters, I may "make" a disney-themed scrapbook with spaces for pictures from the trip...I've purchased some things from Creative Memories to use for this. For my brother...mmm. don't know yet! I'm really hoping that this trip goes well because I am already planning to do the same in Dec. 2005 for the families of my daycare children!

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

We have a HUGE extended family and just started scaling back what we buy.

I now get creative and choosy--the kids this year (TONS of them) all got a 4 pack of playdough and a roller/cookie cutter set that was less than $3.00 total. And would you believe that was the FAVE gift of almost all the kids?

We get a new pic made of our kids around Christmas and give the grandparents a framed pic.

Santa doesn't bring much for our kids because the grandparents shower them with so much stuff it is just crazy.

And DH and I don't buy gifts for each other; instead we do something practical like get a new digi camera, etc.

We give teachers $10 gift certificates to Chili's or something--it will buy them lunch anyway!!

All totaled I'm sure we spend under $500.

 

[etwinchester]

I'm done my xmas shopping for DD and even set some gifts aside to put in her Easter basket as well (don't like her having too much candy).

DH gets a bonus from work each quarter so I went out and went shopping for daughter about 2 months ago.

We cut our list down drastically. It gets out of hand. We now purchase for:

1. daughter (doesn't get too much since grandparents over buy)
2. DD best friend - we set a $10 limit both ways
2. each other (spouse) - something small $$ wise
3. 3 cousins - since we don't see the others that much
4. my godson
5. daughter's godmother
6. both sets of parents - nothing outrageous
7. 2 grandmothers - something little since they don't want much

I'm an only child so no siblings to purchase for. DH has 2 brothers, but one has a child so the children just exchange.

That's basically it. We use to buy for some aunts, uncles, friends, ect... It was too much. We were buying for way too many people and most we didn't even see yearly since they lived out of state. As stated before, christmas is for children and thank god my family understood that when we decided to cut down...

 

[LisaRay]

We have a xmas club acct. set up for $1,000 and that is what we spend. We usually got to disney in either Nov. or Jan. so either before or after x-mas so that is also part of our X-mas.

but here is the list of what we spend and the only thing not included are DH's work gift exchange and stocking stuffers since we usually just pick up small things here and there throughout the year. Last year I got a good deal on disney trading pins and had to hide them for 9 months so I could use them as stuffers!
here's the breakdown:

parents, which is my mom and dad and DH's also $200

5 nieces at $15.00 is $75.00. ( i always buy a gift that is reg. priced at $25-$30 but on sale for $15.00 so they get something nice. )

my brother $50 ( he is single and doesn't have alot of people to exchange with so we always buy for him even though we don't buy for my DH's siblings since we buy for their kids.)

our 2 kids $500. One is 13 and one is 5 so that isn't always split evenly at $250 each it is more like $300/$200 because it is sooooo much easier to find cheap things that make a 5 year old happy where as the 13 yr. old is has more expensive tastes. They always have same number of gifts under the tree though.

that leaves $175 for me and DH so maybe my budget should be $1,025 so that DH and I can each spend $100 on each other. We just get each other some small things we wouldn't buy ourselves. plus we have either just came back from or are getting ready for a disney trip so we are cheap!

This has been our buget for about 6-7 years now. Before we had our 5 year old we would dip about $200 out of the xmas acct. for our thanksgiving trip. But now we spend the whole amount on xmas. Over the years there have been nieces added but there have sadly been grandparents who we used to buy for and they aren't with us anymore so oddly it has stayed the same for years. As my 5 yr. old gets older we will probably increase what we spend on our kids a little. It has just been easy to please him so far with less money. Easy to do when play-doh is on the wish list!

 

[zurgswife]

I buy for my 4kids....something for my sisters 4 kids....and maybe something for each of my parents and that's about it..DH's family is huge...we don't get into buying for them....

 

[magicalmoments]

Adding up what you can spend on 2 older girls (mine are 15 and 10) it can easily top $1000. A few items add up real quik and at their ages they want the 'big ticket' stuff. We decided that toys sitting on a shelf collecting dust, missing pieces, broken pieces, etc is such a waste of money. For the moment they 'want' it..then it sits and is of little use.

We instead go to DISNEY or on a cruise each Christmas. Those memories will outlast any toy. We save all year, and my kids dont get junk at the store and stuff. Those little things add up too. They know about the trip and they want it too so they know not to even ask for junk. They really look forward to their Christmas vacation each year, as well as us.

With planning way in advance (I am already planning next Christmas cruise) and lots of tips from boards such as this....you can make a Christmas trip to DISNEY reality. You just have to be a go-getter and search for the right stuff and you can do it. This year we are going Dec 23 thru Jan 2. Its a special treat cuz we will be there for NYE....never been there for NYE before.

Please dont think Im bragging--that is far from the course. I am just trying to share what we do and how much gifts can really add up.....and after awhile they are of little use. We dont do the latest fad electronical type stuff that pops up at the holidays.

We have learned many money saving tips on here. Just ASK many questions...plan early...and learn from the seasoned planners and anyone can do it Figure out the trip many diferent ways. I put it all on paper and take a good look at it before I make a final decision. The deals are out there...you just gotta find them. I do it all myself.

Those magical memories are worth far more then any toy.

If you need help, or have questions--please ask. You only live once!!!!

Stacy

 

[mudnuri]

we probably spend 4-5K on christmas

In my family- we draw names, DH and I both buy for 1 other adult. Plus I buy for my mom, and my brother. Then, I buy for my nephew whose 2 now. Once your out of highschool- your into the name drawing.

DH's family- we buy for the neices/nephews. And DMIL/DFIL.
We use to buy for the youngest DBIL, since he didnt have kids- but now he does.

1 Dnephew- we buy more for, as he's a godson. As DD's godfathers do her as well...

Probably 3000-3500 is spent on our kids or our to our own family gift. DH and I dont really exchange presents. If we see something special we'll get it- but I dont buy him pajama's etc. I bought him a new dirtibke helmet last year, because he kept saying "he really likes that design"...and he bought me another diamond...but it's mainly a big gift...someone always gets the big one, last year it was DD8's 4-wheeler, this year it's DD6's dirtbike. (dont flame me, I'm really not interested in how unsafe you think they are)

Brandy

 

[ladyelle]

We spend about $1500 for Christmas.

We have five children (ages 5, 5, 5, 7,7) and spend about $1000 for their gifts. I buy one large family gift from Santa. Last year it was game cube. This year I am thinking maybe air hockey. I also pick out alot of educational and learning toys.

We give $100 to parents - $25 to each.

We spend $100 on adult gifts. I have 2 siblings and my husband has 6 siblings. We pick names on each side and spend $25 per gift.

We spend $200 on neices and newphew. There are 20 and everyone spends $10 per child until they are 18. Once they turn 18 they are entered in the adult Christmas drawing.

We also donate about $50 in toys to the needy through the children's Catholic School.

My husbank and I usually exchange gifts as well but it is not included in the budget.

 

[RobinMarie]

I have no idea how much I spend, but I usually spend half the year shopping (I enjoy that part). In the extended family we used to all buy for the children and the adults picked one name.

It got crazy. People kept having kids! And even now, the oldest 'kid' is 19 and working in his freshman year at college, is he still a kid? I know THAT one is going to be a debate.

Last year I announced my brother, parents and I would be giving the children gifts as ONE family for the children. It wasn't a question and it worked out well. My parents were looking to sell/buy a new home and my brother never shops for himself anyway so it worked out.

I tried to throw out the suggestion none of us shop and we all go to Disney for MVMCP but no takers.

 

[Leader of the Club]

We do not buy gifts for parents or siblings. Instead we make a donation to the local food bank in their names every year. This way families that may not otherwise have a Christmas Dinnner can have one. Our parents and siblings etc., can afford to purchase their own food---and anything else they want for that matter!

For our two--soon to be three-- kids, we don't buy that much for them either. Last year my daughter received:

a pair of house shoes
a pair of flip flops
a $50 gift card to Wal-mart

My son received:

two lego sets
a beyblade
a watch

Together they received:

2 new dvds
a PS2 game
Disney Trivia game

This year we are leaving for WDW on December 26th and that will be their gift on Christmas Day. If I have the $$$ I also plan on purchasing a TV/VCR for the car since it is a 16 hour drive.

Oh, BTW, my son declared last Christmas the best Christams ever! and I know I spent less than $150 on him!

Oh, and DH and I have not exchanged gifts in YEARS!

 

[Robbiesmommy21]

We Or should I say I spend what we have that year. I tried starting to buy in Oct. Last year but I forgot most of the gifts once x-mas came around. This year I have 1400 to spend and I wont spend that much I don't think.
This is what our family does.
We buy for DS(4), our parents, my sibs(3) The adults in my family play a game. Each adult buys one gift thats $10 and under and we each pick one, (they're wrapped) and we decide if we wnat to keep it or not. then the next person can either unwrap a new one or steal from someone else. Its way fun. We also buy for My dh's aunt 2 cousins and thats it. Usually I'll budget what I want to buy everyone see what its going to cost and Dh and I split the rest to buy for each other.
Jacqueline

 

[MEM]

I read a few years ago about a supposed "Victorian" tradition when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for your children: "something they want, something they need, something to play with and something to read". My kids are 8 and 10 and I have done this since they were babies. They usually get gifts from friends and relatives, too, so they never feel deprived. This way we avoid the escalating expectations feeding frenzy.

I stopped exchanging gifts with my siblings years ago when we all had new babies and mortgages and no spare cash. We drew names and only bought for each others' children. Now we don't even do that since no one needs anything. I still buy for my parents, spending no more than $50 each and a maximum of $100 on each of my 2 children. I have been making edible gifts for friends (tons of ideas on the internet) and they appreciate no clutter to deal with afterward. I would say that I spend about $500 a year including cards and stamps -- I do like to send a high quality greeting card (bought after Christmas at 50% off) with photo of the kids and full color newsletter. The one year I did NOT send the letter, boy did I get an earful from family and friends!