Do you exchange gifts with ALL your siblings? Christmas drama.....

[Grumpy's Gal]

Do you (an adult) exchange gifts with all your siblings (also adults)?

On one side of the family, We only exchange gifts with one sibling and that sibling's family. The other sibling requested not to exchange gifts years ago. It's odd for sure when everyone is together for Christmas.

I realize that everyone has different family dynamics. Curious if you exchange gifts with all of your adult siblings?

 

[wenrob]

Once kids started coming along we stopped all adult exchanges.

 

[runwad]

Nope we do a white elephant exchange, too many of us, 5 siblings all married then everyone has 3 kids plus some of those kids are married and have their own kids.

 

[stsomewhere]

no. sometimes my sister gives us a box of chocolates.

 

[Disneylover99]

This is the first year we've all agreed to stop and I'm thrilled!!!

 

[dotfurio]

We only exchange gifts within our immediate family and our moms.

 

[Blackadder337]

For my side of the family, we still buy gifts for my parents, my sister and her son, and my aunt. My wife's side of the family is a bit bigger so we only buy gifts for her parents, and then the kids. Instead of the adults swapping gifts, the grandparents usually offer to hang out with the kids one night, and we all go out for dinner / movie or some other activity...

 

[Meshell2002]

my siblings and I don't exchange gifts, it all stopped when we had kids, we do buy small gifts for nieces/ nephews (only the local ones as we see each other for christmas, the nephew we don't see, we just send a card). I buy a small gift for my mom

 

[aristocatz]

My brother & I exchange a $25 gift card to Amazon with each other & we also give gifts to each other's kids. We also typically give a joint gift to my SIL & BIL & they do the same. We mostly focus on each other's kids though.

 

[Meriweather]

not anymore.....not with either of DH's brothers

 

[disykat]

We don't exchange with my brother and his wife, but my sister doesn't want to give it up. She insists, but then she calls me every year wanting me to tell her what to give my young adult children. I can't even figure out what to give them. I refuse to give her my ideas because if I have them, I am using them! It annoys me every year.

My family all hate shopping, why on earth do we continue? I stress myself out figuring out what to give. I stress out unwrapping, trying to be thankful, and then trying to find a place for gifts I didn't want? Anyone want silly socks? I usually get at least two pairs a year and I don't wear silly socks.

 

[IAHFTPT]

Yes we do, but we all spend the majority on the kids.

 

[Hikergirl]

No dh and I have never exchanged with siblings. We all stopped giving to the kids a few years ago.
It is really nice to just get together over the holidays and not worry about gifts.

 

[erin1715]

We stopped exchanging with my brother and his wife and my husbands brothers and their wives. However we do buy for the nieces and nephews on my husbands side. We don’t have any children. So there’s that.

 

[low-key]

no

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I had 5 sisters. One is deceased, but she had a daughter who is now married. We buy for everyone, including sisters, their DHs, their kids & spouses & their grandkids. If you read my Best Buy thread, you'll understand why I'm so upset that they aren't honoring their black Friday prices. On DH's side, we only have his Mom to buy for. He's an only child & his Dad is deceased, as are my parents.

my siblings and I don't exchange gifts, it all stopped when we had kids, we do buy small gifts for nieces/ nephews (only the local ones as we see each other for christmas, the nephew we don't see, we just send a card). I buy a small gift for my mom

Kind of OT, but does the parent of your nephew that you don't see often treat your kid(s) the same as the others? I ask, because we are in a similar situation. I have one sister who buys for our nieces, nephews, their kids & her DH's niece & nephew every time she takes a long vacation. She excludes my DS. She says it's because she can give the others their gift in person & she couldn't my DS a gift in person. I didn't realize she was doing that, until we took a sister trip to Alaska. She had us running around everywhere to buy for everyone, except my DS. When I questioned her, that was her excuse. IMO, that's a lousy thing to do. It's not DS's fault that we moved away from family. I would never treat my nieces & nephews differently. I love my sisters dearly, but that was my last sister trip. I don't mean to lecture or judge you. You should do what you think is right. It's really none of my business. I just thought I'd mention what it's like to be the one that's treated differently.

 

[aprilgail]

In my family once you have kids then the kids get gifts and you don't- my brother doesn't have any kids so I get him a gift and he gets my daughter a gift.

 

[jevs]

No. I don’t see one sibling, or their family.

 

[gotomu212]

I had 5 sisters. One is deceased, but she had a daughter who is now married. We buy for everyone, including sisters, their DHs, their kids & spouses & their grandkids. If you read my Best Buy thread, you'll understand why I'm so upset that they aren't honoring their black Friday prices. On DH's side, we only have his Mom to buy for. He's an only child & his Dad is deceased, as are my parents.



Kind of OT, but does the parent of your nephew that you don't see often treat your kid(s) the same as the others? I ask, because we are in a similar situation. I have one sister who buys for our nieces, nephews, their kids & her DH's niece & nephew every time she takes a long vacation. She excludes my DS. She says it's because she can give the others their gift in person & she couldn't my DS a gift in person. I didn't realize she was doing that, until we took a sister trip to Alaska. She had us running around everywhere to buy for everyone, except my DS. When I questioned her, that was her excuse. IMO, that's a lousy thing to do. It's not DS's fault that we moved away from family. I would never treat my nieces & nephews differently. I love my sisters dearly, but that was my last sister trip. I don't mean to lecture or judge you. You should do what you think is right. It's really none of my business. I just thought I'd mention what it's like to be the one that's treated differently.

I’m like you- we live away from the rest of the family and my son doesn’t get all the nieces/nephew gifts that the local kids all get. At first it hurt my feelings, but honestly my son just doesn’t have the same connection to the aunts and uncles. They all get together every other week for family diner, the kids help out at each other’s houses, they invite them to games/school plays/concerts. My son doesn’t so I understand that if they are handing around gifts to the kids they constantly see and not my kid who they see 2 times a year.

 

[becalubob]

DH is an only child, I have one brother. My brother has 5 kids and I have 7, so instead of exchanging with each other and buying for each niece and nephew, we exchange one family gift; something the whole family can enjoy.