Do you have a Christmas budget?

[ncbyrne]

Her birthday is in Nov so she is getting the radio city tickets for that-it will be a mommy and daughter day, I am taking her out of school for the day, heading into the city and going to the show then out to Carmines for dinner.

Just last night I bought tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. My DGDs birthday is November 10. Couldn't get the seats I wanted for that day, so got them for the 10 a.m. show on Sat. Nov. 12. Would love to take her somewhere special for lunch. Where is Carmines?

 

[raammartin]

...but we should. This is the first time I'll have a C'mas Club to pull from. In years past I just bought as I found stuff or put it on layaway. We avoid CC's at all costs.

Our two kids are our first priority. We don't have a set amount we spend on them, but it usually totals to around $150 each. We spend probably an average of $60 each on the other 15-20 people/kids in my and DH's families. Then there are my coworkers, all eight of them. Usually after C'mas is when I find something for them for the next C'mas. This year they are getting cute C'mas picture frames I got for $1 at Target after last C'mas and some candy. DH and I don't usually buy for each other because we usually end up buying each other something big during the year. Last C'mas he surprised me with an anniversary cruise (10 years ). This year I surprised him with an early C'mas/B'day gift of tickets, etc. to a Miami Dolphins game.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

I don't have a budget for the kids or DH and I.

For my family I only have a Niece and a Nephew that I buy for. We also buy my parents a gift. We don't buy anything for the adults.

For the IL's we buy for everyone (MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL and her husband.) My kids are the only Grandkids on that side so far.

 

[Keli]

I've never had an official bugeted amount although we've had years where I was trying to keep the expenses as low as possible. It's funny you created this thread now because I was just thinking yesterday that I should set an official buget amount for this year's christmas and make myself stay under it. I'm leaning towards $500 which would be a really hard goal and yet such a good idea since we've got lots of big expenses coming up in the next few months (need a new car-want to pay cash for it, Ashli has tution due in January/February and you can be sure it will be an increase from this semester, furnace just went out, well this list could go on forever but you get the point).
I usually spend $300 on Ashli, $100 on dh, $50 on each parent/in-laws, $30-50 on friends and their kids (this one can really add up sometimes), $50-$100 for name draws on my side of the family, various amounts on dh's side of the family depending on whether they draw names or not. Whew, I'm going to have to really concentrate and get creative if I want to narrow that down to $500. Maybe that's just not realistic. I guess I'd better aim for $750 with hopes of bringing it in at $500.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

No, we don't have a set budget. My only rule is that we don't use any credit cards for Christmas shopping.

 

[aprilgail2]

Just last night I bought tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. My DGDs birthday is November 10. Couldn't get the seats I wanted for that day, so got them for the 10 a.m. show on Sat. Nov. 12. Would love to take her somewhere special for lunch. Where is Carmines?

www.carminesnyc.com

 

[Aimeedyan]

Yes, we do sit down and make a list of people and how much we'll spend on each one (or how much the gift can be worth in case I get an amazing deal). And we buy as we see them.

However, this year our budget is $0 and no one is getting gifts - buying a house, moving, graduating, and 2 new jobs in Nov/Dec is just too much. Everyone has been understanding so far.

Afterall, the gifts are far from the reason why we get together at Christmas anyways.

 

[saucymb]

We usually try to stick to some sort of budget each year, though it changes from year to year. We are expecting our first baby in the spring, so this year DH and I are "getting each other" a video camera. We've set a $40 limit on gifts for his parents and my mom. $15-20 on my immediate family (3 brothers, SIL, nephew, niece) and his sister. We draw names for extended family on DH's side, so that is an automatic $30 limit for two gifts.

My extended family is all over the map with gift-giving; there are around 30 adults that I will make Christmas goody boxes for (chocolate covered EVERYTHING), 15 kids that I make special Christmas treats for (caramel apples rolled in M&M's, marshmallows dipped in chocolate with sprinkles, etc.), and 4 grandparents that will usually get the goodies plus a gift certificate for $20 to a restaurant. We have one set of good friends that instead of exchanging gifts, we go to a nice dinner with them and each pick up our own tab, and that makes for a wonderful "gift" as we usually just BBQ at each other's houses.

I think we can do it for around $500 this year plus the camera. Next year will be another story though!

 

[summerrluvv]

I don't really have a budget, but I don't go totally overboard either. I don't buy for extended family (aunts cousins, etc...only for my sisters and their kids). We play a gift game each year where everyone buys one unisex $15 gift and we draw numbers. #1 has their choice of any gift from the pile (they are all wrapped and remain wrapped until the game is over). #2 then gets to pick #1's gift or one from the pile and so on. It's really fun!!

 

[Aidensmom]

We definately budget. We also only buy for the kids and for our parents; we do not buy our adult brothers and sisters gifts, and they don't buy for us or each other. Our total Christmas budget, which consists of DH's and my gifts to each other, gifts for our son, gifts for our parents, and gifts for the our 5 nieces and nephews only comes to about $750.

 

[sm4987]

Yes! I do have a budget for the family. Since we also try to take a Disney trip around Christmas, I leave my money for that. The kid get gifts that total up to x amount. I don't go over that amount either. I've gotten the kids some great gifts on a budget and we get to enjoy Disney for the holidays.

 

[mrsheppo]

We have a Christmas club that we contribute to all year long. We buy for our immediate family - which is our 10 kids, 3 son in laws and now our new granddaughter. We usually spend about $100.00 per person. I have one dear friend that I exchange with and I also give a gift to our son in laws families. I also make gifts for my co-workers, such as cookies or breads. We have an agreement not to use our credit cards for Christmas.

 

[minkydog]

We have a Christmas budget. I come from a large family and DH comes from a small family. His family is aaaalll about giving gifts. Every knick-knacky thing you could imagine. We have tried to rein them in, without success. It's only 3-4 of them so it was easier just to cave.

My side of the family decided several years ago that we just could not keep buying for everyone. After trying the name-drawing thing(two BILs drew each other Socks all around!) we decided to either give something "from the heart" or give to charity in their names. We do send a small gift for every child living in the home, including colege students.

Last year my "from the heart" gifts were some Outback Steakhouse gift cards that were given to me by my employer(it was an incentive thing). I had enough to give one to each of my sibs, so I taped them to a package of candy canes and shipped them off. One of my sisters made delicious homemade jams from the fruits in her garden. Another one made a donation to the Heifer Project--she bought a litter of bunnies for a poor family! Another sister made a bunch of Christmas cookies and Chex mix, knowing we had just been through some severe health crises and I was too overwhelmed to bother. My brother didn't know what to do, so he gave me his electric roaster I guess I must have admired it at some point.

My point is, these gifts can be very inexpensive. We give one gift per family and a small gift for each child to open. This system has worked very well for us. It is especially easy because we all live far apart from each other, so it makes shipping easier too. And on the rare occasions that we actually get to see each other at Christmas, we go shopping or go out to eat or go to the movies or go to the beach together--that's the most precious gift of all, spending time together.

 

[*Flower*]

I used to do alot at Christmas- I had a gift list for Omaha Steaks that could do serious damage.

I'd order and pay for everything in plenty of time for Christmas (to the tune of $900 or so), and would end up (every year) calling everyone up to find out if everything got delivered on time. Or if it was received at all!!!

That's when I gave up on everyone and now I just send out greeting cards with holiday wishes.

I don't get acknowlegements for those either- but at least I've saved about $850 or so doing that!!!

 

[mum4jenn]

We normally don't have much of a budget but we will have to cut back this year quite a bit. Last year my dh's side finally started exchanging names so we only have to buy for one adult other than his Mom and a couple of one year olds. On My side there is a few but I think I might suggest exchanging names also this year. Still buy for the "kids" but the adults can just buy one. Don't know if that will go over or not. My husband works at a Tire manuf. and they are having some shut down days the next few months so he will lose out on all the"extra" money for Christmas. I normally have a Christmas Club account but did not do it this year and I really hate that. Also I used to go out and buy after Christmas clearance stuff and just save it for Christmas but did not do that this year also.And...we also had a problemm arise with out taxes from 1992 so we are paying on that so we will have a very very tight Christmas this year.Sooooooo. I have really been wanting to really cut back on all the gifts and get back to the real meaning of Christmas so I guess this really was God's way of taking me to task on this!!