How many people do you give presents to for Christmas?

[Disney Addicted]

I would love to cut my list down further, but I do not see how to do so without feeling like a big-time grinch. Most of the gifts I give out are for kids. This year I am gifting:

12 kids, not mine! - At $348 and still needing 2 presents
4 nieces & nephews (ages 9, 9, 4, 4 - one gets two presents as her b-day is in Dec)
my godmother's grandson (age 7 - she always gave my brother & I presents and now gives to my children)
my cousin's daughter (age 11) is staying with us for two weeks over Xmas
my other cousin's children (ages 13, 7). Their mom is a single mom without much money. I send the boys $20 each in a Xmas card.
4 daycare children (ages 14, 11, 8, 8)

7 Adults - Family - At $215 and still needing presents
husband
mom & dad
grandparents
brother & his girlfriend (2 presents as his b-day is also in December)

5 Adults - Teachers - $50 in Tim Horton gift cards
son's teacher
daughter's teacher & teacher assistants

Then of course my own 2 kids (ages 13, 8).

And my parents wonder why I spend a lot of money at Christmas time. How about all of you? How many people do you gift??

 

[Magic2000]

I have two brothers and one sister, and since we've all had kids (and now our kids are having kids), we just buy for the nieces and nephew.

I have 6 nieces and 1 nephew on my side of the family, and now I have 1 great-niece and one great nephew.

My husband just has one sister, so we buy for her and her husband, and their two boys.

I also buy for my mom and my mother-in-law.

And I have 3 kids (30, 26, 17) and a grand-daughter (22 months old).

I have a budget that I stick with for the extended family, and I try to stick to my budget with my kids (sometimes, I do go over).

I LOVE Christmas!!!!!!!

 

[pigletto]

Parents..4
Name draw for my family.. 3
Dh's sister, husband and nephew 3
Teacher 1
Bus Driver 1
Children I work with 6
My kids 2
Various gifts for family games 8

And donation items which I won't count though they add a significant amount to the budget.

So for our circle 28 people or exchanges.

I complain a bit but I do love Christmas. It just takes a lot of planning and budgeting!

 

[v.t.]

We have 3 kids.
My immediate family is 15 and we buy for all.
On DH's side we only buy for his parents and kids, so 7.
Teachers is 13.
And angel/senior tree is 6.

I don't know what I spend because I start buying the day after Christmas at the 1/2 sales. So it is Christmas year round at our house. Thank goodness for that extra closet.

 

[Funfire240]

I buy for our 2 kids obviously (2 and 4)
2 nieces and a nephew on my side (3, 4, 10 - plus 10 y/o nephew as a b-day 2 days after Christmas)
2 nieces on DH's side (16 and 18 - plus 18 y/o has b-day week later)
4 parents
2 grandmothers
BIL & SIL (still exchange with them although been trying to convice DH not to - but not working)
my cousin's 2 kids (7 and 9)
DH's cousin's 2 kids (2 and 5)
1 present for the Angel Tree at Church
Gift for the 2 attorneys I work with (split with the secretary)
Still have to buy for DD's dance teacher and assistant

Normally we have an annual Christmas party at our house (had to cancel this year) but when we do I try to have gifts for all the little kids that will be there and 1 for my BFF who doesn't have kids since she usually buys for my kids so this year we didn't put out the cost of the party and all extra gifts which has really helped my budget
(for the next year we're doing things on a tight budget to get caught up, finish off parts of our home that weren't done when we built a few years ago and try to get ahead a bit!)

 

[scrapquitler]

I would love to cut my list down further, but I do not see how to do so without feeling like a big-time grinch. Most of the gifts I give out are for kids. This year I am gifting:

12 kids, not mine! - At $348 and still needing 2 presents
4 nieces & nephews (ages 9, 9, 4, 4 - one gets two presents as her b-day is in Dec)
my godmother's grandson (age 7 - she always gave my brother & I presents and now gives to my children)
my cousin's daughter (age 11) is staying with us for two weeks over Xmas
my other cousin's children (ages 13, 7). Their mom is a single mom without much money. I send the boys $20 each in a Xmas card.
4 daycare children (ages 14, 11, 8, 8)

7 Adults - Family - At $215 and still needing presents
husband
mom & dad
grandparents
brother & his girlfriend (2 presents as his b-day is also in December)

5 Adults - Teachers - $50 in Tim Horton gift cards
son's teacher
daughter's teacher & teacher assistants

Then of course my own 2 kids (ages 13, 8).

And my parents wonder why I spend a lot of money at Christmas time. How about all of you? How many people do you gift??

Not nearly that many.

We give gifts to our our own children (age 16 & 9)
My DH's parents (gift card and a small thing, total $75)
DH's brother ($20)
4 gifts for a yankee swap on my side of the family ($15 each)
my niece, age 10 ($25)
m cousin's baby, age 10 months ($15)
Dance teachers 4@ $5 each,gift cards for dunkin donuts
I bought a group gift for the guys that live in the group home where I work (a popcorn popper and a LOT of popcorn, $30 total)
and we grab a couple of tags from the Angel Tree, and my kids select those gifts (3 tags this year, I spent about $90)

On my side of the family we got rid of ALL gifts for adults outside of our yankee swap grab bag. Once you are out of high school, you don't ride the gift train anymore. Everyone gives to their own children, but not at the big family gathering. My Mom only buys for the grand kids, and asked us not to buy for her. It is MUCH less stressful and better for the budget this way.

 

[Swirly girls]

Over the years, we have changed things -- we used buy for all nieces and nephews, grandparents, godparents, and adult siblings.
The last 2 years though we have changed -- we only buy for our own kids, and parents. And if course, my DH and I buy for each other.
Much less stressful. And the money we save a lot of money.

 

[angierae]

Some years DH and I buy for each other, sometimes we don't. This year we've spent a lot of $ on house things, so we're only buying each other small things.

DD17, of course.

DH's mom, my stepdad (other parents are deceased)
On my dad's side, we do a gift exchange and then buy for the kids who are still in school - there are only three left, and one is mine, so that's 2 kids there.

Amongst my siblings (through my mom, so not part of the above party) the cousins all exchange names, so my daughter (so, me) will buy for one of her cousins.

And a gift exchange gift for work.

So, DH, DD, two cousins, one cousin, MIL, stepdad, two gift exchanges.

Nine.

 

[maslex]

We buy for our two boys (age 15 & 17)

Some years we exchange with each other, some years we don't

We also get for my brother's kids (nephew 12 also gets a b-day gift, nephew 9 and niece 3)

We also get for nephew 17 (usually a gift card or money)

My mom

His mom & step dad

His dad & step mom

 

[ilovemk76]

Including DH and myself we give to 14 kids and 9 adults.

 

[threeboysmom]

I feel your pain, OP. My family was like that. I had 13 nieces/nephews to buy for on top of my own 3 kids, plus 4 sisters, their husbands, etc.

FORTUNATELY about 5-6 years ago, we decided to all stop giving to adults (I still buy for my mom & dad though...) AND no more giving to nieces/nephews.

That decision was the best one ever!! Christmas is so relaxing now.

I buy for my 3 boys, my parents, and my boss. The end.

 

[DisneyEater]

As our family grew, we changed the way we do things.

On my side of the family, we don't buy for the adults aside from my mom and we have a polyanna for the nieces/newphews so no family has to buy more than 2 kids presents.

On my wife's side, there are only 4 kids so we buy our niece and nephew a gift and have a polyanna for the adults.

 

[Ephany]

4 parents
3 nieces and nephews
1 teacher
DD's best friend
DD
DH

We used to send gifts to all of our siblings, but it just became a gift card exchange. I put my foot down a few years ago and said no more, this is stupid. We all live in different corners of the county and never see each other. Most agreed with me, oddly enough the people who were the most insistent about still exchanging gifts were DH's brother and SIL who don't even like us.

My baby brother is recently graduated from college, is doing well and he really, really wants to swap presents this year but everyone keeps telling him NO. Now that everyone's figured out Christmas is less stressful, no one wants to go back to finding presents for the whole clan.

 

[momof1princess]

let's see...

DH
DD15
DGM
DMIL
DFIL
Mom
Dad
Step-mom
Dnephew
DCousin
Cousin
Boss and his wife
2 girls at the orphanage our church sponsors in Mexico
money and warm clothes (mainly gloves & toboggans) for the soup kitchen our church operates

i think that's it.

 

[Ennazus8810]

My 2 children
My 3 nieces and 2 nephews
Br & SIL
Br & SIL
Sister & BIL
Mom
Grandpa
Uncle
MIL
FIL and new wife
SIL and her boyfriend
Aunt & Uncle

So 23 total. DH and I don't really exchange gifts. We just bought new furniture and some equipment needed for a start up business, so we are just letting the kids pick up something small for each of us from them.

 

[Schmoodle]

Here's what my family does:
I buy gifts for my kids and husband, the grandparents and great-grands. For my brothers and their families, we exchange small family gifts, with a focus on handmade and/or consumable. We all like to make stuff, either cooks, carpenters, seamstresses, etc. I have 10 nieces/nephews, and now lots of little great-nieces/nephews. We gave to the nieces/nephews until they graduated from college or turned 21. Then when they married and started their own families, we started including them in the "small family gifts" category. these gifts are my favorites - it's always so fun to see what everyone has come up with, and I have a tree full of handmade ornaments that I treasure.
As an example, this year I'll be giving baskets with bottles of homemade cranberry orange syrup, cranberry orange scones, and origami ornaments.

Then I've got a few teachers to buy for, DD's boyfriend, and a couple of close friends with whom I've gotten in the habit of exchanging gifts.
So that's 28 people or family units on my list!

My SIL is a big rules person, and she's responsible for this "policy" being so well-defined. But when Christmas rolls around, I'm grateful that she got us all to talk about it, as it really helps.

 

[rachael95]

It depends on which side of the family.

My side of the family is huge (my sis has 5 kids, brother 9 kids). So a long time ago, we switched to just giving family gifts. When the kids were little, it would be a large Lego set or something they could all enjoy. Now, it's usually either baked goods, candy or something practical like towels.

My husband's side of the family, usually we give to the little kids and we used to do individual gifts to parents, brother, sis-in-law, etc. But I think we'll be switching to a gift for the kids and then a "family" gift for the rest. I've been on a campaign the last few years to convince my mother-in-law that family gifts are much easier (and cheaper). Last year we did a gift exchange where each person bought a gift for their sex and then swapped it. That really did not work out well at all.

 

[Colleen27]

Aside from DH and our 3 kids, I buy for:

4 nieces/nephews ($94)

4 adults ($129 with one more left to buy for) - FIL, MIL, my mom, my brother

2 teachers ($20) - 2 of my 3 kids are in middle school and don't give gifts to teachers any more, but we did get gift certificates to the local coffeehouse for the youngest's teacher and classroom aide.

We all got together years ago and decided not to shop for siblings once they have children. We were just swapping gift cards at that point anyway, and money is relatively tight all around (my SIL is a teacher married to a teacher, and BIL is disabled) so we decided to make Christmas giving all about the kids. So our list is pretty short and stress-free.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I have a pretty short list:
my 5 kids
DH
MIL and her husband
1 niece (although we usually get them a family membership)
1 teacher
3 bus drivers (spend $5 per gift, usually something like a fleece throw or thermal mug with hot cocoa)

and occasional friend, boyfriend, girlfriend and scout troop gifts. Also I sometimes bake treats for neighbors.

It's not hard for us, my family is pretty spread out in the US so we mostly send cards and pictures. My brother and I are very open and up front with one another and agreed years ago that we don't need to exchange gifts between our families, although he still will sometimes send my kids a tin of popcorn or cookies. I would like to cut out exchanging with MIL, but she enjoys receiving gifts, although she's hard to buy for because she has a good income and buys what she wants when she wants it.

I stopped buying for my kids' teachers when they reach middle school, although I know those poor teachers have a really difficult job, it just is not in my budget to buy for that many teachers and now I only have one child left in elementary.

I could probably stop buying for DNiece, but I have 1 teenage girl and 4 boys so honestly I love shopping for little girl things. They know I don't expect them to buy for all 5 kids or spend that much, sometimes they can't get them anything, sometimes they go with a family gift like a game (which I think is a great idea when shopping for a large family).

 

[sk!mom]

My big gift giving is to DS27 and DD16.
DH and I sometimes exchange and sometimes do not. This year we are but only small things. I spent maybe $100 on him.

Beyond that-
DD pulls one cousin's name for the gift draw.
My parents
2 gifts for DH and I to participate in a Dirty Santa exchange with the adults in my family.

There always seems to be several things to donate to. Group gift for my boss, group gift for ballet teachers, etc.

My siblings and I long ago stopped exchanging. A few years a go we started the exchange game. Once we all had children- 16 years ago. We started the draw for cousins. Between my 4 siblings and I, we have 14 children- way too many to buy for!