How many people do you give presents to for Christmas?

[teacherlisa1978]

We buy for:

Our 2 year old son
Each other
Our dog
1 niece
1 nephew
My mom and dad
2 siblings or spouses (we do a name draw with the 5 siblings and spouses on my side)
Son's godparents
Husband's aunt
My grandparents
3 friends' kids since they are like nieces and nephews
Son's daycare teacher and 2 helpers
And I make candy and give it to about 9 people.
With my husband's brother we go out to dinner to celebrate and just buy for each other's kids
We used to buy for his sister as well-we'd send a gift card-but she just got married and husband says we are done, so, okay.

 

[luvmy3]

We buy for
eachother
our 3 kids
my dad
my grandmother
my aunt
dh's dad and stepmom
dh's grandparents
our friends' 3 kids

When the number of nieces and nephews got to be 13 we (as a family) decided to start picking names for them. Then after a few years of that we decided not to give gifts to them at all. It just got to the point that we were passing giftcards around so we decided it was just better to make it about spending time together instead of doing a gift exchange.
We never really had a formal gift giving thing with siblings, but some years we give little token gifts to them, some years we don't.

 

[Mamakop]

Dh and I buy for each other
Our two Dds
Our four legged baby
My mom
My Gma
My brother
My Uncle, his wife and their son
Two kids I used to babysit for
Three people at his work
Three gifts for his work- they adopt a family
And we adopt two kids every year

So 18-including Dh and myself
And then the three gifts for his work for a family

 

[mrzrich]

I will give you some advice. If you want to change the "rules" next year, mention it in the summer. Then discuss it in earnest before Thanksgiving. That way at Thanksgiving, you can enact your plan. Pick your names out of a hat, secure up the game plan, etc.

 

[momxx5]

THIS YEAR:

5 my own children: 1 gift from Santa, one gift from DH & I, and maybe 1 gift each that would be from other siblings = 3 gifts each
2 nephews (sis's son, age 7 and brother's newborn, age 6 wks on Christmas)
1 Grandma (my mom)
1 child from Angel tree

My kids will be making something for my mom. She really enjoys gifts that they make. Probably a fringe tied fleece blanket, whcih I bought the fleece for a few years back. Each child will work on it so its from their hearts.

If things work out we may be able to make Chrismas Mix & fudge (traditions at our home and expected from friends, etc) It may be in Christmas baggies, but its so good it does not last long.....as everyone loves to eat it right away.



OVER THE PAST YEARS(it has been drastically cut down from):

My family: 8 adults, 6 children

DH's family: 10 adults, 2 children

Close family/friends that we exchanged with: 9 families, plus 4 adults and 8 kids

Teachers/Coachers/instructor: 5 kids x average 5 people on influence in their lives that we wanted to express gratitude and love to. = 25 adults (usually small $ gift card or homemade Christmas Mix, fudge, etc. Some times people would "request" to be added the the Christmas Mix lists.....usually previous year teachers who really like it.

Coworkers(close ones) : average 8-10 adults

Christmas Cheer/Angel Tree: 2 children from DH's work Angel Tree, 2 children from Church Angel tree, 2 children from school Angel tree = average 6 children
(sometimes from mall Angel tree)


Over the years we have had ups & downs, so with the hardships we chose to only give to those we see often and love a lot.
A few others had hardships too, so this was mutual.
Others were gifts of "obligation", many times unappreciated & expected, often requests for gift cards.
We loved finding "just the right gift" for family & friends.

We did not give with the expectation of recieving.....we loved finding "just the right gift" for family & friends. .....and most although extremely well off, did not exhange gifts or did so with no much thought or meaning.
After many years of giving, once hardship hit it was fairly easy no start shortening our list.

There are times I see neat things & think of those people who are/were special to us. However we simply cannot do it anymore.

I can tell you once the feeling of "obligation" is taken off the table, Christmas is much more enjoyable and has really brought our family closer.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

It's not too bad but as I'm trying to figure out what to get everyone it seems overwhelming sometimes.

14 total people. It would be alot more but thank goodness for the family drawing my side of the family does for the niece and nephews names and the only adult on my side of the family we still gift to are my parents. The rest of us adults said no gifts anymore a couple of years ago.

It would be several less if I could just get my husbands side of the family to stop giving gifts to the adults or at least draw names. So far after asking them for this for the past 2 years, they don't go for it. Then I'd be really happy. It's hard to figure out what to get people you don't see more than every couple of years.

I'm tempted to start buying them things like chia pets - bet then they'd go for the drawing of names! LOL

 

[mrssmith06]

23 is what I've counted.

Not too bad.
The adults in our families usually do not exchange gifts, we just buy for the kids. But I always buy for my parents anyway.

 

[Jedana]

DS (9)
DD2 (19)
DD1 (23) + her fiancee + my grandson (7)


DH's cub scout den--all 19 (including our DS)
DS's teachers (not sure what they are getting yet)

We did 4 Operation Christmas Child boxes. We also donated several toys to one of our Cub scout families, who are struggling right now. (If we hadn't helped them, the toys would have gone to Toys for Tots)

 

[Southernmiss]

DMIL
My mom and her dh
My Grandmother
FIL and Step MIL
4 nephews on DHs side
6 nieces and nephews on my side
our 4 kids
each other

DH and I have late November bdays, DDs bday is a week before Christmas and we have a niece and nephew with December bdays

DHs dads bday is December 1 and my mom's is December 7th

Then I do Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve meals with the works and decorate, etc.

So 29 gift occasions over the month phew! No wonder it feels expensive!

 

[TEK224]

OMG - I'm almost afraid to put this in writing.

I'm single with no kids. My sister made up for it by having 12. Other sister had 3 (one deceased). So my numbers are:

14 nieces and nephews
7 great nieces & nephews
8 sig. others for nieces/nephews
My Mom
2 DSis and BIL
4 friends
2 Angel Tree

I really like buying for the nieces/nephews, especially when I can get them something they really want, and they had no idea they were getting it. The look of surprise on their face is priceless.

However, it does get pricey. This year I had to put a serious limit to the gifts. I had to get a car in July and a new not water heater in Oct. Plus, my roof needs to be coated, but I'm waiting till spring for that.

The nieces/nephews who are married or engaged are getting gc's to go out to eat. It will be a couples gift. I also had some pictures printed on canvas for each of the couples.

So far I've kept to my budget with the others as well. I told them all. it would be a little less this year due to my other expenses and they were all fine. In fact, they told me I should get in their pollyanna next year, so I only need to buy for one of them. While that would be a big savings, it would also be less fun. I enjoy playing Santa!

 

[NYEmomma]

DH
3 DDs
Mom & Dad
Brother & Girlfriend
MIL
FIL & StepMIL
3 Grandparents
3 Nephews
1 swap gift amongst DH's brothers
1 Preschool teacher
1 Dance teacher

So 20 people

 

[theworldneedscolor]

My parents
My sister
Two best friends
Homemade gifts for my close group of friends (this year I did a tin of candy and a mixtape)
Two of my cousins
One set of grandparents (my mom makes a calendar for the other set)
Homemade gifts for two sets of aunts and uncles, and my second cousin and her husband (this year I did coasters)

 

[dreamin_disney]

My side of the family decided it was to hard on everyone to buy gifts for everybody since the family was growing. We started doing a name draw for 2 years then decided everyone just buy for their family.

My husband side of the family we still have to buy for but cut out his uncles and their spouses, cousins, siblings and niece and nephews, mom , grandmother, dad and his wife and aunts on the dads side plus a few cousins on that side too! 3 years ago I finally got him to cut the uncles and spouses along with the stepsister(they have 6 kids total) and their cousins. So now we buy for
(we only have one child)
his ....
-mother
-grandma
---------------------------------
-Brother#1 and his wife
-nephew#1 (age 15)
-nephew#2 (age 12
-niece #1 (age 10)
They give me and dh a $25 dinner giftcard and dd usually something under $10. We see the kids maybe 3x a year and they only live 30 mins aways but they do everything with the mothers side of the family.
--------------------------------
- his Sister (adult)
---------------------------------
-Brother #2(adult) He never buys us anything not even our daughter
-Nephew #3 (age 7)
-nephew #4 (age 4)
-niece (age 1)
BIL and babies mama are always fighting so we see the kids maybe once a year and we've never seen or met the lil 1 yr old)
but we buy for all.
--------------------------------
-Brother #3 (adult)
we buy for him. He never buys for anyone)
--------------------------
-Dad and wife
-------------------------------
-his step dad and his wife and their child
----------------------------
-his god daughter(age 15) #1 ( he only sees when he drops off gift or if her dad needs or wants something)
-------------------------------------
-His God daughter #2 (age 16) He's actally never baptised her because the parents ask him but they never took care of it. We see her all the time at family functions but she only says hi if we say hi to her first.
________________________________
-Our god daughter age 4 we do have a close relationship with her
-her mom and dad
---------------------------------------
-His aunt #1
-His aunt #2
we dont buy for the other ones
---------------------------------
-our daughter
------------------------------------



I buy for
-my daughter
-my two friends/co-workers
-my god daughter

I just dont think its worth going into debit.



if it was up to me we would just buy for our daughter, his mother, his grandma, his dad , his sister and our god daughter(age 4)
BTW- dh and I dont exchange gifts

 

[Katy Belle]

Too many!
DH and our 3 DSs
His parents, my parents
2 SILs, 2 BILs
5 nieces and nephews
7 great neices and nephews
5 people in Godson's family
BFFs 2 kids
BFF family of 4
2 gifts for Dirty Santa gift exchange with my family.

 

[Cindy B]

We cut the list way down.

My own children (18/15)
My DH & I

My parents
My uncle
My aunt

Sometimes I exchange gifts with my sister and sometimes I don't. She texted me and told me something is in the mail, so I may just have to mail her a gift card.

We used to buy for DH's parents (now deceased)
DH's brother/sister in law -gift exchange- one per adult
Neice and nephew gift exchange- one per adult
My grandparents (now deceased-)
Cousins - no longer doing that.


My DH's family does do a family dinner instead of a gift exchange. The family does tend to bring a lot of food items - so that would be in lieu of the gifts (which only had a $40 limit)

 

[Priorityonecb]

Not too many here I don't think!

Our two daughters, 15 and 21
My parents
My sister
My two nieces, 5 and 7
I am a nanny, and I buy for my two little ones there
Dh and I exchange small gifts, or we buy joint things we want for the house.

 

[craftymama71]

DH (and his birthday is 2 days before Christmas, pains me every year)
DD15
Brother
SIL
Niece, 6 months
Best friend
God Daughter,
God Son,
2 other good friends
My friend's dog
SIL's Mother
SIL's Sister
SIL niece
A few co-workers, but I am baking treats this year instead of store bought gifts
Friends in USA and Canada (Usually Aussie food treats).
DD's BFF's
A few teachers.
The Wishing Tree in Kmart
This year we are donating pet supplies to our local animal rescue group too.

I think that's it this year. We have no parents , aunts or uncles to buy for, so I splurge on my friends a fair bit. I love Christmas

 

[Patience]

A lot but not as many as last year. My side of the family finally decided that it was ok not to buy everyone. This year, each adult is bringing a man's gift or a woman's gift (depending on your gender) and we will all leave with one gift. Everyone is buying gifts for children under age 18. Last year, I bought for all my adult nieces and nephews plus their spouses as well as my nieces and nephews who are children plus grandnieces and grandnephews plus my siblings and their spouses, etc., etc., etc. It was way too many people, too expensive, too much and too stressful.

This year:

DH
Our 2 daughters
2 gifts for the adult gift exchange for my side of the family
gift for my secretary
gift for my business partner
2 teacher gifts
DH's grandmother
DH's mother
My mother
6 nieces and nephews under age 18



17 people total, plus a few gifts we donated to the children's hospital and battered women's shelter. Last year, before my family decided on the gift exchange, it was almost double that.

 

[DisneyWalle]

These are the only ones I buy for:
Son (12 yrs) = $300 this year on books
Husband = $25 small stocking stuffers (we arent suppose to buy for each other)

About 4 years ago when money got tight, we decided as a family not to buy gifts for the adults or after the kids turned 16. So I make homemade gifts for the following people:
Mom - wreaths and quilt
Dad - cookie tray
Sister - knitted blanket and wreath
Brother-in-law = gooey cake tray
1 Nephew (17) = cookie tray

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm not a big spender during the year. But I LOVE buying Christmas presents.

Normally, here's my list:
-my husband
-my 3 kids
-my mom
-my nieces/ nephews under 18, and their kids under 18: 9 kids
-religious ed teachers: 3 (unless I happen to be one of them; this year I'm in a different grade)
- classroom teacher for my youngest. (This year, there are no aides)
- my good friend and her 3 adult kids
- my brother in law, his wife and 2 adult kids
-3 for the giving tree at church

BUT this year, my husband and I have agreed to go light on each other, and to use the money to help people we know who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy. So we've each given cash/gift cards to those people. In addition, I started a collection at work to help Santa take care of the 2 young kids of one of those people-- there were tears in her eyes yesterday when she saw all the gifts. So that was a few more. And at my annual Christmas party, I asked family and friends to bring housewarming gifts for another coworker who lost everything. So that was one more.