How much do you spend on nieces and nephews?

[POOHDRMR]

I have a sil like yours.She never does for my daughter but always wants over the limit gifts for her 2.I have lowered the limit to 20 per kid because she always gives me 5-10 dollar higher gift.Meanwhile for my daughter I will tell her something for 20 and thats all she gets -nothing a little extra.For all my husbands cousins kids I spend 15.There are 7 of them and they always wind up getting my daughter more than what I tell them because they say I only have the 1 kid and they have 2 or 3.My sister and I usually do 50 a kid because we are closer.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

We spend $30 each........for DH side (we are not as close).

My side there seems to be no limit.....this year being they are older we will all go to a Broadway play & dinner. The little ones $100-$150.

 

[malibuconlee]

I used to do $25 toy and $50 savings bonds that cost $25, so about $50 each. Now I try to do about $25 -30 each. I also now have 8 nieces and nephews tho, so it adds up.

I didn't buy for 4 of my step-sisters kids for a few years because Christmas was literally the only day of the year I saw them. Their mom wouldn't bring the kids to see us at family gatherings we would have when we came home to visit. I started up again when we had another grandkid on that side of the family. It needs to be fair.

 

[tinkarooni]

I never stop being shocked at peoples absolute rudeness!

Your sister was so far out of line. The holidays are so far out of control for some people. Don't feel bad about this, you can see by everyone's posts that they agree with you.

What I do for my two kids is I keep a running list of my own of what they might like or have asked for, certain titles of books, video games, board games, cds etc. Than if someone calls and asks I am ready. I also ask the gift giver (if I don't already know) what price range they were looking for. I than give them maybe two ideas off of the list in the range they specified. Grandma's, aunts etc are happy to be able to buy something my kids will like and they keep within their budget, it's win win for our family.

Good Luck.

 

[pixiewings71]

Wow!! Doesn't she know that she should be buying those things for her kids and not you?? I would never expect my family members to do that for my kids, I buy that stuff myself.

This year we spent about $30 per niece/nephew. My oldest nephew will get $40.00 cash but the others it was $30 or less. I have 2 nephews and 3 nieces, DBF has 2 nephews.

 

[Soulsearching]

That is alot for nieces and nephews. We spend around $20, I shop all year so I usually come up with $30-40 worth of stuff for $20. But they are only 4 right now so it is easy!

I have 16 nieces and nephews ranging in ages 3 - 27! I buy for and I also set a limit of around $25 and like the above poster I shop all year and come up with a $30-45 worth of stuff for the $25.

I cut you out when you finish college, so around the age 21.

I have a SIL who cuts you out when you turn 16, I will cut her children out at the same age, but since we are together at Christmas I will just buy them something much smaller that I got at a great price! By the way my children are 17 and 20. They call her the cheap aunt, because no else cuts you out at that age. (we come from a large family, I understand where she is coming from, another thing I sort of like the thrill of the hunt, one more thing I want to kill my children whenever they say that, they are old enough to understand!)

If you are at my house for Christmas no one gets cut I would find something.

 

[feedindy]

I think that is way too much, considering the circumstances. I have my very first nephew to buy for this year. I spent about $75, which I know is a lot, but I see it differently. My sis buys for all 3 of my kids birthday and Christmas every year. He is my only nephew so I figure I'm spending about the same amount she is.

My thinking will have to change once more of my siblings have kids, but I think I could do a big gift for the first year. It is something large that I know she couldn't afford, but he would love to play with and will last awhile so I'm okay with the splurge.

My sis was shocked when she got a hint of how much I spent because of something my mom said. It was certainly not something she expected of me, and if she had it wouldn't have been any fun to do!

 

[1rockinmamato2]

Wow!! I'm shocked. It is totally unrealistic to buy iPods for your nieces and nephews (unless you are Bill Gates or something).



Maggie

Hmmm. I wonder if Bill Gates buys Apple products for his family?

 

[Aimeedyan]

She's nuts - and tacky.

We spend $30-$40, but we only have 3.

 

[lpandorf]

A few years ago my Brother and SIL and DH and I stopped getting each other gifts. We decided kids only for Christmas and bdays. We each have 2. I normally spend $25-$50 on each. My only problem is while I really love DSIL and she is super nice and never been anything but great to my kids she tells you what to buy her kids. Although it's always a reasonable price. I know there are mixed views on that - some think parents know what kids already have and what kids like best so get what parents tell you. Others think giver should decide. I want them to have what they need/like but I would love to think about what niece would like and look around for something for her. Spoke with DSIL last week and she said no toys - we have too many and she's worried about lead paint. So I thought maybe books but they say they have plenty. Then she said let's do matching outfits for the girls. While my DD7 thinks this is great fun to dress like her cousin (age 2) but I don't think my niece would care about the matching outfit and get more fun from a toy or book. I know she likes Mickey Mouse and I'd love to go shopping at Disney Store and pick her out something she'd get a kick out of. So I'm not sure if I should listen to DSIL as she is the parent and get what she tells me too. Or just get the toy.

 

[cruizie]

I totally think your sister was out of line to request ipod's and then get upset when you said that was out of your price range! I have 12 nieces & nephews on my side and my dh has 2 nieces on his side. I spend $20 each on my nieces & nephews - most of them are older now so they get GCs. For his nieces, I spend a little more b/c there are only 2 and there are no grandparents but even my sil would not tell me that they want an ipod.

 

[Darcy03231]

Both my brother and sister have three kids each. I spend about $30 each for Christmas. Having said that, both last year and this year I have purchased extra gifts for my sister's children that I sneak over to her house from "Santa". Her family has gone through some severe setbacks over the last two years and money is very tight. Last year I spent an extra $50 per child on her children and this year its probably closer to $75. I've done this instead of "adopting" a local family. I haven't said anything to other family members as it would get back to my brother and then he would be mad because I didn't spend the same amount on his kids (although I would he his family suffered the same setbacks as my sister's family has).

 

[momx2]

I have a sil like yours.She never does for my daughter but always wants over the limit gifts for her 2.I have lowered the limit to 20 per kid because she always gives me 5-10 dollar higher gift.Meanwhile for my daughter I will tell her something for 20 and thats all she gets -nothing a little extra.For all my husbands cousins kids I spend 15.There are 7 of them and they always wind up getting my daughter more than what I tell them because they say I only have the 1 kid and they have 2 or 3.My sister and I usually do 50 a kid because we are closer.

I disagree that you should spend more on the "one" neice or nephew just because the other family has 2 or 3 in the family. I believe it should be the same amount for each, no matter how many siblings. Why should an only child get a more expensive gift than the children with siblings?

This may not totally apply to you since it seems you are spending more on your sil's children. But I just don't agree with the "something extra" just because there is only one child.

To the OP: I think it was out of line for your sister to request such gifts. My sister would laugh at me if I did that!

 

[Bren's Mom]

I agree that op's sister is out of line...wow!

Our budget for nieces/nephews has stayed the same but as we get more (up to 6 now) we reduce how much we spend on each child. Even when I was single and my very first niece was born and I became her godmother I still didn't spend more than $50!

 

[Chicago526]

I only have two nephews, but usually about $25 each.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I am extremely close to my sister and my niece and nephew (both age 2) so I spoil them rotten. I usually spend anywhere from $50-$100 on them in toys and then write them both a check for $20 for their savings account. Luckily their birthday is in June so it is spread a part from Christmas.

 

[labdogs42]

We only have one nephew, so we spend about $50-$60 on him. As for cousins, we spend about $30 per little cousin (first cousins once removed, I think, they are our cousins' children).

 

[solfan68]

I'm thinking gift card TOWARD the ipods(or DS). Or if "mom" is gonna buck up for the desired video ipods, perhaps apple store cards to fill the ipods. But yeah, the $100 plus gifts for the nephews and nieces seems a bit extravagant to me.

 

[DawnM]

We stopped asking for lists. It just got crazy. We just get them a little something to let them know we are thinking of them and let that be that.

I actually get frustrated buying the adults any gifts. I wish we could just stop that alltogether.

Dawn

 

[WaltD4Me]

I have 2 nieces (12 and 8) and a nephew (5) and I spend about $125 each. I know that's sort of alot, but it's my choice, I don't have any kids, so I spoil my nieces and nephew. My sister and brother though would never call me about an expensive gift, in fact most of the time they nag me not to spend too much. There is no way either would call and ask me to get one of the kid's wants a video nano or a DS...I think it's too much to ask for from your SIL.