How much do you spend on nieces/nephews for Christmas?

[PeachesDoesHair]

We usually spend about $40 on our neice. They typically spend $20 on each of our two kids.

 

[mlwear]

We spend $25 for each. I just send a check anymore. They all have so much stuff. We also ive an additional family gift. I know the money will be wasted, but hope the family gift is used. Of course, there is a gift for the parents (brother and sister), too.
We are never thanked. BIL's family sends gifts, but it is seriously a bunch of junk. Yes, I am unappreciative. It is stuff I usually donate to Good Will or sell at a garage sale. However, they don't know that and I always thank them as do our children.
I am very seriously considering suggesting that we no longer exchange gifts. My plan is to suggest that we donate what we would have spent to a charity in honor of the other by saying that we all have too much and that it would be nice to give to those who don't. My siblings don't have children yet, so this is all on DH's side. I'm going to have to get him to approve first.

 

[megan4777]

that's all I have to say.


Actually, it's not. I always have more to say
We have 7 nieces (in addition to our 2 dds, 3 parents, 10 b/bil and s/sil aunts/uncles...friends)and usually spend between $20-$25/each.

I do get a ton of stuff on sale, though. I bought one niece an oshkosh pants/denim jacket outfit for $11, this year. It's normally like $40+ I don't think anyone is saying, "hey she bought that for 1/4 of the price...the witch."

I definately think they spend the same...

I edited to add I forgot that the b word is bad...i changed it to witch

 

[Disney4]

We decided a few years ago that our kids were all getting too much stuff so we decided to do a pollyana. I think our range is somewhere between $25 & $50. When we determine the amount (it depends on how the year went), everyone is supposed to stay within $5 of that amount. It has worked out pretty well and the kids are not disappointed that they are not receiving as many gifts as they had in the past.

 

[cmbonneville]

With 4 kids and basically only 1 nephew a few hours away - the boy gets spoiled....He's an only child and my SIL is the youngest of 3 (DH is the oldest) and the only girl in the family...

So yes we can say spoiled -

Yet - we still manage to spend $40-50 (OFTEN MORE) on him every birthday and Christmas....

The problem that we have ran in to...my SIL puts ALMOST everything we give him on Ebay...with some excuse or another... Doesn't matter if it's educational, cheap, expensive, clothing, room decor - it ends up on EBAY! (and to make matters worse - it's sold in secret)

So - this year - we aren't sure what to do.... The witch in me says nothing! They aren't appreciative anyway But then again, it isn't my nephews fault his mom is an ebay addict!

Any Gift Ideas that won't get sold out from under a 3 year old ?

Thanks

 

[cats mom]

I finally talked DH's family into having the cousins draw names for Christmas.

Of course it didn't help us all that much as far as what we buy since we have almost 1/2 of all the kids. But at least we don't accumulate quite so much stuff now.
(We went from buying for 5 people to only buying for 4)


We spend in the $75 - $100 range per person
I think the other 2 families we exchange with usually go a bit less

For birthdays we stick right around $50

 

[LubsPoohBear]

we have so many of each don't think i can count that high lol no really theres 32 all together we do familys gifts but theres 2 nephews i play santa for there mom is really ill ( my oldest sister) and there father is gone ... so i go all out for them and the best part is they don't know its me and they know mom can't do it so they truely trust in santa i love hearing them tell me what they got

 

[georgina]

Nothing. We decided years ago to stop giving gifts to nieces/nephews, and sisters & brothers. I do make donations to charity in our siblings' and parents' honor. My kids have too much stuff already, I don't want them getting a whole lot more from relatives. DH & I usually buy our own gifts, and then we buy for our kids, and that's it! I love not having to spend the holiday time shopping (which I hate any time of the year).

At birthdays we do send money, however, usually $25.

 

[Longsx3]

We have an only child DD (10) and we live in Japan, the past 3 yrs in Germany. We only buy for the kids & grandparents, with the exception of my DBro he doesn't have kids.
Living overseas DD doesn't always know about the hottest toys, a lot of time she just recieves cash. Right now she has $400 saved for our trip to Hawaii, I imagine after Christmas she will have about double that.
DH's side of the family:
2 sisters
Both have 2 kids, we typically spend 50 each for Christmas & Bday and with the older SIL it is reciprocated, not always with the younger but that is okay.

2 half brothers

One has 4 boys, we usually spend the same amounts on his kids and yes it is reciprocated. DD just recieved $100 for her Bday.

The other brother we are not paticularly close with, when his kids were young I always sent gifts no matter where we lived after DD was born I was still giving but yet nothing was being reciprocated not even when we were all together for DD's Bday so I have stopped unless we are all together for the kids Bday or Christmas. DD still doesn't recieve a gift on then.

My Family:

I have 3 older half brothers that I am not overly close with, if we are together the kids exchange gifts.

I have an older sister who has 2 grown boys 22 & 24. I stopped giving them gifts about 2 yrs ago for Bday and only something small for Christmas. My sis only gives DD something if we are in town. Which to be honest really hurts, from the time I was young I always gave gifts to her sons.

My little Brother, no kids and we usally give him gifts and he spoils DD.

 

[disneynewbee]

I have 6 nieces/nephews who we are very close to but we also have 3 kids of our own so we try to keep it reasonable. For Christmas we do between 10-20 dollars depending on how money has been that year for the parents. We all discuss it ahead of time and come up with an amount, last year we only did 10. I know my nieces and nephews very well and so even if I only spend $10 they are always thrilled with what I get them because I know what they like. We each have 3 kids so it comes out fair. I would still buy for them even if my sisters did not buy for my kids. My youngest sister has no kids and doesn't buy anything for the kids for Christmas or birthdays. For birthdays I do between 20-25 depending on what my money is like and what I really want to get them. Most of there birthdays are near Christmas and so are my kids so that is why we can't really afford to do more for Christmas.

 

[TeresaMc]

I have 1 niece6 and 1 nephew4 and spend about $50-75 each, likewise my sister spends about the same on my 1 DS.

DH has 2 nieces and 1 nephew but they are much older, grown adults with kids of there own, we do not exchange with them as none of the adults in his family do but we spend about $20 each on the 3 great nieces.

 

[Julia M]

On my side of the family, I have 4 nephews. This year I am getting them each a magazine subscription (they live out of town)

On dh's side, the youngest nieces and nephews are in high school. The oldest are in their 30s. I buy gifts for the great newphews and great niece, but it's usually not a huge thing, maybe I spend $20. For example, I bought a Thomas the train set (Brio style), using a Michael's 50% off coupon. So I spent $20, but got a $40 set.

Then I also send gifts to a good friends kids (like nieces/nephews to me). I usually buy one big gift card, and let their mom do the shopping, as they range in age from 4-9. So she can buy them what they want/need

Julia

 

[grlpwrd]

5 cousins and I buy a family gift like $50 gift certificate to Pizza Hut or other restaurant or a movie and game gift basket

It's reciprocated, but they don't spend as much since they have limited incomes. I don't mind - they give from the heart which I love.

 

[SaraMc]

When my brother,sister and I grew up we were always, always reminded to thank everyone who gave us anything with a thankyou note or a phonecall even if they gave us the gift in person. Now many years later we all have kids....
My sister's son always sends a thankyou or a email thankyou for his gifts..
Now my borthers two boys, we never hear if they even get the gifts. No thankyou's nothing.. Not even when it was christmas and we were all together and the two opened gifts with everyone. No thankyou's . When his son's were born we sent out some really nice Gymboree stuff ( this was before we had our son and had extra $$ for overpriced kids clothes) And when I had my son last month.. Well he called to say congrats but there was not recipecation. No big deal Im sure he's upset we dont send gifts for thier boys anymore.
This promted my sister and I a while ago to be well, stingy.
We only send Christmas gifts for his boys and we dont spend more than $20 CND on each of them.
My sisters son we spend about 30-50. He is also 15 and its harder to shop for. He also gets birthday gifts too from us. Because he actually acknowledges the gift.
My brother never has asked either of us why we stoped with birthday presents, Im not sure if he even knows that we would just like to know that they got the gift.
He does usually send us a Christmas gift( for Dh and I) which we always send a thankyou note. I wonder if he will ever get the hint.

Ive actually spent less on his one son this year, the Disney store had a whole bunch of incredibles action figures on sale for $2.99 and I got him 2 of those. Looks like we spent more.. spent very VERY little.

 

[ducklite]

We used to spend $200 or more on each. But as their numbers grew, that dropped, and it's now in the $15-25 each range. And yes, my son gets a gift from his aunts and uncles, although there's no need.

Anne

 

[minnie_ears]

I've only got one niece and no children of my own so I usually spend about $100 on her for christmas, and I always get a thank you letter if i don't get to see her on christmas day.

 

[believe]

I have 4 nieces and 10 nephews. We spend around $15 on each. We have tried exchanging names and that just did not work out...some kids didn't get gifts because the individual wasn't able to save the money to purchase one, we asked everyone about willingness before exchanging names and everyone was in agreement. On DH's side of the family his brothers tend to spend more than we do, but they don't have as many to buy for. We do get with my one sister for a special exchange and usually spend an additional $60 on each of her children, they are our Godchildren.

In addition we buy for other children who are close friends as well make something for each of our neighbors and close church family. It adds up quickly.

DD birthday is Dec. 26th....and we have a niece and nephew who also have a birthday in December that we buy for.

 

[cmrules]

NADA! I have 21 neices and nephews and we would all go broke. So we spend nothing and we are fine with that. I'll babysit their kids, spend time with them, take them places, whatever, I love them all dearly (I like some more than others) but I can't afford to buy for 21, sorry. Nobody does so it's fine.

 

[alcoromom]

I never buy unless it is 50-75% off.I spend under 10.00 except my godchild(about 15-20) on my side.Dh side gets under 5.00 since SIl doesn't buy for my kids and they are older.These kids never say thank you and drain everything from mil because they refuse to work.

 

[disneysnowflake]

Nothing.
I have 5 nephews, 5 nieces, 2 great-nephews, and niece is going to be having another baby soon. My 5 nephews range in age from 16 to 29. My nieces range in age from 8 to 21. My great-nephews are 8 and newborn.

There are 6 of us siblings. We found there was way too much getting on the part of the kids each year. They got so much stuff they didn't appreciate what they had.

My nieces, for example, have parents who would overbuy. One Disney video isn't enough. Try getting 9 videos each as stocking stuffers just from your parents. That's for each child. Then..
-- Big gifts from parents
-- Tons of little gifts from parents
-- Gifts from both sets of grandparents
-- Gifts the girls gave each other
-- Gifts from their friends
-- Gifts from the dad's side of the family

Then when it got to getting the gifts from my side of the family the girls were overwhelmed. They didn't appreciate what they got. It just went onto the huge pile of stuff along with everything else.

We decided just to stop buying. We don't even buy for each other (my sisters and brother, I mean).

We buy for my parents and my own little family unit. No one else on my side of the family receives anything.

Every year I host a cookie decorating party the last Saturday before Christmas each year. As you can see above, the ages are up there now, so not as many come like they did 12 years ago.

We still give money for birthdays to the kids, but once they turn 18 that stops. Then they only get a card.