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

[gottaluvdis]

We have 5 nieces and nephews. I spend 30-40 on each of them. They get off easy since DS is the only one they have to buy for!

This is our situation exactly! 4 nephews and 1 niece (all on my side); $30-40 on each. DD9 is an only child, so they get off easy as well!

 

[kinntj]

We have 3 nieces, 2 on Dh's side and 1 on my side.
My niece is 21 now, so she gets a $50 gift card to Kmart (only store near her).
The two nieces on DH's side is 6 and 12. They get gift/s that equal to $50 a piece.
My 2 younger nieces give a list of 5 items to pick from, so they will get what they want and like.

Once they hit 13, they will get $50 gift cards for a store they enjoy shopping at. I still believe in giving them something through college, as they are struggling.

My sister doesn't send anything for our kids, but that's o.k. She doesn't have much to give. My IL's give plenty, so they make up for it.

 

[cats mom]

I just wonder at what age do you stop buying for kids. One niece is 19, do I include her still?

We're getting to this point too.

I only had one aunt and uncle who gave gifts when I was growing up and they gave B-Day and Christmas gifts until we graduated from high school, then they stopped and would give wedding, baby gifts etc. but just a card for birthdays & Christmas.
I thought that worked well.

With our oldest niece I suggested doing that the Christmas after she graduated HS, but DSIL (said nieces mother) got a bit offended, so we continued to include her in the kids draw until she got married. Then we told her she had graduated to the old married folks group.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the old married folks do not exchange gifts.


I'm thinking high school graduation is a better cutoff than the marriage thing we did though. I'd go with college, but I'm not sure all my nieces and nephews will attend college - so then you'd just have to pick a random age I guess. After all, not everyone gets married either and do you really want to be in the cousins draw with the kids as a 30+ year old single person?

 

[ntburns22]

It used to be $50 a piece for my niece and nephew. Well last year SIL and I got to talking and said we would do $25 a kid but the catch was something small to open and then a gift card to Chuckie Cheese or something. I thought that worked out really well. My other nephew is an only child and 14. SO we normally spend $50-$75 on him because his parents have to buy for 2 and we are only buying for one.

 

[RAZ24]

It depends on how many children are in their immediate family. (does that make sense?)
Mysister-in law who has one child I give 3 times the amount she gives my 3 children ($40 check per child=$100-120 gift for nephew.

My other sisiter-in-law has 4 so it turns out we spend aproximately the same on gifts.

My sisiter has one, she stopped sending gifts (which is fine) but I still send him a $50gift/check.

This works well for us!

We still send 20 year old niece Christmas and Birthday gifts, I just can't see her siblings opening gifts from us, and she has nothing.

Christine

 

[mjbaby]

I have five nieces and nephews on one side, one on the other. I generally spend up to $10 for each child (unless it's a family gift - zoo memberships tend to come out to more per person, but are much appreciated). With very little ones, if my sisters or SIL need something specific, I'll buy that instead of a toy, or give them the money in a card.

As for reciprocity, I'm not sure. My kids have never wanted for love or gifts from any of their relatives. I'm not exactly keeping track but I'd say it all comes out even in the end. Some years more, some years less, you know?

 

[kinntj]

We're getting to this point too.
I'm thinking high school graduation is a better cutoff than the marriage thing we did though. I'd go with college, but I'm not sure all my nieces and nephews will attend college - so then you'd just have to pick a random age I guess.

I agree. Most likely if the nieces don't go to college, then we'll cut off at High School graduation. That will be a decent amount though. My niece that's 21 is in nursing school, so she really needs it and that's how I decided to give gifts through college.

Good response though. I agree with you!

 

[Princess Tink]

I have 16 nieces and nephews. We only have 1 child, so we use to spend $25-40/kid....and we had a few less to buy for. But then it got to the point, where they weren't buying anything for my 1 DS, which by the way really bothered me. All the other kids would be sitting around opening all their presents.....and my son only had the ones from the grandparents, he was only 4 but you could tell he noticed. We decided at that time, not only to stop buying for our siblings....but to cut back on what we spent per kid. I really try to bargain shop more than ever...and spend $10-20/kid....to make sure everyone has at least one gift from us, rather than equal out the amount spent. I feel better. But we still spend a fortune.

 

[Sandi]

Once all of my and my DH's brothers and sisters had children, we put in place a name drawing whereby the cousins draw the name of another cousin (can't be a sister or brother of the drawing child). We have a price limit as well ($25 - $30) for the gift.

I like this and it seems to work well for us. We have families that range from one child (my family) to three children. DH and I come from families with 4 kids each.

Everyone writes thank you notes, too!

 

[Karalea]

I only have 2 nephews and spend between $100-$150 each.

I don't have any children myself and my sister understands that I don't expect anything in return although they usually send me something small.

 

[Chicago526]

I was just wondering how much you all spend on nieces/nephews for Christmas. And is it reciprocated?

I only have two nephews, so I keep it at about $20 each for all occasions. If I had dozens, I'd likely do less.

To keep it in perspective, I spend $25 on my brothers, friends, and Grandma (and Grandma gets mad for spending even that much!) and $50 each for my mom and dad (they raised me, they get more!). DH and I just get something we both want from our "some day we should buy that" list, amounts vary depending on what the budget looks like.

Once we have kids of our own, all bets are off, DH keeps saying he's buying out Toys R Us for our future kids each Xmas.

 

[rt2dz]

This thread is too long to fully read, so if I've missed something, oh well.

I spend $20 each, with two exceptions. DHs neice isn't well off finicially (or rather, her parents aren't) and she's a senior in HS, so we spend more around $50 on her. The other is my oldest neice is also my god daughter, I get her something extra (a storybook ornament set from Disney) in addition to the $20 gift.

Once upon a time I'd spend about $100 each, but I made $80K per year. But I kept getting more nieces, and it went down a little. Then I had kids of my own, and it went down a bit. Then I decided to be a SAHM at DHs lower salary and it went down.

My kids probably have $20-$50 spent on them from my siblings and $5-$10, if anything, from DHs siblings. My siblings also give them things from time to time throughout the year, as I do on occassion for their kids.

Oh, DH has 2 siblings, 1 neice. I have 3 siblings, 1 nephew & 7 neices.

 

[treboats]

I only have two nieces that I see I have 10more nieces and nephews that I never see. The ones I see it just depends on what I want to buy them anywhere from 50-100 each the ones I never see I only buy something for them if they are visiting on Christmas and then it's about $10 each. DH has his cousins kids on his side that we buy for but we only buy for 2 of the 4 and spend at most $20 we don't buy for the others because the their parents never invite our kids to birthday parties or buy anthing for our kids so we don't want to make them feel uncomfortable by buying them something.

 

[DVC Sadie]

We have 5 nephews,2 neices and 1 great neice so we use to spend a lot (over 400.00 per child, per year) for birthdays and Christmas.

We have only received thank you's from 2 so now we just invest the same amount of money to pay for their college if they choose to attend.

My dh and I do not have a child, so we have always felt very close to our neices and nephews but we do wish they would take a few moments to at least say "thanks".

 

[Chris]

I spend about 40.00 per child. It is reciprocated by my sister and my brother does what he can. I don't really care honestly as long as he remembers them! A phone call will do!!
That is what we spend for birthday's as well.
I have 13 nieces/nephews.

 

[TEK224]

I have 20 nieces and nephews. I used to spend about $100 each on them at Christmas and about $50 for birthdays. I've started cutting back though. I still buy for all of them, but I'm a much smarter shopper now. Most of them are in their teens or older, so they don't need toys and stuff.

I'll usually get them GC to the movies or for concert tickets. I also go to restaurant.com and get them GC for restaurants in our area that I know they like to go to. Sometimes, when a discount is offered I can get $25 gc for $4. I like that.

They always thank me and reciprocate (not that I need anything. No kids for me, either). When they ask what I want, I just tell them to get me Disney Dollars! They are always put to good use!

 

[mlwear]

As I read this thread, I wonder if to any of you if it makes any difference which side of the family the nieces and nephews are from? Does it make a difference if they your siblings' kids or your spouses'?
I've already answered what we spend on nephews and one niece. But, they are all from DH's side. My siblings do not have children yet.
We aren't very close to DH's side. His sister has never even laid eyes on my nearly 9 year old child, if that gives you any indication of what I mean. No bad blood or problems, just not a close family.
But, my sister and I are best friends. When and if she has children, I probably will go overboard. My only niece, daughter to the sister who has never seen my son, was almost a teen-ager when DH and I married. I am the mom to two boys. If my sis ever has a little girl, I think all these years of wanting to walk down the "barbie aisle" at the toy store will have significant impact.
Does anyone favor one side over the other or particular siblings kids (of course, without letting the other kids know, that would be mean)? I know it sounds unfair, but I can't help but wonder if I will be a "different" aunt when my brother and esp. sister have kids.

 

[Princess Tink]

We don't favor one side over the other. We have 8 nieces/nephews on each side. Some of the ages cross over and I'm able to take advantage of that.....I have a 13 yr old nephew on my side and and on DH's side. Luckily they both like gaming (what boys don't).....and football. So, last year I found the latest Madden Football for one and thought to grab another for the other at the last minute. Both boys loved it!!! So, no favorites shown here.

 

[Chicago526]

As I read this thread, I wonder if to any of you if it makes any difference which side of the family the nieces and nephews are from? Does it make a difference if they your siblings' kids or your spouses'?
I've already answered what we spend on nephews and one niece. But, they are all from DH's side. My siblings do not have children yet.
We aren't very close to DH's side. His sister has never even laid eyes on my nearly 9 year old child, if that gives you any indication of what I mean. No bad blood or problems, just not a close family.
But, my sister and I are best friends. When and if she has children, I probably will go overboard. My only niece, daughter to the sister who has never seen my son, was almost a teen-ager when DH and I married. I am the mom to two boys. If my sis ever has a little girl, I think all these years of wanting to walk down the "barbie aisle" at the toy store will have significant impact.
Does anyone favor one side over the other or particular siblings kids (of course, without letting the other kids know, that would be mean)? I know it sounds unfair, but I can't help but wonder if I will be a "different" aunt when my brother and esp. sister have kids.

DH is an only child, so it's not an issue. But if he did have neices and nephews, it would not matter, we'd treat them the same. We spend the same amount of money on his mom and grandmother (his only relatives still living ) as we do on my parents and grandma. It's all equal.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I am an only child, so all four nieces and the nephew are on dh's side. We spend $50 on each of the them. Then his family has this tradition where they buy for "all the kids". This means we get gifts for his cousins' children as well. We spend $20 each on those (11). I should elaborate -- the older kids get cash or a check. The younger ones get a gift that's valued at $50, although I often haven't paid that much for it.

I try not to mind, but the simple truth is one of his cousins (with 3 kids), does not get gifts for any of the other kids. His oldest 2 are 18 and 17, and I think we're about to cut them off. They're not headed for higher education, and I think the end of high school is a good time to end the gifts.

The only family who says thank you is dh's younger sister's. My nieces, 16, 15, and 7, always write a thank you note. She also goes overboard in gifts for ds, who is her godson -- and I think she feels guilty that we are buying for 3 kids. I have ds either write a note or call, unless the giver was present when the gift was open. He knows in that case that he'd better say thank you right then and there, and I shouldn't have to prompt him (of course I did when he was younger, but now he's 8). DH's stepsister does not have her children "thank" in any way, but she does buy gifts.

I wish we could just do a children's gift exchange, but the one cousin's 3 kids wouldn't have anything to exchange, so that would be awkward...

O.k. so here's the one piece of information I have to throw out into the "aunt/uncle" universe. If you are staying overnight with one family, having just returned from a trip, do not pull out the gifts you have bought for your other sibling's children to show everyone, and have absolutely nothing for the sibling's child who lives in the house where you are staying! My dh's older sister came back from the UK, and stayed at our house overnight, since she didn't want to drive all the way home. We were happy to have her as a guest, until she proceeded to get out all the items she bought for my nieces and show my son. We had opened our home to her (not to mention providing airport shuttle service and garaging her car while she was away), and she didn't even have the presence of mind to bring my son anything at all. Seriously, his face would not have fell (being 4 and all), if she had picked up a pen at the airport! I respect her right to buy for whom she wants to when she wants to, but that was too much!

Off my soapbox -- the gist is, if you are blatantly treating them differently, and they are going to know about it, think about it...