I wish it mattered if they were naughty or nice!

[KELLY]

I'm not sure so I guess I should type it out here. So ten plus my Dh and my 2 girls. We don't buy for dh brother because we just can't afford it since they are both divorced there is just to many kids.
My parents
Dh parents
Dh grandparents
My 2 niece's
Brothers and 2 fiance's

Also DD dance teacher also give hairdresser a good tip that month.

 

[mom2val]

Here's my list :

DD- $300- $500
Dh- $50
Me - yes I do my own stocking from santa and buy my own gifts $50
Mom-$100 - gift card
Dad-$100 - gift card
my brother & his wife - $40 couple gift some gift basket
nephew- $50 - cash
niece- $50 - cash
niece- $50- toys
my Grandma - $50
Dh's parents - $50 gift basket
Dh's brother & wife - $125 zoo membership
niece- $25 - toy
niece - $25 - toy
Dh's Grandma- $50 - gift basket
teacher gift -$25
Sponsor a child angel Tree at church - $100

 

[Virgderon]

We buy for the parents, 2 nephews, DH's brother and niece, my uncle who is like a father to us, and our 4 kids. I am a generous tipper all year round, so I do not buy for my hairdresser. We have rotating mailmen that I don't know, and our kids are grown or in college, so no teacher gifts.

I do an old fashioned Christmas club- $25 a week and in the first week of November I get a check for $1250.

So, I don't worry about Christmas anymore. But anything I have left over is fun money for me and DH, so I do think about what I am buying and try to find deals.

 

[tinkarooni]

falalala....I was just thinking about this. My List:

Dh ???
Me (I don't do my own shopping, DH does it but I add it because is counts as $$$ spent)
DS 12 $250
DD 10 $250
My parents $100.
MIL $100.
My side family nephew $30.00
My side family new baby nephew $30.00
My grandpa $25.00
My aunt and uncle $25.00
DH side 3 nephews $90.00 total
DH side 2 nieces $60.00 total
teacher gift $15.00
My secretary gift $15.00
My bosses gift $15.00
DH co-workers $60.00
DH co-workers grab bag $25.00
DH office grab bag $25.00
Hostess gifts $20.00

Uggg, I'm going to send this to DH....we need to cut this list down somehow. I really really wish that we could do grab bag for the kids on DH side. The oldest is 16, the youngest mine is 10.

 

[pandaroo]

We buy for 10 including ourselves.

 

[indimom]

I did the count for the last thread like this and ended up with 39 (if DH & I participate in two white elephant adult gift exchanges at our extended family parties). Of the 39, 12 are my day care kids, 3 are my immediate family, and four are the grands, 8 are gift exchanges at parties, and 9 are stocking stuffers for our nieces and nephews, and one is a good friend.
I'm doing homemade gifts for the stocking stuffers and day care kids, so I can keep those under $5 each. I spend about $20 on each of the gift exchanges. I spend about $40 on the grands and my friend. So it's not as bad as it sounds.

In the past, on two occasions, we have taken a vacation at Christmas to escape the monotonous gift buying. It was great!!! And I loved that we weren't filling the house up with more clutter. I'm hoping to do another Christmas at Universal in 2011. I'm already looking forward to it!

 

[MomofCKJ]

On our list is:

our three kids (ages 13, 11 and 8)
my parents
my grandparents
DH's Mom
DH's Aunt
cousin's baby
3 other cousins

also a couple of my very close friends I do an exchange with

DH and I don't often do gifts. We usually decide year by year but we often just forget it. If we want something, we buy it and he has such a hard time gift purchasing that he often asks me what I want and really, what fun is that? So we skip it.

We made a rule years ago on my Dad's side that you only buy till you are in college. No buying for adults, it was just getting out of hand, too expensive and really quite meaningless.

On my Mom's side we adopted the same rule 2 years ago, just buying for children, no adults.

It is nice and makes it a lot easier.

This year we are taking off to a ranch in NY the day after Christmas for 4 days so that is a big part of our kid's gift. We would rather do something like that instead of buy a bunch of "stuff" just for the sake of buying "stuff".

 

[Cynt]

Stop feeling obligated to purchase EVERYONE gifts. I'm in a large family - 7 siblings and my parents are divorced and remarried so I have step siblings/nieces & nephews which makes it a super sized family. The standard rule - we play white elephant gift exchanged. If you have extra to purchase the kiddos gifts help yourself, if not don't worry about it. I do try to purchase something for my mom and dad. So they are at the top of the list.

I just don't understand these threads. Most years a purchase ZILCH except for mom, dad & white elephant gift and other years I purchase for everyone or just the kids. I guess my family is realistic. OK I'm stepping off my soapbox.

But my suggestion is have family gifts instead of individual gifts. So instead of purchasing 30+ gifts for sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews I only need to purchase/make 6 family gifts. And this could be a board game (monopoly, sorry, uno, phase 10), jar w/ cookie recipe ingredients, movie night (movie, popcorn, kool aid), big tub of popcorn, family bible, gift card to walmart, family night out (bowling alley, skating, etc.).

 

[Pigeon]

DH and I have 19 nieces and nephews and things had to give. I stopped exchanging with siblings and their families on my side of the family a few years ago.

Last year, we put our foot down about his side of the family. Nobody needs more junk or the expense and hassle. It was pretty funny on his side. The people with the highest incomes gave the cheapest, most thoughtless presents, but also squawked the most about not exchanging.

I also don't feel a need to give presents to the hairdresser, the ballet teacher, the mailman, the lawn poisoner, the Target clerk or any other random provider of service.

I refuse to start doing homemade presents or trinkets. While there can be some nice homemade gifts, mostly it degenerates into the junky, clutter type stuff done as cheaply as possible.

So, I'm buying nice gifts for dh, 2 kids, and our 4 parents. It's much saner.

 

[Cynt]

Seriously, I just want to take my kids on vacation for Christmas and send everybody a nice card!

I've did this accept I went at Thanksgiving though but everyone knew it was Merry Christmas CYNT!!! Absolutely GO FOR IT!!!! And I actually might do it again!!! This is soooo stress free.

 

[Cynt]

and every year I tell here that since we don't give to my side that I will take the $ we would have spent on them and spend it on myself.

LOVE IT!!!!

 

[Cynt]

My BIL's girlfriends-I also do spend more then $50 on each of them. I try to spend no more then $40 on them.
.

Why do you purchase gifts for your BIL girlfriend?

 

[Stacy9402]

I have a huge family (21), so last year we started drawing names with most of the adults but still but for all kids.

So we have
3 nieces
2 nephews
my Dad
my used to be stepmom (long story)
my brother
plus our 2 adult gifts from the drawing
His Mom
His Dad
His Grandma

so that is 13 gifts with the adult name drawing.

Plus I also buy for 3 teachers (Class,Speech & Art) , bus driver, 3 Girl Scout Troop Leaders, & 2 of my daughters get to buy for one friend.. All of these except my daughters friends are usually in the $5 - $10 range each..

Plus I still have my household - hubby, DD16, DD8, DD3.

And I forgot my youngest is starting preschool next week so I have to add her teacher(s) to the mix plus her Alphabet (they have a special one) teacher..

But I always shop early and get good deals.. So it really isn't bad until you add my clan into the mix...

 

[danielephant]

to my MIL it is quanity not quality for giving and recieving...it KILLS me!

Cause i know they cant afford it, DHs step dad has been unemployed for over a year and then SIL just had a baby and she and her BF cant afford much either, but i don't see them being ok with a name drawing, cause MIL is just like that...odd and it is just DH and his SIL so if we all drew names DH and i could end up with each other lol! which would be CHEAP for us! lol and i have told SIL that we should just buy for the kiddos and she agrees but also sees MIL as a threat LOL

and my side of the family my sister is still in highschool so i don't want to jip her out of all the perks i had growing up at Christmas, but some day i can see us drawing names over there as well, as my brother is 20 now


so this year i have (dh and i are not buying for each other)

My mom
dad
brother
sister
MIL
step FIL
SIL
sils boyfriend
nephew
DD
DS
my grandparents on my dads side
my grandad on moms side
his grandma
and and my Special grandparents (who are not really my grandparents)

and every year i make an ornament for everyone, and then our friends

 

[sophie832]

This is something DH and I struggle with every year. My family is easy, since it's just my mom and my dad. My mom and I don't care if we exchange gifts, since we both know what our financial capabilities are each year. We usually get my dad something in the $20-40 range.

DH's family is another story. We go to their house every year on Christmas Eve, and stay until midnight because they are Catholic and celebrate at midnight. I am Jewish, and DH hasn't been to church since he was a kid, but we think it is respectful to be with the family at a time that is important to them. Around 1am, presents are opened. The past 3 years, we have gotten very thoughtful gifts for each person (I kind of stress out over it, don't know why). This includes: DH's parents, his 3 younger sisters (age ranges from 17-24 this year), his aunt, his 2 cousins, and his cousin's husband and 2 kids. At least one year there have been close family friends or out-of-town family involved, too. Every year, DH and I get maybe 2 or 3 gifts, total. Usually 1 from his sisters, 1 from his parents, and 1 from his cousins/aunt. They group-give, and we don't. Now, I honestly wouldn't mind this if the gifts had any thought put into them, but a lot of the time, it seems like it's last year's gifts that they didn't want and re-wrapped. Even worse, they give each other individual gifts that seem really thoughtful. We always walk out of the house with a complete lack of Christmas spirit.

I would rather just either not exchange gifts, or do handmade gifts. For us, it's the thought that counts. We just want to give gifts that put a smile on their faces. This year, we swear we're not going to put as much effort (or as much $$$) in, but who knows. At the very least, I want to cut down on the cost of the gifts.

When I was younger, the holiday season was always one of my favorite times of the year, but now it's just the most stressful.

 

[scrapquitler]

See half of my problem is DH and I both come from remarried parents so between our parents and their spouses there is 8 people alone. If relationships wouldve worked out that would've been 4 less people right there! I guess I just need to feel like homemade and/or baked gifts are enough and stop justifying spending more. It's not my fault that they spend more and more every year at some point I have to listen to myself and say enough is enough and stop trying to get even with them spending wise.

So don't give separate gifts for Mom and Stepdad, Dad and StepMom...give them a gift together that is for Both of them.

You can do a series of gifts so that everyone gets the 'same' thing: Everyone gets a calendar, every family gets a bottle of wine and a box of crackers and a block of cheese, every family gets a boardgame or a DVD and snack....etc. They don't have to be expensive to be thoughtful and by getting everyone the same thing, you make your shopping easier.

Or just go for broke and don't buy gifts for all the relatives. In my family we only buiy for the children. Then on top of that, we do a $5-$10 grab bag. Everyone plays in the grab bag (including children) so if there are 4 in your immediate family, you only need to buy 4 gifts.

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

I have a very small family.
DM79-$100 bill
DS20- $500 in cash
Me-$100 to spend on me alone

plus 2 kittens who give small gifts to us and I give them 6 new toys and collars with blings
I also give my son underware, socks,undershirts, pj's, a robe, house shoes,winter coat,extra gloves and a warm hat (Things he won't get himself, I don't want him to go ragged)
We give church friends my mom's home made fudge and some special ones spice cake my mom makes from scratch.
That is about it.

 

[neatokimmo]

I have:

DD
Mom
Maternal Grandparents
2 of DDs little friends
BF - if he straightens up!

I used to have 19 more people but over the years that has dwindled.

 

[Taja]

About 20 years ago we realized our family--and friends families--were growing rapidly. So we decided to make our holidays about being together, rather than gifts.

We instituted a "Kids Rule." To qualify as a "kid" you must be age 25 or under and single. It didn't matter where you lived or if you were a student or working full time, that was the criteria. Each person/family giving a gift set their own budget, and all recipients were required to say "thank you" very nicely, even if it was the least suitable gift ever! *LOL* And some of the gifts were rather strange--think a set of dinnerware for a ten-year-old--frequently from grandparents!

Apart from the fact that the cost of holiday gifts were getting out of hand, the idea was to teach the young people that gifts didn't have to cost a lot or have a designer label. The designer label issue was becoming intense at that time. Several young people literally stated that if wasn't an acceptable designer, they didn't want a gift. And guess who took them up on that? *LOL* It's amazing how quickly that tune changed!

We drew names for the adults and set a limit of around $25 per gift. It could be less, it could be hand made, it could be purchased on sale--but it should be reasonably appropriate for the receipient. So everyone had at least one gift to open!

It also was acceptable to give any other gifts you chose--or not. The idea was to enjoy our time together!

 

[musclemouse]

We buy for the kids in the family. Nieces, cousins, my two boys and dh and myself. I do buy for my middle sister (we are best friends). I also buy for the kids teachers. The boys buy one gift to give to their closest friend.

Our family does the gift exchange, but we are going to opt out this year. It's just silly to me.

My gift this year is our trip to Disney. This is just what I wanted.