In this season of giving, who else do you give to?

[hereyago]

Ok, I have an odd situation: On my mom's side only my aunt remains, everyone else has passed on or moved away and we don't hear from them-most of my cousins were adults by the time I came around, so not much in common and I hardly saw them..
DF"s side of the family, big family but his mom was a blank and I didnt grow up really knowing any of them. and after he passed away, there was no reason for me to speak to them due to how they acted.

So I give to my DD13, my mom 78. I have DD give a present to her df, his fiancee and her DD.

I don't give to teachers, garbage men, postman,etc.

Past several years, I have Dd pick out 2 toys for a boy and a girl and we do a donate to a local radio station to "stuff the bus" but this year I hadn't gotten paid yet so we missed out. the news channel that used to partner with them has broken away and done their own givng at homeless and batter women shelters ,so we are giving to that this year.

I am also a huge animal lover and thanks to an idea I got from a poster on Community board, instead of showering our pets this year with alot, we are giving supplies to the local SPCA.

 

[nancygirl1]

I don't give to anyone who is doing the job they are hired for.

I give to our 3 kids, my neice and my MIL.

We have little to no disposable income. No one is tipping me or giving me a present because I do my job. I don't expect it and think that we've gone way overboard as a society in rewarding people for doing their jobs when they already get a pay check...small or not.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

I don't give to anyone who is doing the job they are hired for.

I give to our 3 kids, my neice and my MIL.

We have little to no disposable income. No one is tipping me or giving me a present because I do my job. I don't expect it and think that we've gone way overboard as a society in rewarding people for doing their jobs when they already get a pay check...small or not.

I feel the same way. I make an exception for people who do more than what's expected in their job, though. My daughter's cheer team is like a family, where coaches, kids, and parents are all very close. I contribute to the coaches' gift fund each year.

I've never even spoken to my mailman (who's actually a woman), or garbage man, or recycling crew. I can't imagine giving them gifts.

 

[Ariel8676]

Besides my family..
*My girls' school bus driver..usually a gift card or homemade cookies or candy
*Garbage men..they are awesome and take anything i put out and always put my garbage cans right back where i had them..lol..we give them each a container of homemade cookies.
*My girls' teachers..the whole class chips in on the gifts, so i normally put in $5 per class.($15 total)
We have 4 children and one income, its hard for us..but i like to show my appreciation to these people however i can. Making cookies doesn't cost much and its the thought that counts.

 

[englishteacha]

We give to family (we have a huge family so that's a LOT), and I got little tiny boxes of chocolates for my coworkers at school. We also do a large light display that is our gift to our community, and we collect donations at the display for our local food pantry.

 

[Karenj2]

We give to:
- our immediate family (DH & DD and me)
- polyana & kids to my side of the family (so 4 gifts)
- kids only on DH's side of the family (3 gifts)
- DH's two cousins (I'd like to drop this one - one's a senior in HS, the other's in college), and sometimes his two other cousins, if we think we're going to see them.
- DH's godmom's uncle (since his godmom has passed)
- My cousin's kids (3 gifts)


The only non-family person I *might* get a gift for is our daycare provider, and if I do, it'll be a SMALL gift. I used to give gifts to my coworkers, but not anymore.

I don't give over & above tips to all those service oriented jobs. Sorry, nobody is tipping me for my job.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just thinking I am missing someone--
Who do you give to beyond family, child's teachers, child's activity teacher (dance, music lessons, etc)?

I usually give the mailman a gift card for $10-$15 from either Dunkin Donuts or somewhere like Subway. We get great service from him and he always makes sure my packages get put somewhere safe if its a rainy day.

DD's Dance teachers get gift cards from Dunkin Donuts.

No 'teachers', no 'bus drivers' (we homeschool)

Beyond that, we don't do ANY gifts except for our immediate family, my MIL, FIL and BIL, my niece and nephew and my Mom. Oh, DH participates in a grab bag at work and DD participates in one at dance class, and we do a family grab bag at my Mom's house on Christmas eve.

That's it.

 

[BBandDisney]

 

[jstbcuz]

My Mom started a tradition after my Dad died of taking money she would have spent on him and buying a gift for someone on an Angel Tree. I now do it in memory of both of them.

What a great tribute to the both of them.

 

[jstbcuz]

We dont have a lot of extra, but I try to do a little extra where and when I can.

THese are the people we buy for:
DH
DD18,DD15,DS5
4 nieces 14,11,6, 5
MIL, FIL
DS5's Teacher (no more than $10)

We dont buy for people in DHs office, or the people I work with. We do go thru our closet of bargains I've bought thruout the year, and give them to ECAT (similar to Toys for Tots, but it stays in our county). I give to Salvation Army bucket if I have some spare change. That is where it normally stops.

However, this year, I found out that one of the teachers I sub for is barely getting by. She is single mom, 4 kids, and just had surgery. I am going to give her anonoymously some money that she can either help get her kids something or pay her bills. Whatever she chooses!

 

[bethy]

We dont have a lot of extra, but I try to do a little extra where and when I can.

. . .

However, this year, I found out that one of the teachers I sub for is barely getting by. She is single mom, 4 kids, and just had surgery. I am going to give her anonoymously some money that she can either help get her kids something or pay her bills. Whatever she chooses!

 

[Pumpkinmuffin]

Besides our family we are buying for 2 toy drives and we have taken a boy and a girl name off one of our local angel trees. We are buying them both clothing and toys. There are many children who might not have anything so a little bit can sure go a long way. You never know when YOU might be in the circumstance where you might need the help We also give to several of our neighbors who we have a close relationship to and then we make cookies/candy for a few of the other neighbors that we like.

 

[mickycollege]

There's an elderly woman, a widow, who lives down our street. Her kids barely ever visit her. I visit her every once in a while and invite her to dinner too every once in a while to help her out. We invite her over on Xmas morning too for breakfast and kind of check in on her every once in a while.

 

[nikkistevej]

Besides us and our DD9:
my mom, and DH's mom and dad
my sister and BIL
their kids
Dh's 2 nephews and 1 neice
our 2 godchildren
2 2nd cousins who DD is very close to
family $20 "dirty santa" gift exchange gift
another "cousin" gift exchange
my BF and her son
my 3 bosses
big boss above them
one of DH's aunt and uncle that always get us something
DD's 2 school teachers
DD's dance teachers
"angel tree" child from my sisters church

Man that's alot when I put it all down!!! LOL only have 3 more to get.

 

[Kitzka]

We usually 'adopt' a family but this year decided to do something a little different. A friend's husband died suddenly and we decided to give the adopt a family money to the funds that were set up for the children (12 and 13). They will have hard enough time without their dad around so I figure a little bit i can give to them would be a good cause this year.

Lara

 

[akcire]

There's an elderly woman, a widow, who lives down our street. Her kids barely ever visit her. I visit her every once in a while and invite her to dinner too every once in a while to help her out. We invite her over on Xmas morning too for breakfast and kind of check in on her every once in a while.

My aunt used to invite an old lady to part of her family events, since her kids basically ignored her. Turns out the old lady was worth millions and when she died (when I was 2) she left a huge chunk of change to my aunt.

Karma