Poll: When do you stop buying your adult children Christmas &/or Birthday gifts?

[Kimberle]

Any gift at all, even a "stocking stuffer" type, not just a big ticket item.

 

[Skatermom23]

Why wouldn't I buy my adult child a gift?

 

[mumom95]

My in-laws still buy us presents for Christmas (my parents have both passed).

 

[skuttle]

I'm 29 and my mom still goes all out for me (and DH, 31). So does my dad. I'm an only and my parents divorced when I was young, so maybe that has something to do with it.

My inlaws pretty much stopped giving anything worth a darn a couple of years ago after they bought their first house and the grandkids came along. And I don't mean to sound selfish about the whole thing. The gifts they give now are just thoughtless...that's the main problem. It's not the size or cost of them, but you can just tell that not much thought went into it.

 

[NMAmy]

DD is still my child no matter how old she is. My step dd is 26 and we still send her gifts for Christmas and her birthday and often just because I saw something I thought she'd like.

 

[jacksonsmom]

My child is only 8, but I can not imagine never getting him a gift no matter how old he is.
He will ALWAYS be my child and as long as I am able to I will always get him a gift for his birthday and Christmas.

I don't understand why someone would stop giving them gifts. I am not talking big ticket items but a little something or even just treating your child out to dinner or something like that.

I still buy something for my parents even though I am a grown child!

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

My kids are 4.5 and 3, and I will always buy presents for them. My husband and I both still get presents from our own parents.

 

[powellrj]

we are going through this right now with our kids.

We still have 2 younger kids at home, 11 and 16 and then there is our oldest DS and his DFIN and they are 24. We still use christmas and birthdays to buy big ticket items they need for school. This year our DD needed a digital camera and DS needed (ok maybe that was more a want) a portable DVD player for a trip to WDW. If you take off the DVD player and camera, we have spent the same on everyone. I just don't have the extra $200 this year to buy more stuff for the older kids to make their totals equal.

The 2 older ones are still getting really nice things this year, they just didn't get the extra big ticket item that the younger ones still at home got.

I guess the best way we could have handled it was to just buy the camera and DVD player outright and not used them as gifts, but when we have been doing gifts the same way for almost 25 years, its hard to change.

 

[ASFCurly]

My Mom is in her 50's and her Mother still gives her and her siblings gifts, and fills their stockings too.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Never!

maybe I don't understand the question, but I don't see why you would stop buying your adult children presents?

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Why would anyone ever stop buying their adult children Christmas gifts??

 

[Beth76]

We (my sister and I and our DHs) are all in our 30s with kids. My parents still buy us birthday presents. But I asked to stop the adult xmas gift exchange a year or two ago. So we don't do xmas gifts anymore.

ETA: We don't get gifts anymore because DH and I buy what we want for ourselves. If there's something that we want that we don't have, it's because it's too expensive and my parents sure aren't going to buy it for us.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I'm 29 and my husband is 30. Our parents still buy us presents but not BIG presents. We don't want them to spend that kind of money on us and we are pretty partciular about big present items.

They buy us giftcards to eat out or some new sweaters or pjs. A big giftbasket of date stuff or handy stuff we can use around the house. This year I got some new cookbooks and baking stuff while my husband got a new coffee pot, a kind he specifically wanted, for his deployment as well as a couple of gift cards that he can shop online.


For those that are trying to juggle the balance of still spending the same on all children if some are in or out of the house, I just don't think it's necessary. Children outside the house of course could use the big presents but if they are adults and earning their own way then I don't think it's necessary as younger children.

 

[Faerie]

My siblings and I are all grown (youngest is 23, oldest is 33) and my parents still buy us Christmas and Birthday presents. I can't imagine them not getting us something. My Grandfather (87) still buys presents for all his kids (oldest 67 and youngest 47 - my mom)

 

[whogirl'smom]

Why would you ever stop? Your children are the most precious things in your life. My DH and I still got Easter baskets from my mom until DD came along!

 

[Galahad]

Any gift at all? Never. After they are out of college and on their own, it's not any "big" item though. I don't even understand doing that really. We still buy gifts for our 25 year old son but it's not much monitarily. He's bringing a girl home for Christmas this year. We'll give her a gift or two as well, but nothing expensive. I'm in my 50's. My Dad, in his 70's, usually re-gifts 6 or 8 books he's read in the past year and gives them to me for Christmas. It's always one of my favorite gifts.

 

[DVCLiz]

I think this question may have something to do with another thread about the subject I saw recently, asking the same question. In that one, the responses were mostly along the opposite line - "I stopped expecting gifts at Christmas when I became an adult" sorts of things.

Personally, my parents gave me Christmas and birthday gifts all of their lives, and I intend to do the same for my children. It is one of the blessings of my life that I can do this for them. I loved getting a big pile of presents at Christmas, and my mom gave me personal things like clothing as well as things for my apartment and home later on. I would have been really disappointed had she suddenly said, "Now you are an adult, so no more presents!" Of course, the financial angle does determine how I would feel about that - if she had had to struggle in any way I would of course have been understanding.

I have always made a great Christmas for my children and I intend to continue to do so as long as I am able.

 

[coles1mom]

Gift giving is an expression of love, I would love my daughter no less because she has reached a certain age.

Judi

 

[powellrj]

I think this question may have something to do with another thread about the subject I saw recently, asking the same question. In that one, the responses were mostly along the opposite line - "I stopped expecting gifts at Christmas when I became an adult" sorts of things.

Personally, my parents gave me Christmas and birthday gifts all of their lives, and I intend to do the same for my children. It is one of the blessings of my life that I can do this for them. I loved getting a big pile of presents at Christmas, and my mom gave me personal things like clothing as well as things for my apartment and home later on. I would have been really disappointed had she suddenly said, "Now you are an adult, so no more presents!" Of course, the financial angle does determine how I would feel about that - if she had had to struggle in any way I would of course have been understanding.

I have always made a great Christmas for my children and I intend to continue to do so as long as I am able.

I had asked a question along the same line a few days ago. I posted that I hadn't spent as much on DS and his DFIN as I had on the younger kids and I was starting to feel bad about it, but after reading the posts from other adult kids, because I had gotten them nice things they had asked for, I didn't feel as guilty as I had felt before.

Unless they sit with a calculator under the tree (and they are not that type of kids) I am sure they won't even notice!

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I think this question may have something to do with another thread about the subject I saw recently, asking the same question. In that one, the responses were mostly along the opposite line - "I stopped expecting gifts at Christmas when I became an adult" sorts of things.

Personally, my parents gave me Christmas and birthday gifts all of their lives, and I intend to do the same for my children. It is one of the blessings of my life that I can do this for them. I loved getting a big pile of presents at Christmas, and my mom gave me personal things like clothing as well as things for my apartment and home later on. I would have been really disappointed had she suddenly said, "Now you are an adult, so no more presents!" Of course, the financial angle does determine how I would feel about that - if she had had to struggle in any way I would of course have been understanding.

I have always made a great Christmas for my children and I intend to continue to do so as long as I am able.

OK - makes a little more sense that it came out of another thread!

I agree - my mom loves doing for us and we love doing the same for her. I can't imagine not gifting those you love at holidays or birthdays just because they reach a certain age...though I do understand financial constraints.....