A Civil World. Off-topic discussions on a variety of topics. > Time For a Coffee Break!

Holiday Shopping

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mrsbrandt:
About how much would you say you spend on Holiday shopping in total?  Is that based on your family size?  And how offended are you if you don't receive gifts of an approximately equal amount in return?  As per a Gallup Poll in 2004, average American consumer spending was $730.  How do you feel you compare?

I've noticed that everyone seems to spend huge amounts during the holiday season.  I know I certainly do.  How do you rank/feel about the situation?

MrsF:
It used to be less, but the family has grown a bit this year (I have in-laws now!), though I still try to budget about $30-50 per person . It also depends a bit on how 'flush' I am at shopping time. When I was a student, I did a lot more baking and making craft gifts rather than buying something. I would certainly not be offended to get something of lesser monetary value in return. The value of a gift is always the thought that goes into it, which is why gift buying can be so hard. DH always wants to buy expensive, extravagant things and I'm working on breaking him of that. The nieces and nephews don't care if their gift is $10 or $50, so long as it is something fun  :P  I've never felt I spent too much on anyone and have also never felt like I didn't get enough.

I suppose a part of me wishes we weren't all so materialistic, but I also like the feeling of giving gifts (I'm headed to the second 'toy drive' event of the year tonight) and guess that others feel that way when they get me a gift. I like to keep it reasonable though...DH is never going to get that XBox 360, no matter how much he butters me up  :D

mrsbrandt:
See I think 30-50 is very reasonable and I could see spending less on some people.  But with my family and DH's we've already spent about 1400 and it's insane.  That's about two months rent for us.  We have so many people to shop for in our family, that it is truly becoming ridiculous.  The worst part is that it is all immediate family, none of these people are distant relatives or anything.  And of course it is tradition to buy for all the kidlets.  Next year there will be 7 kidlets, (including our own to buy for)there are currently 4 .  The holidays are an amazing season, but OUCH they're really causing some hurt.

I feel like if we stop buying gifts for some people they might be truly offended and I know that these are the kind of people who would Never (not even if we asked) stop buying gifts for us.  This year I really cheaped out with my family since I know they won't mind, my mom and my dad got framed pictures of DD for Christmas.  Little brother is getting one video game which I'll let him pick out and that's it.

magicdomino:
It helps that I have a very short list.   I'm not married and have no children.  Most of my friends and adult relatives prefer not to exchange gifts.  That leaves three adults, three step-great-nieces, and three great-nephews.  I budget about $20 each.  Okay, one friend's gift is usually closer to $40, but she calls and helps me out a lot more than any of the relatives.  Hm, now that I think of it, youngest great-nephew's wooden rubber-band-powered race car was $27.  But it's so darn cute and I had fun playing with it.   ::)

My co-workers get home-made goodies:  this year, it is peppermint bark.

Cupcake Fiend:
Things have been just awful financially for DH and I for the past few years -- he's been running his own business and I was a SAHM for almost 4 years.  Things are starting to look up in that area, so this year will be better than the last few.

Our boys aren't used to getting lots of stuff and they usually get one "big" gift ($50 at most) and a few smaller and more practical things (clothes, toothbrushes, special snacks, etc.)  The Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents tend to spoil them a bit more.

The two people I would go all out extravagant on if I could are my pseudo-sister and my MIL.  They have done SO MUCH for me and the boys and expected (and got) very little but gratitude in return.  I am going to spoil them both rotten when the chance arises.

Some of the things we have done to cut back on expenses (as a family unit, not just us individually) are to have a Pollyanna among our generation, so we are only buying 2 $30 gifts instead of 7.  We often chip in and get the members of the older generations one or two bigger gifts (things we know they want/need) instead of a bunch of individual stuff.  What the Great-Grandparents usually really want is to spend some quality time with us, so usually we'll do something like take them out to dinner or a show.  We have ceased to exchange with friends.  We bought a cute cheap fake tree last year, so we could save the expense of a big live one (not the best with two toddlers in the house anyways)  In a couple of years when the boys are bigger and money is not so tight we will start cutting our own live trees again.

The boys pick out thoughtful but inexpensive gifts for their cousins - since the cousins are all younger we usually have them pick a favorite book to give them.

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