Holiday Shopping

[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    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 

[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.

[mrsbrandt]

I think we're going overboard in our holiday shopping.

Right now we're buying about $30-100 presents for about 20 people.  Next year we won't have any problem spending that much on Christmas presents, but this year it hurt a little bit.  Well the good news is that my Christmas bonus from work will almost completely cancel out the Christmas debt.  I just feel bad for DH because he has to deal with my birthday on Dec. 6th, our wedding anniversary on the 23rd, and then Christmas on 25th.  He winds up doing a lot of buying, even though we agreed not to exchange anniversary gifts this year.  The good news is that next year will be much better.

I'm trying to talk MIL into doing a gift exchange of gag/tacky/cutesy gifts under $20 instead of Secret Santa gifts of $50.  This year we wound up spending about $100 on people we didn't want to, because they were our Secret Santas.  It's a cute idea but it's getting kinda expensive.

[Linda1967]

DH and I spend below the $730 average on gifts, even though we buy gifts for 14 family members. It helps that we don't have children of our own, and five of those family members are nieces and nephews who are under age 8. They're happy to receive small toys and gifts that we can buy for $25 and under. We also have stopped buying gifts for my two sisters and their husbands, since my sisters, my BILs and DH and me agreed last year to only buy for each other's children.

Besides the five small nieces and nephews, DH and I buy gifts for our teenage nephew, our grown niece and her husband (usually one gift that they can both use), DH's brother, DH's brother's wife, and our parents. We have never spent more than $50 on any one gift for them. Occasionally, we'll help to buy a big gift for a set of parents - a few years ago, we gave my parents a new TV. But all of the siblings and their spouses chip in to buy this big gift, so it still doesn't cost us more than $50 or so.

I also have my secret Santa gift exchange at work, but my limit is $10 for the week, so I can go to the dollar store for that. DH and I don't buy gifts for friends - we send Christmas cards or bake them cookies.

And DH and I don't spend much on gifts to each other - usually, less than $50 on two or three small gifts. We'd much rather save our money and spend it in January on something for our home. This year, we're planning to buy new kitchen countertops. Our parents usually give us checks for Christmas, knowing that we're putting money aside each month for home improvements, so we'll use part of our Christmas money for new countertops.


 

 

[LadyJaneinMD]

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?

If I'm having an especially GENEROUS year, my presents will total maybe $200.  I'm not a big spender at any time. HOWEVER, I do sew a lot.  Several people get gorgeous handmade stuff all year long.  Christmas is just another day.

[mumma to KMC]

This is probably horrible, but we don't buy for anyone, save for our son and our Godchildren. (And they don't get anything outlandish.) The reason we settled upon this is two fold.

1. We (dh and I) don't expect gifts, we tell people, please don't buy us anything, we don't want/need anything...and we don't have the money to buy gifts for his huge family or my slightly smaller but still big family. In my family once the grandchildren started arriving, the family decided to buy only for the grandkids. (my niece and nephew.) In my dh's family, there are 9 kids, (seven spouses or soon to be spouses) AND 16 grandchildren. Do that math, is that 32? Plus his parents? At $10 a piece that is $340 dollars, we don't have that kind of money. Yet we receive gifts from all the other siblings.

2. For us, Christmas isn't about getting things, it is about spending time with family and well celebrating the birth of Jesus.

[Sandi Papaya]

I spend about $500-1000, but our family has gotten so freakin' huge that I'm cutting down the gift list to immediate family (mom, brother and SIL, niece and nephew), my grandpa and the kids in the family only. I might bring a little something to my grandma in the hospital as well, to cheer her up - I think a pot of fake poinsettas (she can't have the real thing) would do her some good. Oh, and my cousin who's going away to college will be getting a nice and practical grocery gift card.

Friends and family members I'm not so close to, geographically or emotionally speaking, always get a card. The ones I'm a little closer to emotionally might find a gift card tucked in there.

This year I have a special friend who I'd love to give the perfect gift to, but the only thing I really want from him is a turn under the mistletoe. That would be the greatest gift of all....

[Shoo]

I think that as a family, DH and I spend probably about $750 on Christmas, all told.  That would include gifts, Christmas tree, cards & postage, Christmas Eve dinner, decorations, etc.

Gifts would probably be about $500 of that.

[CrayonOutlines]

Being a poor graduate student, I spent less on Christmas presents this year than I ever have:
Mom: $16
Stepfather: $14
Grandmother: $30
Gift for Xmas party gift exchange: $14
Three small gifts for family that treats me well: $20

And that's it!   

I got all of my Christmas shopping done in a matter of hours!

[sweedetobee]

We spend too much! Over $1k at least. We've asked both set of parents about doing a name drawing thing, where we just pick one person's name out of a hat but both families vetoed it. My sister and I did stop exchanging gifts with my stepbrothers cause they each have 2 kids and it just got to be too much. We always get something for their kids though.

DH and I try to spend a reasonable amount - like $30 on each person - but sometimes we go over that and then between the 2 of us there are 18 immediate family members... so it just adds up. I also spoil my DH and my sister.

Edited to add - we have 2 different major religions going on but you only get 1 gift (unless you're my sister or DH) no matter how many days of presents your  holiday has.

[fklwmn]

I usually keep it right at or around $1000.00. this year it has been more b/c my kids are bigger and their toys are more expensive. Oh yeah, and because I am not quite so broke as most years. But due to some recent behavior issues I'll be making some returns so I'll probably get it back down to my normal amounts before christmas.

We also shop for all of the aunts/uncles/cousins in my family so I have around 30 people on my Xmas list. Most of them only get one gift but I have 3 for each of my parents, 3 for my brother, and 2 for his girlfriend. (from me... the kids got them one each...). and of course lots for the kids. i have fun going all out on christmas for them since they pretty well get nothing the rest of the year!

ETA: oops, I left out the Marine. he bumped my Xmas budget up by a couple hundred bucks this year. Don't tell him though!!! He has a hard time with the realizaion that our gifts to each other aren't supposed to 'balance out' and he does NOT need to know how much I am spending on him!

[kingsrings]

I spend very little because I'm not big on gifts, and feel that no one else should be as well. To me, the holiday is all about spending time together and parties. I only buy presents for my parents, brother, and maybe a couple of gift exchange presents if I'm going to them. They are nothing expensive or spectacular. I also am very limited financially on what I can spend, so that plays a big part in not buying a lot of presents for people. It disgusts me to see what people have turned Christmas into. It's become nothing but a big materialistic greedfest where people just spend oodles of money and buy tons of presents. There are so many more better things they can be doing with their time this year.

As far as balancing out, I've pretty much gotten over that, even though I do feel pangs of guilt sometimes when I can't spend or buy for one person when they're buying for me. I just try to do something nice but smaller, such as giving Christmas cards with little bookmarks in them. I figure that a real, good friend understands that that is the best I can do and won't get annoyed if they are not reciprocated by me gift-wise. And if they don't, then they're out of my life as I don't hang around materialistic people.