What Is Your Christmas/Holiday Gift Budget?

amandaf6383 · December 2013

And how many people do you buy for? And how do you try to keep costs down?

Tom and I were going over our Christmas lists and Holy. Shit. When he gave me the dollar figure, I almost choked. We were almost at $1,000!!!

sgautschi · December 2013

I average around $300-400. I build up a savings during the year that I use to buy all the gifts with. I keep costs down by starting my shopping early and always searching clearance and sales racks.

I buy for my mom, dad, three sisters, MIL, FIL, two BILs, one SIL, and DHs two young cousins (usually just a $5-10 gift each). Then we also do a family exchange on my moms side with $15 limit gifts. So total I buy for around 15 people.

LooneyLife · December 2013

We put away $80 a month, so I guess that works out to $960. We buy for 11 people; my 2 parents, his dad, 2 of my siblings (polyanna), my 2 nephews and 1 niece, and 3 of his nieces. If there is anything left sometimes I pick up something small for my two youngest cousins or buy supplies to make something for an aunt or two.

We could definitely cut back on how much we spend on the nieces/nephews but it's something I enjoy doing so for now we keep doing it. We buy for all of my nephews/niece, however, we don't buy for ALL of his nieces/nephews because there are 12 of them. We only buy for the ones he is godparent to. We do polyannas in my family and some years in his.

ETA: I have a separate budget for DH.

poppies717 · December 2013

Too much. I would really like to start doing a gift exchange where each member of the family draws a name. We buy for my parents, DH's parents, my sister and BIL, my sister and her BF, DH's brother and SIL, and 3 nephews. As we get older, it becomes more and more difficult to buy gifts, especially our parents. Anything they need/want, they buy. Whenever we ask for ideas, we hear, "Oh, you don't have to buy us anything." It's bull, but at least give us something to go on!

iwalktheline · December 2013

I think we end up somewhere around $750. I buy for 15 people: my mom, stepdad, my grandparents, MIL, FIL, my brother, SIL, BIL, their SO's, my BFF (and something small for her DH), and my little niece & nephew (technically they're cousins).

amandaf6383 · December 2013

We're only doing stockings for each other this year since we're going to New Orleans in February. That was pretty much our gift to each other. But stockings end up being at least $50. So much for savings lol.

I do love buying for others, though. I think that's why we end up spending sooooooo much. It's like a Christmas Disease.

nfp147 · December 2013

I buy for my parents, sister, BIL, four nieces and 1 nephew. I probably spend $50-60 each. DH buys for his niece and nephew. My brother wanted to stop buying for adults, so I don't buy for him and SIL (although I always send some chocolates or other treat for them in the kids' box). On DH's side, we do a draw among the adults, so we each just buy for one and that's about $50-75.

We don't buy for friends or their kids...there are just too many. We do have a big annual cocktail party with lots of food and drink for our friends and that probably costs about $300.

DH and I have a $200 limit this year (so he'll spend $400 and blame the pets).

Mustard76 · December 2013

Is it terrible that I have no idea how much I spend? The only reason I don't is because I buy things all year long, so I don't really keep track. I guess it's all just part of my normal shopping budget. We buy for both sets of parents, SIL and her bf, and my niece. We no longer buy for my brother and his wife. If I see something that is perfect for others, I'll pick it up, but it varies from year to year.

LittleLady77 · December 2013

I only buy for hubby and my parents. I don't really have a budget with only 3 people but I'm sure I usually spend $250. I always wished for brothers, sisters or at least close family growing up but being an only child does have its advantages.

sgautschi · December 2013

amandaf6383 said:
I do love buying for others, though. I think that's why we end up spending sooooooo much. It's like a Christmas Disease.

Exactly. I love buying gifts for others. Christmas shopping is one of my favorite "hobbies". Lol I think I would have a mental breakdown if I couldn't do it.

sparklingdiamond · December 2013

I put a budget of $250 on it this year. But we don't have a ton of people we have to buy for this year either. And we are trying to save as much as possible for our down payment!

Aimothy · December 2013

We buy for my parents, his parents, my two brothers, 6 nephews, 3 nieces, his grandparents, my goddaughter, two teammates at work, 3 BFFs, and 2 close friends at work. We usually go to dinner with his sister and her gf after the holidays are over. We will not buy for his 2 brothers and SIL, or my SIL this year.

I try to stick to a $50 per parent budget, $25 per sibling, and $50 for his grandparents. The nephews on my side/my goddaughter get one book and one toy from us...I try to bargain shop as much as I can. His youngest niece gets a book, a toy and an outift and the oldest two (ages 18 and 19) get cash to go buy what they want. His nephew (13) gets cash too now that his sisters get cash.

I try to keep coworker gifts around 10-15 dollars. My friends are getting spoiled this year, because they've been so supportive through all my family drama! It definitely adds up, but I love giving gifts!

Xan921 · December 2013

We usually end up spending about $300-$400. The last couple of years we've agreed with our siblings not to exchange (minus my little brother who is only 15, we still like to give him something) which helps all of us keep the cost down. Dh and I typically don't exchange and if we do it's just something small. The cats have a stocking that we'll fill with treats and a couple new toys. We buy gifts for both sets of parents and step-parents, our grandmother's and Dh's uncle and great uncle, plus our niece and nephew.

My family used to go way overboard with gifts on holidays but as we've gotten older we've started saying that we don't want anything or if we exchange it's smaller more meaningful items and I love it so much more.

MRads · December 2013

Our budget is $500. We have to buy for my parents, a gift exchange with a $25 limit with my sisters and bsIL, a family stocking exchange, H's parents, each other and assorted other coworkers and such. Gift exchanges make it so much easier to shop.

brij2006 · December 2013

We will spend about $350. $50 for bosses gifts, $50 for each of our parents, and $25 for my co-worker gift exchange. We make an agreement with our brothers that they don't buy for us and we won't buy for them.

seahorse01 · December 2013

I have no idea, but am really trying to cut back this year. We buy for each other (maybe $100 each), my mom, sister, BIL, mil, fil, seven nieces and nephews, 5-6 friends and my boss. We try to spend about $150 each for his parents and $200-300 for my mom. We need to cut back.

amandaf6383 · December 2013

seahorse01 said:

I have no idea, but am really trying to cut back this year. We buy for each other (maybe $100 each), my mom, sister, BIL, mil, fil, seven nieces and nephews, 5-6 friends and my boss. We try to spend about $150 each for his parents and $200-300 for my mom. We need to cut back.

This makes me feel better. I come from a big family but Tom just has his mom and brother. So we try to overcompensate by showering them with presents. But thennn we feel guilty about not getting my people enough and so we get a few more things and then the cycle starts again.

That's it. This year everyone is getting a letter written by moi.

seahorse01 · December 2013

amandaf6383 said:

seahorse01 said:

I have no idea, but am really trying to cut back this year. We buy for each other (maybe $100 each), my mom, sister, BIL, mil, fil, seven nieces and nephews, 5-6 friends and my boss. We try to spend about $150 each for his parents and $200-300 for my mom. We need to cut back.

This makes me feel better. I come from a big family but Tom just has his mom and brother. So we try to overcompensate by showering them with presents. But thennn we feel guilty about not getting my people enough and so we get a few more things and then the cycle starts again.

That's it. This year everyone is getting a letter written by moi.

Yep- that is exactly what we are doing, overcompensating for my mom only having me and my sister buying for her. I would buy her the world if I could.

LuckyAngel07 · December 2013

Probably somewhere between $800-$1000? I think we end buying for around 20 people total.

On DH's side we've got his parents, younger brother and his gf, older brother and his wife, the 2 youngest nephews, and his oldest nephew's LO.

On my side, we've got my dad and stepmom, youngest sister, mom, 2 younger brothers, sister and BIL, and 2 nieces.

We don't end up buying for 7 other nieces/nephews on DH's side (either grown up or don't really see), and my other brother and I haven't typically exchanged gifts in the past.

We do a Pollyanna with the aunts and uncles on my dad's side, so that's one more gift each for DH and I to buy.

Flamingo86 · December 2013

We budget $85 each month throughout the year. That accounts for Christmas, birthdays, weddings, showers, etc.

mrshall1027 · December 2013

I think we spent around $1K last year and we didn't even buy gifts for each other. I have a huge family with a ton of kids, so it adds up quickly. We also buy for my brother, my parents, my grandma and then H has his sister, her husband, her kids, his mom and dad. We spend the most on my stepdaughters, usually around $150 each.

cloudymeatballs · December 2013

Budget??? Lol, don't really have a budget, it seems to grow each year. I have a good sized family with LOTS of nieces and nephews. None of our own kids yet. We buy for our parents, our 13 kids and grand parents, something small for the grandparents. Spend about $25 on each child. Our family is just going to continue to grow too.. haha Hopefully we start doing a gift exchange with the kids soon. I know that sure would save EVERYONE a TON of money..

lfk2013 · December 2013

Hmmm...last year it was pretty high. This year, we're mainly buying for our immediate families (my MIL, my parents, my sister). We're making cookies for co-workers, though, which is a change.

abt8113 · December 2013

We buy for my parents, sister and BIL, DH's parents, brother and SIL, niece, and nephew. I have a lot of young cousins so my sister and I split them up to 3 a couple and get them a gift from all 4 of us (sister, BIL, DH and myself). We spend about 50 on each, and then buy some b-day gifts that we haven't gotten around to since we live so far away (my mom and our neice have b'-days in January, so we go ahead and buy a separate gift for them). I never added it up until now, and we spend about $650 on our families for Christmas, if we stick to the 50 budget (which doesn't happen most of the time). We also have a $25 white elephant exchange with DH's extended family.

We don't have a budget on gifts for each other. They are around $100-200 though.

islandmonkey8 · December 2013

This year it's max $250 on each other, so $500 there. But we don't give gifts the rest of the year. Then is $25 max per family member, so $250 there. $15 for his godson and sister, that's another $30. Then $20 for each close friend we exchange with, $200 more. Any any random other things we pick up. So about $1000. Ouch. Last year we did $40 each on family and $25 on friends so it was even more.

I want to start putting away like $100/month for this. Hopefully we will next year.

nberg89 · December 2013

We agreed $500 max and only two small gifts for each other. We want to save some money for our baby fund.

mrsvedo · December 2013

We're around the $1000 mark as well. We budget $50 per person except each other ($100-$150 per person plus stockings for each of us). We buy for 7 people on my side and 10 people on his.

JLyn821 · December 2013

Our budget is $1,650. I keep a spreadsheet.

Funny that this is the lowest our budget has been since we got married.

We buy for 21 people other than the two of us. We also have two December birthdays we add into the budget since we buy them this month as well. Parents are at $65 each...down from $75. Grandparents are at $25 each because they yell at us if we spend more than that. Siblings without kids have a $50 budget each. Siblings with kids have a $25 budget each. Nephews have $25 budget each. Godparents have a $40 budget each. The two co-workers I buy for have a $15 budget each. We also do a drawing for the adults on MIL's side and FIL's side. Those are each $50 budgets. We then have a $300 budget for each plus stockings.

It sounds like a lot, but we both feel like we could do so much more. We love Christmas and love going all out for everyone.

RockABye · December 2013

DH and I don't really have a budget for each other, but it'll be reasonable. We will buy something for his parents, so probably around $100. We draw names in my family so we have 2 names, budget is $40 per person. We're also doing a white elephant with my fam and the limit on that is $10 each. So I guess somewhere around $200-250 plus our gifts for each other, whatever that comes out to be. Probably not much this year. We don't do stockings or anything so I don't have to budget for that. We used to buy for everyone and would easily spend a couple thousand.. We only ever spent money we had though (no credit cards ever... then or now). I kinda miss the days of buying for everyone.. it was more fun! I LOVE giving gifts! (but hate receiving gifts lol I'm weird like that)

Oh and for friends that I want to give anything to, I'll make things. This year I'm leaning towards infinity scarves

What Is Your Christmas/Holiday Gift Budget?

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