Christmas debt - will you go deeper into debt?

Adrasteia01

I thought I'd been doing rather well where xmas is concerned, as I have been careful with money and started picking up xmas presents early and have almost all of the ones I'll need now (except for my husband and in-laws).

However, I'm stressing a bit as my husband's family like to do xmas on a large scale. From the sound of things his mother alone is looking to spend 200-250 sterling on presents for the two of us, his sister at least 50 sterling (on my husband alone), and his brother would usually spend about 80 sterling on us at least.

My husband had let them know a book set he wanted for xmas (at least 50 sterling), so that they could all chip in, but his sister alone is planning to get that. My husband seems to feel like he has to compete sometimes as well or keep up with his siblings as he is the eldest. He's actually in a better financial position than them i'd say - his mother must pay off xmas for a good part of the year as she is doing this on a pension!!

It's just frustrating because I've been trying so hard to save money throughout the year on xmas spending, and at most I'd be spending around 25 euro on each of my parents and they have a lot less 'stuff' than my husband's parents. My mother always seems to go without for the sake of everyone else.

I'd say we'll end up spending a lot of money on my in-laws unless we can find another way to go about things, but my husband has already asked them what they want. He's not that careful with money (at all) but he earns well, so he feels it is well within his means even though we have loads to pay off.

So how do you give less expensive presents to people who are going to buy you something expensive (even though you've suggested otherwise!) and who are intent in doing xmas in a major way?

Adrasteia