What do you buy your adult children?

viktory

I hate giving money at Christmas. It feels wrong. I buy for the people I love and as I love them and listen to them, I know what gifts they would like.

I keep my gift giving simple, I buy for parents and in laws, my children, my brother's son and that is it. DH and I tend to treat ourselves to a joint gift (like a new flat screen telly for example) in the New Year.

My Mum goes mad every Christmas and buys us loads of gifts. Some big, some small. All carefully chosen with love and received with thanks and love.

One never to be forgotten year, she bought me a big box filled with cleaning products as a joke present. :rotfl: :rotfl: Lasted me ages!

this_is_it

for my step daughter whos 18 and lives with her boyfriend, last year we brought her a ring which was something she had been hinting at seeing as she kept sneaking off with mine lol and then just some gift sets and perfume which she was happy with.
this year she has a son of her own so his mum and dad will be getting a hamper thanks to all the great iideas on this board and our grandson will be getting one main pressie around £40- a baby gym and then some little bits bibs, hat, etc.

lizzie12_2

We have a girly shopping day, choose our gift andeveryone is happy. We still have a bottle of purfume on christmas eve or earings off mum ( in the days we were out partying )

Ems!

Mine and my OH's families are quiet different with xmas pressies but I appreciate both sets of gifts. My family normally give us money (i think abt £60), then a couple of pressies each, eg cd's/dvd/ handbag - just anything they know we would want ( mum normally asks me for help for oh's cd's etc), then we also get abt 3-4 joint pressies , normally bottle of spirits, chocs, then something nice for the home. I suppose i kinda know what we are gonna get every year but i like it, eg deciding what i can spend the money on as its "guilt free!", and also the fact the pressies are always something i would pick myself. ( quite often mum manages to sneakily buy something that i have been looking at whilst we are shopping but i never twig!!) I have a brother and sis too- sis lives with her oh and they get the same sort of stuff as us, brother is at uni / lives at home and gets quite a bit more spent on him but i have never thought of it as an issue.

From my oh's family, we both get a huge sack each full of pressies!! we normally get vouchers each (abt 20 each), a cd or dvd we have asked for each, then loads of other bits and pieces, chocs, pjs, smellies, etc. I love this as we get to open loads and feel like a kid again!!! God knows how much she spends cos she does this for us, bil and sil, and their 2 kids!!

jessicamb

My mum still treats me and my brother the same as when we were kids. She has a rule that we have to have 10 presents each - now dont get me wrong, that isnt a huge amount as one present can be a pair of socks! And we are very lucky and grateful children I know.

My mum does ask us what we want for Xmas and if she sees anything that we might like she asks if she isnt sure that we would like it, but we are quite close so she knows our tastes anyway on the whole. It does spoil the surprise but I'm not a surprisey person anyway lol.

On the other hand grandparents always give money - as we are not as close its a lot easier than trying to guess someones tastes IMHO.

[Deleted User]

money when thay were young adults and always as much as I could afford as they were well and truly broke, after studying at uni

Now things are on a more even footing: I have taken the stress from them by suggesting a max spend of £10 and a theme for everyone. This is certainly bringing the fun back into present buying

tr3mor

I'm 22 and I think christmasses are rubbish now

It's not that I don't get presents anymore it's just that I can't think of anything exciting I want. When I was a teen it was all hifis and TVs and bits for computer, usual teenage boy things. Now I want nothing.

Last year I got my mum to pay for some shirts and a suit, how dull

RHYSDAD wrote:

Perfect!!

And tr3mor, i love you're, sorry your signature!!

Grammar does appear to be a slight problem these days doesn't it?
Have you read 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' by Lynne Truss?
It's The Zero approach to Punctuation. Very Very funny!!!

Yeah I have read it! It's a very good book. They should make all school children learn it by heart!

Chocmonster7

I've asked my Mum to get me cookery/baking stuff for Christmas this year. She's been cooking much longer than I have so she knows which tins, etc. are good plus it's not the kind of stuff I'd spend my spare money on!

Along with that my Dad will buy us "silly" presents, a couple of years back he got me a toy dog which when you turned it on sang Singing in the Rain. I still set it off now and again to give me a laugh.

Phatmouse

Haing our first child this December so will be interesting to see how our presents change this year. We usually get bits and peices off everyone but have a feeling that baby will get the lot, which is fine by me.

newcook

I have always asked for smellies - it covers a range of peoples budgets and to be honest I love getting smellies!!! last year I got about 5 different sets of smellies - still have some left which sit proudly in a huge basket in the bathroom! the one thing me and my brother are insistant on from my mom is a selection box (I am 26 and my brother is 31) - a couple of years ago mom thought we were too old for kids selection boxes and got us a box of celebrations each which, although were nice, just were not part of christmas so she has gone back to getting us a selection box each!!!:T