Who do you buy for and how much do you spend?

anniemf2508

I don't really have a budget for our 2 kids. Me and OH don't buy each other anything or it'll be just a token gift.

Budget for everyone else goes like this:
Mum £10x 2 as her birthday is 22nd dec
Dad £10
Brother £10 xmas £20 birthday (15th december and its his 21st this year)
Grandparents £25 between them
2 neices £10 each
Best friend £20
Best friends step daughter £10

wanchai_2

What an interesting thread!!!!!



I buy for:

• Mum (about £150, but sometimes more )
• Brother (about £50-100)
• OH (about £50-£100, although this year we are going to impose a limit of about £20 each as we are saving for our wedding )
• Brother's GF (about £30)
• OH's mum (about £30)
• OH's 2 nephews (soon to be my nephews too! About £30 each)
• Friends (we do a secret Santa with a £10 limit)

That's it! I don't buy for every Tom, !!!!!! and Harry so my Christmas shopping is not at all stressful. For me, Christmas is about spending time with loved ones, going to midnight Mass and relaxing, not rampant consumerism.

I do feel sorry for anyone who comes from a big family or has lots of nieces and nephews to buy for - it must be time consuming and expensive. Although the Grabbit board is a great help for gifts - my gift cupboard is full to bursting. Although I don't spend a lot compared to some, I get amazing value thanks to MSE and love to treat my loved ones.

I don't, however, feel sorry for those who choose to buy for neighbours, work colleagues, vague acquaintances etc etc etc and then moan about it! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Also, I don't buy for friends' children (Christmas or birthdays). I buy them something really nice for their christening and that's it. The parents are 100% happy about this as it takes the pressure off them to buy for each other's children - most peeps I know only buy for children in their own family.

beanymagoo wrote: »

My christmas shopping list is for......

my 4 children (3 of whom have their birthday in the same week as christmas :eek:) dont even ask how much as i am to scared to add it up
My husband £100
My mother and her partner £150
my dad and his wife £50
my mother and father in law £150
2 of my cousins children (used to get every one of my cousins presents for their children but this has been scaled down) £20 each
15 nieces and nephews (about £20 each)
2 auntys (£20 each)
brother (£50)
gifts for teachers, classroom assistants and office staff at school. as i have so many to buy here i like to pick up deals throughtout the year ie candles, perfume, boots gift sets etc so prob get £100 stuff for about £25
I also hand in tins of sweets or biscuits to a couple of my neighbours throughout the festive season at a cost of about £4 or £5 each.

eek, seeing that all written down i need to see where i should cut back :eek:

You buy for the office staff at your children's school(s)??? :eek:

I must be out of touch. :rotfl: When I was little, my mum used to buy a little gift for my teacher (no classroom assistants back then, what *do* they do anyway?) in primary school - a small box of chocs or smellies, nothing too expensive! But for us, it was: end of primary school = end of gifts. You wouldn't be seen dead giving a gift to your teacher in high school , although I did buy my favourite English teacher a poetry book when I left school and she was really touched.

Badger_Lady

We only buy for immediate family, plus the people that we're spending Christmas Day with.

So some years I spend more because I'll be travelling to my Aunt's house and meeting all my cousins, partners etc, usually about 14 people who tend to get a 'token' gift of around £5-£10 each.

Other years I'll be alone or just with a small group of people who live closer to me, so a similar budget per person but only a couple of people.

Immediate family are:
Mum
Dad
Sister

... and for them I'll spend anywhere from £20-£80 depending on what I've seen and how much I think they'll value it. Their gifts are usually planned months and months in advance because I'll see something or have an idea and think "I'll save it for Christmas". I have a large drawer in the spare room to keep these in.

aliaslotte

I buy for my mum, dad, brother, grandma, 4-6 female friends and 2-5 male friends.

Usually, I spend around £50 on the first three and £30 on grandma. With my friends, I tend to spend around £10 each.

I am skint this year though. I don't have a job, the busary was cut for my course and my rent is more than my income. So, I am cutting back lol [or rather, making the most of the offers around]. For example, I managed to sort out my female friends, my grandma and get a couple of things for my mum from Body Shop. £150s worth of goods, for a much more reasonable £45!



I think things are a lot more stressful for my mother. My father has a huge family [which is growing every year as I now have some 22 cousins!], so that causes all sorts of problems. Given that money is tight and that we never see the vast majority of my father's family, my mum is also planning on cutting back. She has some family friends [and their children] to buy for, plus my grandma, father, brother and myself. She almost always ends up buying for lots of my father's relatives, but she said she is putting her foot down now. I hope she does - buying for so many is unnecessarily stressful and you never even hear whether they liked the present or not.

kippers

I feel it is a sorry thing when you need to cut back on how much you spend at xmas and family and friends go 'funny' with you because of it. If i was being cut out of someones present list for this reason i would totally understand and agree with them. Family you can't choose but friends you can choose...do you really know them as well as you think you do.

We have been on the receiving end of family being 'mardy' with us for cutting back. We have two massive families and and loads of neices and nephews between us and we were struggling to buy our two dd's a present at xmas...so we suggested that we only buy for under 18's for birthdays and xmas and it went down like a lead balloon! This was over a year ago and we are now past caring...it says more about them than it does us!

Christmas is about celebrating together with family and friends and for me it's a time when i reflect on how lucky i am and i would rather be this way than start the new year in debt!

KiwiCrazy

DD - we have spent around £400 including her xmas eve hamper and her xmas stocking.
mum and partner - £70 which is £50 in M&S vouchers to get in some food goodies for the hols, a photoclock and yankee candle.
MIL - £20 yankee candle and a bodyshop smelly set
BIL & SIL - £20 chocs, cookbook and grow your own herb set
Grandpa - £30 wallet, sweets and bottle of gin
My best friend - £20 chocs, bookset and smelly set
Nephew - £20 - some books, chocs and little gadget
Nan - £20 chocs, smelly set and brooch
Hubby - £0 for past few years we have agreed not to give each pressies at xmas and instead get some nicer treats in for all the family to enjoy together at xmas (means more weight to lose in the new year:rotfl:)

a part from DD xmas and the extra treats xmas pressie costs have been covered by quidco so its worth spending a few more mins while shopping to get cashback for things you are just going to buy anyway.

wanchai_2

What's a Christmas Eve hamper?

deb68_2

We have bought all our 3 sons,an ds girlfriend we have gotten her quite a few pressies,1 of my bros an sil, just want some of hubbys home made wine an we going do him a cheese board

and we are going to make them up some homemade bis an a choc fudge cake,at the moment i am doing a photo album for them,

I ended up giving Dh lot of his pressies cant help it i am a big kid :rotfl:still have 4 for him to open,
all pressies from ebay through topcash back,and chairity shops
oh an my 2 lovely dogs an 1 fat cat
just got to wrap them all

i think for everything it has cost(including wine,bis,choc fudge cake)
around £300
also got them tin of sweets easch as we dont buy them all yr
my lads are 21,18,17

My niece birthday will just be a card an some smellies £6 thats 11th dec

Its our middle sons bday 29th dec,he will have £50,an couple pressies to open already have the presents

No longer buy for Dh family
,its true when they say you can pick your friends but not your family

sarah*a

I buy for:

OH (£100)
DD (£100)
My Parents (£20 each)
OH Parents (£20 each)
7 Siblings/SIL's/BIL's (£5 each)
8 Nieces (£10 each)
6 Nephews (£10 each)
My BFF & Boyf. (£10 each)
OH's BFF (£10)
DD's Boyf. & 2 x BFF (£10 each)

The amounts are the approximate value of the pressie not what we generally spend IYKWIM? For example FIL's pressie is worth £29 this year - actual cost to us? £1 - the rest was bought with reward vouchers. Most of the nieces gifts were bought in the Boots 75%/90% sales in Jan and probably cost an average of £3 each but are worth an average £15.

Not including DD and OH I've spent less than £100 on 31 people

immie

Christmas usually stresses me out so I'm going to go easy/ scrooge-like this year!

I'm a student so my dad and stepmum don't really expect anything

Brother 1- aged 20, we're really close and treat each other every now and then, so christmas is no biggie- £0?

Brother 2- aged 12, he has everything he wants already so normally he gets an argos voucher, and maybe a day out every few months. £10?

Bf- Gets loads of bits and bobs already thanks to Grabbits and eBay so probably nothing -£0

Bf's family (Mum, Dad, Sister, Sister's bf, and bf's mum's best friend (!)) - they got me presents last christmas and for my birthday, so I think it'd be rude to not get them anything... they love my cooking, so for Christmas I'll probably do a big extravagant dinner/feast for all of them (Youtube tutorials are a godsend!:beer:) £30- £40 (though I have a feeling they won't let me pay for the ingredients so potentially £0)

Grandma- old people wintery things? Maybe an electric blanket and socks/ underwear £15-£30

Cousin 1 (24)- probably some sort of groupon voucher/experience deal £15?

Cousin 2 (25)- same as above £15 ish

Step cousin (6) - He likes Lego but my budget doesn't... Maybe a winter coat/ stationery £15- £20 ish

Cousin 3 (30 something)- Recently had a baby girl so present now goes to the baby- £15-£20 a zip up blanket/ jumper thingie maybe.

Uncle and aunt and two kids- don't see them very often, argos vouchers for each kid - £20

about £140- £185 IF I stick to these figures