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

TimBear

Jonee and Augustsmummy, please don't feel bad about your situation. I'm sure your loved ones will more than understand!

Hugs to you both.

Birdie85

I think I'm getting off lightly by the looks of it!

I used to spend a fortune on my family at Christmas but have since cut well back!

I got married abroad in February this year so last Christmas my family and my in-laws all decided to cut back on presents as we were all saving to go away. It worked so well that we're sticking to the same thing this year. My side have put in place a £30 each budget (it used to be 3 times that!) and my OH's family do secret santa so we only have to buy for 1 person, works out great as the lot of them are useless at buying presents so it reduces the amount of rubbish we end up with and makes the gift giver really think about what they're buying rather than just impulse buying any old thing!

My spends are now:
OH = £100
OH's advent calendar (it's an OTT one with real presents rather than chocolates!) = £30
Mum, Dad, Brother, SIL = £30 each (but I'm making a lot of presents so may come in cheaper)
BIL (Secret Santa) = £25
Meal out with girlfriends in lieu of presents = £25

= £300

Now I've written it all down I've realised that I haven't actually got any presents yet so I'd better go shopping!

TimBear

Sounds like a good way to do it Birdie!

double_mummy

kids £150 each (theres two of them) but do use that to get things they need anyway (new uniform etc)

OH £100

MIL £50

Sister 1 £50

Sister 2 £75

Sister OH £25 +£10 for her bday n 24th dec

Sister dog £5

Brother £30

Aunt and Uncle £20

Dad and GF £30

Cousin £10 (big tub of sweets for her and kids)

Work £10

Grandma £15

Friends £30

always have my stash cupboard for anyone who shows up and i have forgotten lol

spicyprawn

Im suprised how many of you buy for your OHs hehe

Beetlemama

We dont buy a lot and we don't really have family. We get our son a decent present, this year it was £159.00 for a 3DS + games and carry case off Amazon, he doesn't ask for much of anything but since he's 8 and he still believes in Santa we try to get him what he asks for, we figure that kind of magic only lasts so long before the real world has to be faced.

For each other we do about £10-£15, I always have socks and knickers though £10 doesn't buy a lot of socks these days! I usually get DH a large print book as he likes to read but struggles with the print now he's almost 60.

The girls (our two Labradaughters) - Dallas loves toys but Jessie isn't really bothered by them. I was thinking I'd get her a coat this year as she feels the cold, Dallas will get another cuddly toy to play with. She's fallen in love with a velvet dinosaur our son has and keeps fetching it from his room to sleep with :heart2: so we might try to find her one of those.

My dad usually gets something non-descript, chocolates or a tin of Quality Street, he doesn't need anything and he's never really impressed with anything.

We're under £200 all in, and we have an Iceland saver card with £46 saved on it (YES!) so the food is "free" too. We buy a stamp a week for the year starting January.

roosmummy

I buy for quite a few people but have been buying since July so I haven't really felt the xmas pinch yet. But do have an xmas mountain under my bed.

My 2yo DD: £150 in total including Xmas eve hamper & Stocking (no xmas outfit this year as reusing a wedding outfit)
My Niece: £50
My Nephew: £50
Mum: £20-30
Dad: £20-30
Sisters x2: £20-30
BIL: £20-30
Nan (who I see xmas day): £20-30
Nan: £20
Best Friend & Partner: £10.00
Friend & Partner: £10.00
Friend's Children x2: £7.50
Aunt & Family: £20.00
Uncle & Family: £15.00
Great Uncle: <£5.00 (Just a token gift)
Cousin: £8.00

Pretty much all of my presents are hampers of some sort whether girls night in hampers, or movie hampers, I done these last year and they were really well received, even had people offering back the baskets to be filled again this year.

On top of my own xmas shopping I also do my nan's xmas shopping, so an extra 21 presents to buy but I'm almost finished hers and stick to a really strict budget, she's only a pensioner after all, she spends no more than £150.00 in total.

I love Christmas!! Can't wait to start wrapping!!

teacherandmum

ive nearly finished shopping and budget was
OH - £80
DD1 - £100 (stocking and gifts from us)
DD2 - £80 (onl;y 1 so not as much as her sister - stocking and from us)
mum, dad, bro, sis, bil, nephew, - £20 each
work secret santa - £15
3 x friends - £10 each
2 x godchildren - £10 each

£445 on gifts.
Jointly pay for family gifts - £380
I solely pay for work, friends and god children - £65

we have a savings account which we put in £40 a month for Christmas only. Buys joint gifts and christmas food etc

kayandy_2

I have loads to buy for
My bf - normally about 100 (as we have no kids etc and only young)
My mum- about 20
Sister- about 50
Brother - about 50
3 little cus -10-15 each
Step dad- 20
Aunt and uncle -20
Bfs mum- about 30
Dads 4 kids (half sibling) 10 each

Me and bf go half on all presents as he only has his mum as his dad passed away and is only child ands so were his parents!! He is close to all my family and they accept him as part of the family so gets the same as me off them so he likes to go halfs with me and treat them especially my little sister and brother!!

Then it's my sisters bday on 12th December and my gran who has helped bring me up on boxing day!!

Threebabes

I buy

DH - £20
Our 3 kids - £Lots
4 nephews - £20 each
2 nieces - £20 each
MIL - £13
FIL - £25
Sister - £20
Teachers - £5

Nearly done bought nieces and nephews some great presents in the debenhams sales, spent £20 but probably saved as much if not more. Still buying for my 3. Got DS a new laptop for when he hopefully starts his A levels next september and other bits and the girls want an ipad each and things like pjs, slippers, stationary etc. No debt here either, my DH doesn't do credit cards/loans etc.

:-)