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

*Louise*

I find it sad that some families can be so selfish when it comes to someone just trying to cut back a little because they can't afford to blow money they don't have on Christmas.

We have always had the rule in our family that once you have kids, everyone buys for the child and not the adult. Mind you, our two mums still buy us something, else I would have no surprises at all since I usually end up choosing my own gift from hubby:rotfl:

Our list for this year:

4 x Parents - £30 each, sometimes a bit more
6 x Nephews/nieces - £15 each (used to be £20)
Brother/SIL with no children - £10 each
2 x Grandmothers - £15 each
Auntie - £20
2 Friends - £15 each
Friend of family - £10
Primary Teacher - £5
Nursery Teachers - £5 (box of biccies)


Plus hubby and 3 kids. And two birthdays which fall on the 23rd and 27th Dec, theres another £25 lol, thankfully I have bought nearly everything already, I would panic having to get everything in December

shebangs

......................................

TimBear

Shebangs that's a good way to do it, very sensible!

MILLYMOLLY

My family don't buy each other, we just buy something small for each others u/18 children, once they reach 18 thats it

I buy for
My 4 DS, approx £300 each
DH, £40 to £50
MIL, £20
SMIL £20
BIL & SIL, £10
Nephew £20 (First xmas)
friends 3 ch X£5 each (pretty good presents bought in sale at boots)
friends x 3 couples £5 each (wine or biscuits)
6 great niece and nephews £5 each (bought in sale or glitches through the year)

So a total of about £1380 YIKES!!!

dobs

Looking at last yrs notepad (keep a record of what i give so i don't duplicate it the nxt yr!) i bought for 31 people, not including my hubby or 3 ds'. I spent 400 pounds on them, which was actually alot less than the yr before! My hubby and i don't spend much on each other. ALso we r not in touch wiv one large side of hubbys family and they do not celebrate xmas so we probably save about 200 quid there!
Problem i have is since celebrating xmas again, this will be my 5th one yay!(i get more xcited than the boys!), i spend way too much on boys(tho they don't get much the rest of the yr apart from b'days), i promise to cut down every yr and then fail . Just spent a fortune on these handmade ruined building off ebay for their new hm armed forces toys, haven't been brave enough to tell hubby yet! I am back to work now tho so at least it won't be so hard paying it off this yr !So probably about a thousand pounds spent each xmas - gulp!

mich13x

We buy for:

OH - About £50
DS - No set budget, but lots!
DD - As above
My mum - £30
MIL - £30
My dad - £30
OH stepdad - £30
My sister - Differs each year this year £70
My other sister - As above
My grandmother - £20
My grandfather - £20
BIL - £20

I try to find good deals throughout the year to get the best value for the money i spend on people.

Cant wait for christmas

jodie114

hmm maybe i'm not unusual then...

my ds - its always set at around £100, but realistically £150 ish is closer
oh- we agreed a £30 limit each to find the most appropriate gifts
mum - £30 limit agreed
dad - as above
bro - as above
sil (nearly) - as above

i usually get some sort of tea hamper etc for my grandparents, although i don't thin its appreciated, so i might well leave it at a card this year.
My sons teacher is getting a personalised purse from that artscow deal a while ago

TimBear

That's a good idea NGlady2, my mum used to do that too, collecting lots of loyalty points when buying others' presents, so that she could treat herself too!

tiff

Not sure yet what our budget is per person but I have bought two presents so far - one is a scarf bought in the Tesco £1 sale for my sister and the Steve Jobs biography for £7.50 but RRP is £25. So doing our best to buy nice presents for very little.

Our kids are 13 and 11, will probably spend £50 on main present and some smaller presents. Stocking budget around £10 getting bargains and freebies. Doing well so far! We did spend much more in the past but can't afford to now and wont be putting anything on credit cards.

saidan

so far:
me £35 dancing mickey
dh £8 - not sure what else to get him - maybe coffee machine
bro £8
mum wants m&s vouchers for undies (£20)
PIL £14 little pressies off the kids - dh will buy their main gift (they spoil us )
8 x nephews nieces £80
friends kids £37
auntie £6
friends £12
ds2 £46 (plus knex bought last year)
ds1 £47 (plus lego duplo bought last yr)

(£80 of lego bought in sale today will keep for b-day/next yr due to age)

i have just to buy then for my mum, and dh....and him to buy for me and 2 nieces (budgeted above)

hurrah - nearly done:T