I am always astonished by the gift guides in magazines, etc. We never spend the kind of money they seem to think is perfectly reasonable, or even cheap. We personally try to stick to around $30 each for family members, a little more on the moms because, you know, they carried us around for 9 months and then fed us for 18 years and all. We spend less on friends, usually.

I'm also surprised at who you are expected to give gifts to. Am I just crazy? Do you all give presents to the mailman, hairdressers, babysitters, etc? It seems kind of silly to me to give gifts to someone with whom you have a primarily financial relationship.

we don't even give "gifts" to our family members. We just can't afford it. Instead they all get a card with a picture of our family every year.

Since I'm making more this year, I'll probably spend more. I spend the most on my folks, then I have friends and a few co-workers I buy for.

not much,really.
no one really likes gifts in my family.
you can never get it right.

Not a whole lot. My brother and I decided last year to stop exchanging gifts, since we have a hard time thinking of things to get (I usually end up asking for a couple of CDs or DVDs or something), and also because now I have two nephews to buy for. My plan is to get each of them a Christmas ornament every year (the Hallmark series) and one toy each. I get at least one thing for my mom and dad, as well, so all in all, I don't end up spending too much. If I see something that seems appropriate for a friend, I'll get it, but I try to go for sentimental value or something that would be meaningful, rather than pricey. I'd much rather give someone a present that had some thought put into it... which is very difficult for me. =P

On the other hand, I like to get lots of gifts. 'Cause I'm greedy. heh.

as much as I can afford! I love getting people presents and go all out whenever I can. Which I doubt I'll be able to this year, maybe next year.

Well, it will depend on my own financial situation of course Usually the family on my side does a gift exchange with a max dollar amount of $20-25. Hubby's side doesn't really seem to do gifts and my in-laws specifically said if we bought them a gift they'd disown us!! I'm going to buy something for their new kitty instead

I think we'll be keeping our spending to a minimum this year due to a roof assessment due in January plus a few other nasty expenses coming up It sucks, cause I'm like dragonfly, I like buying gifts.

Hmm, well we try to stay within the $20-$25 range for family members and really close friends. I adore sales and hunting down the cheapest prices (I'm one of those crazy people at Sears at 5am on Black Friday) so I can usually get a lot of bang for the buck.

We have a bit higher amount for each other (hubby and I), but the daughter tends to have the most spent on her. We got her a wooden train set this year from Costco. It was $130, but came with the table, two storage trundles and a ton of pieces. She'll love it, and since the table alone usually goes for $160 elsewhere we figured we'd grab it before Costco ran out. That's pretty much all she's getting from Mommy and Daddy though!

We usually just ask for gifcards so we can combine them to get something we need like new pots/pans or other stuff for the house. We're boring.

My family's pretty understanding about us being a one income military family, and our budget. His family always spends WAY more than we do, but they have a lot more disposable income and we refuse to put stuff on the credit card just to keep up appearances. Every year we make it very clear what our budget is, and if they choose to feel gypped b/c they spent more on us than vice versas, that's too bad.

Last year I spent way too much $$ for Christmas. In the past I tend to spend the most of family gifts (primarily my Dad and brother) as well as my boyfriend. But I've spent a lot on my closet friends too. In the reality of it all, I try not to look at it as money spent though. I'm more happy about giving them something I know they will enjoy and appreciate, and mostly if it makes them happy, then I am happy too. I have in the past made a lot of the gifts for people as well. I think this year I will have to do that even more so, as my expenses with health and car insurance, tuition, and my graduation costs are so much. It should be fun though!

We actually do give a gift card to our mailman but I figure, he delivers my ponies to me so hey, it is worth it!
I honestly don't have a set amount that I try to spend on people, I know that the amount always varies between each person but we also draw names in my husbands family because his family is so large, there is just no way I could buy everyone a present. Honestly I spend the most on my husband and the girls but I try to buy through out the year so it isn'y so much at one time.

MLPMom wrote:

Honestly I spend the most on my husband and the girls but I try to buy through out the year so it isn'y so much at one time.

Me too! It makes it so much easier money-wise.

my boyfriend has expensive taste so i spend about $150 on him (more this year) but for everyone else i make gifts.

We are making some gifts this year too, actually when we drew names for my husband's side of the family that was the requirements this year, it will definitely be intresting to see what everyone comes up with!

We don't exchange gifts with our extended family anymore, since the little kids have all grown up now and its so hard to get stuff for people you only see a few times a year. ^^;

For my immediate family (dad and sister), I spend about $30-$50 on each of them. My friends usually get homemade Christmas cookies or other baked treats.

My family is a gift giving family.

I know growing up my parents gave gifts to all my teachers, the busdriver, the mailman, the milk delivery man, the garbage people, etc. Usually only 5-10 dollar items but still.

I'm a preschool teacher-and I'm amazed at the gifts that I got last year. I got SO many. Gift cards to Target, the Mall, the Movies. (for like 25 each!) Multiply that by 25 kids...and well...thats a lot of gifts.

We buy for my parents, our brothers, my mother in law, my grandma, his grandpa, my three cousins, and some other people here and there. We spend about 25-40 dollars on gifts for each person, maybe less. I start buying for my cousins now so I don't have the whole "crunch" at the end money wise.

Its a lot of money!

-Jordyn