Christmas/Holiday Spending for Grown Children?

[ExitLeft]

It's that time of year again... Our kids are now 23 and 21, the youngest is a senior in college. DW and I argue about what to spend on them for Christmas gifts. I know this is subjective, but curious what others do...

 

[aja8888]

We limit holiday gifts to $50 - $100 for grown children. Hopefully, they will give us corresponding gifts in that amount to offset the whole game of gift giving. This is all DW's doing, BTW.

 

[bizlady]

We actually save our "cash back" credit card rebates and spend that for Christmas. So it varies a bit each year.

 

[MBAustin]

We generally spend $100-150 on each of our two adult children, sometimes less, rarely more. We enjoy giving gifts. They are very creative and generally plan together what gifts to give us so it's fun all around.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We give a check to our two grown kids along with a gift for <$100 for each of them and their spouses. The granddaughters are a whole different story &#55357;&#56834;.

 

[JoeWras]

Our family decided to finally stop it all for each other and the kids. Everyone has made it to 30 and over.

Now, we just want to focus on spoiling grand kids and great niece/nephews.

 

[jjquantz]

Our family decided to finally stop it all for each other and the kids. Everyone has made it to 30 and over.

Now, we just want to focus on spoiling grand kids and great niece/nephews.

That's pretty much what we said about 5 years ago. We said that one thoughtful present each within the immediate family, maybe $50 or so.

but...

DW suffers "mission creep". She'll start off in November with a statement like, "We'll only buy one or two items for each kid. That's what we all agreed to a few years back.

By November 30 she'll typically announce that everything is done.

But by December 15, she'll tell me that she saw a couple of nice things for one daughter so now she needs to "even things out" and find something for the other. Usually this will also happen for the SILs, as well. In addition, I discover that adult nephews and nieces who, by extended family agreement, WOULD NOT get gifts, also need something.

We still rarely spend more than a couple of hundred on either daughter, and we've never even come close to spending a thousand, all in, but it's just sort of funny how it can't stop once it is started.

Oh, and I've discovered that if she has fewer than 5 things to open on Christmas morning she is not very happy.

 

[pacergal]

Siblings and inlaws do a $25 gift card and white elephant "fun" gift exchange.
Our kids get anywhere from $300-500 in cash and gifts, grandkids about $50-100.
Its more than DH thinks we need to spend, but I love the holidays!
We spent far less when kids were younger and before we retired.

 

[kgtest]

My in-laws still get me a $200 gift and I'm 37. Which is fine, they say they like to do it and we usually return the favor by inviting them to dinner and an event on the town. I try not to spend more than $30/per niece/nephew and on my own kids we are trying to limit it to just a few gifts, books, clothes and something fun from santa. Last year was a little overkill.

I expect our total xmas spend to be around $500 this year.
The neighbors do a holiday white elephant exchange which comes with some cost for food, holiday deserts.

Then the cost for Christmas cards. So maybe a little more than $500.


Sometimes we do some xmas themed event that costs money, one year it was a Transiberian Orchestra concert, this year its some light festival and the Cirqu Du Soleil show.

 

[KCGeezer]

DW suggested we establish/contribute to each of the kids own Roth accounts this year. I’m sure there will be a couple of ‘things to unwrap’ under the tree as well. Usually $2-300 each in past years.

 

[Philliefan33]

A few years ago, when we just had the two DD’s, we started giving them each a check and four gifts: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.

This year, with one married and the other engaged, we will probably do a check to each couple and a small gift or two for each person. I was able to get some base layer clothing real cheap from EMS, so I already have the small gifts for three of the four (and spent less than $40 total).

 

[Teacher Terry]

We take my son and DIL out to a fancy restaurant. For the kids that don’t live here 100 each.

 

[calmloki]

We are huge garage sale fans and it tickles us to find weird or old or perfect gifts through the year and stockpile them. Those are meaningful. And cheap - and I'm afraid the giftees may not be as happy getting them as we are finding them. We also buy gift certificates from a great local butcher and get happy feedback on the quality meat in the cuts and animal types they wish. And Costco cash cards so they can get what they want. I get a lot more joy out of the garage sale buys, but the gifts are for the giftees, sooo.

 

[RobbieB]

Last Christmas my step son was building an electric guitar so I got him an amp kit for $500. Which meant I had to gift his sister $500.

 

[ncbill]

Our kids (still in undergrad) just buy what they need on Dad's credit card.

I figure that's good enough for birthdays/Xmas/etc.

And it's a h*** of a lot more than $150/year.

 

[Jerry1]

Every now and then the perfect gift for a certain person comes into play. I love it when that happens. Gifts are so much better when they are meaningful. Unfortunately, those are few and far between but when they come up, price isn’t really important (though we’re in the hundreds, not thousands). Generally, we try to get one small gift and then a $100 gift card for both daughters and their husbands. Other adults like our siblings and parents, nothing. Though, parents might get one of those perfect gifts but at this point, parents are almost 90 and we’ll just make sure they get quality time and a good meal.

 

[Moemg]

I spend a lot on Christmas gifts . I probably should cut it back a little but probably will not.

 

[KB]

I give my kids $1000 cash for both Christmas and their birthdays.

 

[aaronc879]

I don't have any kids so spend nothing. My Grandmother gives her two kids(66&69) $500 each. My Dad then takes that money and gives $250 each to me and my Brother. No actual wrapped gifts since we were early teens, just cash. Cash is better because then no one wastes money on something we will never use.

 

[Aerides]

In our small-ish family, we got rid of the "everyone get stuff for everyone" thing about 10 years ago. Not just because of expense, but the time factor of shopping so much (even online, just thinking of what to get someone is hard enough). And since my parents bdays, and DH's, are all also in December, you can see why I was a big fan of this approach.

In our group of 6 adults, (my M&D, DS+her DH, me and my DH), we have a rotation where each gets one assigned one person, unofficially something in the 50-75 kind of price range. We then go normal (a bit nuts) on my sisters kids as they are the only grandkids as well, and have small stocking stuffers (sub $20) for everyone as well.

 

[Ally]

We give our adult children gifts worth about $50, since the 6 grandchildren have come. We used to spend closer to $100 on the adults, but none of us give adults bigger gifts anymore.

 

[Dtail]

$100 a piece for birthdays and the same for holidays.

 

[happy2bretired]

My gifts to vary from year to year. I try to stay pretty close to my yearly budget amount for gifts. Some years I have more left in December than other years. So, most years they get gifts in the $50-$75 range then possibly a check for both of them. They have a very small house and my daughter does not want STUFF so that eliminates just buying anything for them or my grandchild. My daughter is very picky with what enters her house and that’s fine with me.

 

[Chuckanut]

I purchase gifts for all my kids but I don’t have many.