How much will you spend this Christmas or Bah Humbug !

[sailor]

No gifting to adults. Small gifts to little children (ages 1 to 7) in the family.
For our own kids we use 3 gifts rule: "a need", "a want" and "a read".
I would say less than $250 spent on various gifts for 7 kids.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Holy smokes, you folks with kids spend serious money! -Except you, Sailor!
We are spending every nickel on our month in Peru, so will probably pick up small gifts there for the 6 kids belonging to my sis and brother as well as something for our parents and DH's sister. Other than that, we'll probably find something small for our close friends while we are traveling, plus for the great people staying full time at our house while we're gone. Maybe $300 or so? Gotta fit in the backpacks!

 

[Finance Dave]

$1,000, most of that on my DW.

 

[TromboneAl]

You guys are an order of magnitude above our spending level.

The $500 for Lena's iPad 2 doesn't count because we would have gotten that anyway. It does make a good present, though.

 

[DaveJ]

$75, split evenly between my parents and my twin sister. For at least the last decade we've restricted gift giving to immediate family only, and set a reasonable limit at $25 or so. I think it's awesome because I can get all of my shopping done in 5 minutes on Amazon. The hardest part is coming up with my "wishlist" as there's not a whole lot of stuff that I really want. This way the extended family can all enjoy each others' company at holiday gatherings without having to fret over buying each other gifts.

 

[IBWino]

About $3K total: $2500 sent to various charities, and about $500 worth of small gifts for numerous friends and family (usually wine, gift baskets, etc.).

I may splurge and buy my wife a new laptop (~$500), but I'm still debating this. Her current machine is 11 years old and VERY slow.

 

[freebird5825]

For our trek to MA for Christmas, travel, eating out and dog boarding costs will come in around $300, which Mr B and I will split 50-50.
We agreed on only 1 small present for each of us, from each other.

I just shelled out a lot of money for a fence and chimney repair, so I am doing homemade bread and cookies as presents for his family and my local friends. I have all the ingredients on hand except extra butter.
He will probably spend more on his relatives because it is expected of him.

We have $300 in cashback rewards for 2011, some of which we will spend for a nice dinner out, just us two, after January 1st. The remainder will be saved for another treat.

 

[citrine]

Ooooohhhh....I want the Shark steam machine! I am not sure....probably around $500 for my Mom, Dad, my brother and sis-in-law, my bf and his 2 boys, and the two kitty cats.

 

[Katsmeow]

Probably around $1500.

DH and I -- we give to each other with a limit of about $200 to $250. Often we end up giving a gift card to somewhere we like (yes, this is fun for us) although sometime we will ask for something specific. We also do stockings and we pick up small fun things for the stock

3 kids -- In past years we've spent roughly $200 per kid plus stocking stuffers. This year is the first year that our oldest son is on his own. I've always had the thought when kids left the nest entirely that they would still get gifts but smaller gifts. In oldest son's case he also borrowed $500 from us a few months ago and hasn't lived up to his repayment agreement. We will still get him something for Christmas, but it will probably be less than it would have been when we were still supporting him.

My two mothers -- I am making a photo calendar for each of them. One of them collects the Holiday Barbie so I will buy for her.

Rest of the money we spend are non-gift spending that is Christmas related.

When DH and I married 20 years ago he had 3 adult children and several grandchildren. One of the things we had to work out was each others very different family traditions on gift giving. I'm an only child and my parents were always big on gifts. Even as an adult they would spend several hundred dollars on my present and I would buy them nice presents. They could do that because it was just me. DH on the other hand came from a large family and his parents had many grandchildren. They typically gave very modest gifts (I was fine with that). DH and I for awhile tried to do gifts with all of his kids and his grandchildren. We found that none of them were all that gift-centered and it annoyed both of us when he would give gifts that were not reciprocated. So, after a few years that gift giving basically stopped. We don't give to them and they don't give to us. I personally would rather do gifts but DH and them are fine with not doing it so that is OK with me. But, my kids have been raised to enjoy giving and receiving gifts.

 

[My Dream]

"The entire institution of gift giving make no sense. Let's say that I go out, and I spend 50 dollars on you, it's a laborious activity, because I have to imagine what you need, where as you know what you need. Now I could simplify things, just give you the 50 dollars directly, and you could give me 50 dollars on my birthday, and so on, until one of us dies, leaving the other one old and 50 dollars richer. And I ask, is it worth it?"

 

[sheehs1]

Probably too much. Somewhere in the $4k to $5K range. I bought my husband an expensive suit to wear to our daughters wedding next May. He did an equal amount for me (of course I picked it out). Three adult children and 1 future son-in-law. Donations...etc. It adds up.

 

[militaryman]

Let's see $700 per child = $1400
About $500 for extended family
and about $1000 for wife and myself! = $2900 total (call it $3000)

 

[Lagniappe]

Let's see...

$300 or so in cash gifts for extended family in need (the holidays are a good time to help without weirdness)

$700 for my contribution to the vacation house we are renting

$250 gas and tolls (normally buy an airline ticket for around the same amount)

$50 donation for community decorations

$100 donation to local food bank to provide holiday meals for those in need


So ~$1400. That's about the same as most years, but distributed very differently.

According to this article on mint.com, the average is $690, with $394 going to gifts for family, $71 on gifts for friends, $86 on food, $42 on decorations and the rest to miscellaneous spending. They haven't included travel, which is usually the largest single line item for me.

 

[Lsbcal]

Might buy a mountain bike -- for me.
Gee ... who got that cool bike under the tree.

Now for the lower priority things:

DW gets a light weight pochad box for outdoor landscape painting.

DS gets a check so he can get some sort of smartphone. He can do the research and pay the month-to-month.

 

[lemming]

For the guy that wants to open a Roth for a new grandbaby-you do know the kid has to have earned income to do that-right? Maybe you meant a college fund- 529.

I will spend about $600+750 in gifts. My sister and I usually shop together and pick out our own gifts .Less stress and a fun day out. They still get wrapped.
I do a gift card for my BIL. Boring but effective. I'll probably give $400 to my niece and her two grown kids. More then I really want to spend.

I don't count charity as part of my Christmas costs, although I do like to take a donation tree star or two. I don't like the state of philanthropy in America.

 

[Helen]

Less than $1k with a lot of it going to my niece and nephew via checks.

I am spending a lot of time on gifts this year and having fun doing it. I decided to create photo calendars for my Aunts and Uncles this year. My Mom was a real shutter bug and I brought back all of her photo albums after she passed away two years ago. I have been scanning in photos for the past week and used Walgreen's calendar software to build a calendar. I have my Grandparents, parents, aunts and uncle's birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar with their photo on their day (thanks to my Mom's detailed date book). I then started January with photos of my great grandparents, Febuary with my grandparents, then March with the oldest child (there were six of them plus a neighbor boy who was killed in WWII and was like a brother to them). I ended up with a photo of all the aunts and uncles and their spouses in a group shot for December. For Mother and Father's day I put a picture of my grandma and grandpa. I think my remaining aunts and uncles will really like this. They all are really close and love each other a lot, which is very cool.

My Mom also used to go roller skating and had a circle of friends from the rink. There are two of them that are getting up in years so I made them a calendar with photos of them at the rink and the associated parties they had. I hope it will brighten their days.

Christmas will be fun as I picture them opening their gifts.

-helen

 

[mugwump]

About $1,000 on my new girlfriend.

You can buy a girlfriend

 

[Khan]

"The entire institution of gift giving make no sense. Let's say that I go out, and I spend 50 dollars on you, it's a laborious activity, because I have to imagine what you need, where as you know what you need. Now I could simplify things, just give you the 50 dollars directly, and you could give me 50 dollars on my birthday, and so on, until one of us dies, leaving the other one old and 50 dollars richer. And I ask, is it worth it?"

Exactly!

 

[heirloom]

Well, I just finished today!!

Hubby and I decided not to exchange this year because we just buy when we see something during the yr.

Son and DIL....$300 each
2 grandsons.....$100 each plus we put $250 every holiday and birthday in their college plan. When we start withdrawing at age 70, we'll probably add more. Nothing will beat a good education in the future.

It was cute, today we took our older grandson(3 yr.) to his Dads Christmas party. Hubby works at the same place. When we were driving to the building, Lukas noticed it right away and told me when he gets big like Daddy he is going to work there too. Me, Pap and Daddy are going to work there. But I have to get big and go to school.

 

[brett]

We consider ourselves fortunate. We buy for son and daughter but virtually nothing for each other. We might spend at most $150. on each of them.

We stopped buying for each other several years ago. We make a donation to the food bank instead. Saves on the hassle of shopping for, and then returning gifts. Besides, others people in our community need this far more than we need Xmas gifts.

 

[panacea]

I think it'll end up something like this:
$250 for DW
$250 from DW (Hopefully she doesn't outspend me this year )
$275 for child #1
$275 for child #2
$150 for parents and sibs
$125 for friends, piano teacher, seasonal tips, etc

Looks like about $1,325. That was a good exercise... I hadn't really thought about it until just now.

 

[sweetana3]

We have probably spent around $100. We got our best friend's gift at an auction, the others on sale or at garage sales. Best deal was a new book I got as an online raffle on a blog. It goes to a sewing friend.

I dont think we are getting each other anything. But I did ask hubby for his clam dip, long island tea, and cheesecake as our Christmas dinner items. It is a family tradition.

 

[barnaby]

not as much as in years gone by--which still wasn't alot---but alot less than it used to be. $50 for each son and his wife (total of $300) and $100 for each granchild (total $200). DH and i do not exchange gifts. Mom gets magazine subscription (she loves Readers Digest) and total for some friends---$50. this year, gifts came from the local Habitat for Humanity thrift store. lots of beautiful candle holders which i will purchase candles for....very, very thrifty but helping out a terrific organization.
siblings---we do not exchange. one niece and one nephew, pajamas shipped free by sears (!) for a total of $40. grand total---about $600. yikes! i didn't realize it was even THAT high!!!!!

 

[Golden Mean]

Wife and I are a bit... different (luckily we found each other). We don't "do" Christmas, so $0.
We don't do Thanksgiving, Easter or birthdays either, really. We used to go to the casinos for July 4 (fireworks), and Christmas/Thanksgiving (buffet) but even that tradition has lapsed.


GM

 

[freebird5825]

...so I am doing homemade bread and cookies as presents for his family and my local friends. I have all the ingredients on hand except extra butter.
He will probably spend more on his relatives because it is expected of him.

I predict that very soon...one of his relatives will be contacting him about presents for the 2 teenagers who have their wish lists all ready but never contact us.
My proper place here is firmly on the sidelines, observing but not commenting.