Holiday spending is troublesome for me because I could easily compile a list of 100 people I'd like to get a gift for and let say I only spent $10 per person, that is still $1,000, not including any shipping costs, wrapping paper, etc.

How do you decide who to get a gift for?

never, ballpark, family and close friends. I already know what I am getting my husband. My mom and sister always tell me what they want so the only real unknown I have to think about is what to get my father. The rest will either get gift cards or if they specifically say I would like "xyz".

We don't buy each other gifts, we usually decide on something that will benefit us both, this year it is a new surround system. We buy gifts for my young son and my parents...the older children (18yrs+...2 of his and 2 of mine) get cash, maybe $100 or so....and that is it really. If my brother and wife are around on christmas day we buy gifts for them but otherwise not.

Never- no holiday is worth going into debt for.

Ballpark- The pets will get some treat food, I'll buy about 100 dollars worth of stuff for charity, and I have a rough idea what to spend for close family, but if I find through research a more expensive present is much better quality, I'll get it.

Close family (which is only my husband), charity (see above) and pets (2 cats, 2 gerbils, 2 tanks of fish). In my family it was always agreed that anyone over the age of 1/ not a student doesn't get presents, as things so easily get out of hand otherwise. My granny is the only one who broke the rule, she always knitted socks for the men and gave chocolates to the ladies We might be doing Kirskringle in my bookclub, but that would only be 20 dollars or some such.

Must be a cultural thing - parents and siblings are what I consider part of my immediate family.

Anyway, as for the answers:
Never
I have a ballpark amount, but it will depend on the gifts.
Immediate Family (spouse only) and Extended Family (Parents, siblings only)

My ballpark is higher this year. I spent a good part of 2007 being unhappy with my work situation but financially it's been my best year yet. So I plan to splurge a little this time.

Being a student is like being a kid again: I don't have any of my own money. So "Rey and I" will probably buy gifts for our siblings and parents. I consider my family of origin to be immediate family, more immediate than a spouse.

That's interesting. I have 4 brothers and I can't remember the last time I bought them a gift.

Never
Ballpark
Immediate Family, Extended Family, Friends, Charity and Pets



I do set an amount and surprisingly i keep quite close to that amount.

It's just my husband and myself here, we post gifts to his parents and sister and neice.

I have 3 close friends i exchange gifts with, always have, so that wont change.

Charity of my choice gets a check.

Pets get gifts too!

I usually try and get something for all the nieces and nephews and my brothers and sister and hubby's brothers and sister and my mom and dad and the in-laws....

I try and only spend about $10 a person... but that still addds about to over 200 dollars

Never. I have a set limit on what i spend. I'm only buying for my kids, my hubby, my parents and my inlaws.

I don't buy for my nieces n nephews anymore, since my sister never bothers to buy for my kids!!

Won't go into debt for Christmas shopping. I probably did use some credit cards for shopping a few years ago while I was a student but won't again.

Ballpark amount

Will buy for immediate fam, extended fam, and some friends. Though some of our friends had kids last year and with things getting more expensive many of us have decided to stop buying each other gifts and just have dinner together. How grown up. I buy for their kids though.

I'm sorry but this whole buying everyone-and-their-dog-a-present thing is pure crap.
Let Xmas be for kids. I'll buy our two little nephews something and our cats need a new tree.
That's it. If hubby wants something, he buys it or he lets me know and I'll wrap it but it's not usually a big surprise.

I would NEVER buy gifts on credit.

Where did the year go??? I don't even want to think about this already. My favorite things in the whole world this time of year are gift cards. It really helps when you have a general idea what people like, but don't want to try and narrow it down. That is what I am going to do for the most part. For my fiancee...that is a different story. I wish she would drop me a few hints.

The year has flown huh?

I charged Claudeth's laptop but everything else will be cash

My husband and I will buy presents for our families and then my friends and I will do Secret Santa like we do every year so that we each buy only one gift.

I think we'll send off those personalized (with a photo) Christmas cards to our friends.

Me and Suj don't really buy much for each other for Christmas. It's like, we share the same budget so it's not easy to go out and buy something expensive without the other knowing, lol. He would rather I buy him nothing, b/c it's more money being spent. Neither of us buy big electronic gifts or expensive things(for anyone). But I usually get him some small things and he gets me some things, but we focus more on getting things for our family.

We have a budget for gifts. We put money into that budget every month and it covers all b'days and other gift-related occasions. This year, we're only buying for the kids - our own and immediate family. Our church/school has a Xmas thing to buy gifts for deprived kids, so we'll do that again. We're not planning on buying anything big for each other - instead we'll pool that cash and get a camcorder, hopefully. The cat will also get something, tho personally I wouldn't bother.

we budget for gifts and stay within the limit.....

That's an excellent idea.

We have a budget for everything. We've recently signed up on this budgeting website. Pretty good so far.

I'll check it out. My mom gave me the book, Your Money or Your Life, years ago and I read it once. I find it really hard to be disciplined with discretionary spending.

I never go into debt for anything especially gifts. I figure if I am going to go in debt for something it better be for my enjoyment and not someone elses!

I consider my parents and his parents immediate family and I would put them ahead of ourselves as far as gift giving. I dont really see the need to exchange gifts with my husband, but I think its very important to give gifts to our parents as well as the children in the family.

I usually have a ball park amount in mind however I rarely stick to it. If I find someone I really love and I think the person I am buying it for will love it too, I will splurge. However I do have one rule. I won't spend more on one person vs. the other. If I spend $100 on my mom, I will do th same for his mom. This is very important with kids.

I'm only buying gifts for hubby, mom and sis. The rest, dad, brother, friends, I'll pass.

I had issues with this poll today. My answer to #1 is NO this year. Can't honestly answer any of the rest of them in #1 this year. Ballpark and everyone and their brother are my answers to the next 2.

I have a budgeted amount for my husband and my children. Everyone else depends on my mood and what I see that I know they would like. I made sets of 10 or 20 hand made stamped personalized note cards with matching stamped envelopes for most on my list this year. 20 for the likes of bosses, family members, and close friends. 10 for those on the peripheral. I made roughly 25 sets of these. I also made handmade greeting card sets for a few people. I bought a few gift cards here and there. And, lastly, I bargain shopped.

We are going to send some money back to Jamaica this year. Last year, I bargain shopped, shipped to Canada, and had 2 of my friends take stuff back for us on their vacations. It was a nightmare to coordinate all of that.

Of note, I usually do my Christmas shopping all year round so I am not in such a rush and forced to sometimes spend too much at the end.

I buy for my mum because she misses me. This year we've agreed not to buy for each other. We don't spend Christmas at home anyway so the day is pretty much gone for us. We don't buy for anyone else as everyone already has enough crap, so we don't try and pollute their homes any more than need be.

Good to see you here and there, Lou Lou. Hope all is well with you and your husband.

Yeah, but my brother is only 16.

i always buy all my brothers and sister gifts no mater how old they are.....

I'd trade all 4 brothers for one sister like you.

We've decided to do a small Christmas this year since we (and my parents, and the closest thing I have to a brother) are going to England for Christmas. We'll get small things for each other and then for my in-laws, they've decided that if someone wants to get them something, they'd rather we give the money to charity. I have a few friends to get gifts for and a gift exchange with the girls from my book club, but all-in-all, I hope to spend no more than $300 (CASH), and save the rest for spending money for the trip.

I agree. I buy gifts for my brothers and sister (they're all still little), and my young nieces/nephews/cousins. In my immediate family, it seems that we tend to only buy gifts for anyone younger than us.

ooooooo.....enjoy your christmas Fraces....it's getting bloody cold here already

I like to buy gifts for people.... but I don't buy expensive things.. I usually try and buy at least one thing for everybody ( limit about 10 to 15 dollars a person)

and i usually limit gift buying to my family (brothers, sister, mom & dad) and hubby's family (brothers, sister and nieces and nephews)....

Never
Ballpark
Let's just say I checked off most of the list

I would say that 75% of the gifts for everyone but my husband are handmade -- and trust me, I am really good at finding craft supplies on sale!

Handmade gifts are priceless! For me, it's a time issue. Somebody mentioned making old fashioned toys out of wood for kids as an alternative to all the imported toys that have lead.

I'd never go into debt for holidays or gifts. Money is tight this year, so I'm being as creative as I can and making gifts or buying unusual things (it helps when you live abroad). My SO has a large family and they do Secret Santa each year - it's arranged at Thanksgiving who's name you get, then there's a $20/person limit. I have a really small family so there aren't very many people to buy for anyway.

I just found out that the outlets in my area will be open at midnight after Thanksgiving... wOOt! There goes my budget!

Left to my own devices I wouldn't buy any or expect any. Unfortunately, I was born to a woman who thinks money = love. She will dig way into debt to buy for Christmas. I hate it, because it creates the expectation that I should buy to match. Sigh.

Never.
I have a set amount.
I make a lot of gifts for close family and friends (hats, scarves, other craft items). My friends and I have craft parties throughout the year where we make many of our gifts. I run a charity program and I give a certain amount but usually in the form of non-perishable food for the food drives or toys. We usually adopt a family from our church. We don't have much, but we have much more than many. However, this is sort of budgeted year round (minus the adopt a family) so it doesn't put me over my budget.

This year I also changed the "gifts" for the kids because we opted for 2 family outings at the theater as opposed to gifts.

P and I got our NOA2, so that is our Christmas gift!!

even if i do use a credit card, it's not that big of a deal because i use my tax return to pay my credit cards off

Normally my mom's family which is huge (there's 26 of us now!) plays the greedy santa game. This year is the first time we've decided to draw names and each person gets one name and buys that person a present. The limit is $10-15. Since there is a few babies this year we decided we'd each buy the little ones a present but not more than $10. I think it's so fun to watch kids get so excited and open their presents. My family is crazy at Christmas there is just paper flying all over the place, people throwing presents to each other and yelling thank you across the room. We have tons of fun! It's hard to buy for some people though like my grandparents because what do you get a person that wants for nothing.