Christmas Presents - Who do you buy for?

K

kristi

Cathlete
With all of the Christmas threads I'm reading, I'm wondering who you buy presents or give money to for the holiday season? I try to keep my list minimal but with that I still buy for 19 people and that is not counting DH because we either buy one big together gift or nothing at all since we buy for ourselves throughout the year. Here is my list:

DS, DD, MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL, 4 nephews (2 of which we draw names for on my side of the family), my mother & grandmother, 2 cousins who are my age and have always bought me something ever since I was a little girl, my brother & 1 niece, and 3 gifts for work.

I'm amazed that I buy for 19 people! Who can top that? I'm sure there are lots of you out there that can.
 
Let's see:

SO
DD
Sister
BIL
SIL
SIL's boyfriend
Niece
SO's sister
SO's BIL
3 nephews
DD's teacher
DD's before and after-school care provider
DD's music teacher
Ex-husband;)

Oy.
 
My DH and I do not buy for each other because, like you, we buy for ourselves throughout the year. We have stopped exchanging gifts with siblings on both sides to everyones delight!

We buy for a niece and 6 nephews, my MIL and FIL (my parents are deceased), and that's it for family.

We buy for some of my DH's colleagues (usually a bottle of wine), his secretary, his 6 nurses, and his research assistant. He also gives gifts to the hospital operators, security, janitorial staff, and lab techs.

We always take a tray of goodies to our veterinarian's office and to some of the gals that work at our local grocery store and the fish mongers.

None of the above gifts are extravagant--just a little something so they know they are appreciated.

We give to several charities and usually adopt a family.

ETA I forgot, I do have 1 brother I buy for. He's handicapped and has a great many needs.

Michele
 
My list:

Mother, Father, Sister, BIL, Uncle, roommate, and for 7 of my closest friends. I also put together a gift basket (always contnains a bottle of wine) for a neighbor of mine who watches my kitties when I'm out of town. Lastly, I buy gifts for 5 people at work.

So, I obviously didn't beat your number of people who you buy gifts for (just short by 1). However, I already celebrated Christmas with my immediate family the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! Figured might as well do this since I won't see them on Christmas.
 
My list:

DD
DS
DS
SH
DM
DSD
DB
DS
DS
DGs
3 DNieces or Nephews at DH mom's(whoever kids drew for secret Santa)
2 ILs (whoever we drew for secret Santa)

That does not include my other 3 siblings and Dad's side of the family. Wow. I didn't realize how many we had to buy for. And we never have to use credit cards and we fit it into our tight budget... I am wondering how that is possible! :p

Missy
 
I'm lucky. My list is fairly small and so I splurge.

2 sons
1 neice
1 nephew
1 sister
1 brother-in-law
1 grandmother
1 uncle
1 mother

That is it. My father died last year, so I no longer have the pleasure of buying him anything. And believe me when I say he was as much fun as the kids when it came to opening gifts. :)
 
Missy I think it is great that you don't have to use credit cards to buy for Christmas. I am the same way. I budget for everything and that includes money for Christmas presents. I don't ever want to go in debt for Christmas. If that ever happens then I am spending way too much.

I'm glad to see I'm not alone with the long list of people to buy for. It is really hard, if not impossible, to shorten it anymore than I already have. Does anyone else feel pressure from family members to increase your list? My brother feels that I should buy for all of my nieces, nephews, siblings, & their spouses. That is 11 more people. I'm glad we finally decided to buy for kids only and we draw names instead of buying for all.
 
DH
SD12
SD10
SS7
Mom
Dad
Brother
Grandmother
3 friends
1 cousin (small gift)
4 coworkers (nothing big)


DH buys for his parents. Until this year, we also had to buy for his 11 nieces and nephews. This year it's finally Pollyanna, so we only have to buy 3 gifts.


And I usually buy about $100 worth of toys for Toys for Tots. That's always fun -- just throwing things in the cart :)
 
oh this is good! i havent really made my master list yet....


my fiance
brother
sister
mom
dad
mil
dil
sil
bil
aunt
uncle
3 cousins
grandpa
grandma


did i mention i come from an italian family :)

and thank goodness my fiance's family only does a secret santa! he has 13 neices/nephews. whew, its crazy this time of year:)
 
My family is very understanding. DH and I got married when I was only 17 so we started out with nothing, I do mean nothing, and have worked very hard to get where we are right now. We can finally live without worrying about where money for our heat is going to come from. My family doesn't really care about gifts much anyways. This time of year is about being with the ones you love. It makes absolutely no sense to me to go and suffer financially the rest of the year because you want to buy presents. It completely takes the meaning out of Christmas to me. I am happy to see that someone else budgets, too! :)

We did have trouble with DHs family when we were first married. DH finally convinced his mom to have everyone draw names, kids included, so that we can have a little breathing room. Only problem now is that they keep raising the limit. DH said that they can raise it all they want to, he is not spending what he doesn't have. He does make me smile! :)

Missy
 
I think I win! or loose depending on how you look at it! I buy for 31 people for Christmas.

1 Hubby
3 kids
2 cousins
2 aunts
4 parents
6 co-workers
1 SIL or BIL (we draw)
12 nieces and nephews

Whew! I'm exhausted!
 
uhh let me think.

my son, bro, sis in law, 2 nephews, MIL, SIL, 3 BILs, FIL, grandma in law, best friend.

my mom doesn't want to exchange b/c bought enough for the kiddos throughout the year. father, well...ugh. Long story. My family is Jewish so we don't really buy for mine (they don't really do Hannukah anymore), except for my bro and his family who celebrate both.


"you miss 100% of the shots you never take"


Debbie
 
I used to buy for about a thousand people, but this year when people started calling me and asking what my kids are into and what should they buy them for Christmas, I decided that if they don't know then we shouldn't be buying presents for each other's kids!! I politely suggested that we get the kids together for a fun evening, and NO GIFTS!!

Plus my daughter's school is not doing any gift exchanges, but instead offering a certificate to each child that brings in money for 1)a local hospital or 2)Toys for Tots or 3) Big Brothers/Big Sisters. We are donating some of the $$ we are saving to these charities. They give the certificate to the person that they had in mind, to show that they wanted to honor that person with a donation.

Other than that I buy for the usual, kids, parents, in-laws and all the kids' teachers (the largest number on my list!!!!!).

Interesting thread!!

Jenn
 
DH and I buy for eachother, DS now ofcourse, the six nieces/nephews on my side, the 2 niece/nephew on his side, my mom and her b/f, DH's mom/dad, 2 sisters and BIL all for Christmas Day.

We do not buy MY sister and BIL gifts for Christmas Day because of all of the children they have. They told us to stop buying for them and just buy for the kids which is fine w/us!

For Christmas Eve we buy small gifts ($10 limit per gift) for 22 members of DH's family (the above mentioned on his side plus aunts/uncles/cousins) plus another small exchange goes between DH and myself and then we will give a small gift to DS as well so that's 25 gifts total that we have to bring with us on Christmas Eve and then we have to bring home all of the gifts that we get in return!!!:eek:

YIKES! Pretty scarey ey? LOL

We save $1000.00 in a "Christmas Club" to pay for the gifts. This used to cover all but mine and DH's Christmas Day gifts to eachother. This year since we are on a tighter budget it will cover EVERYTHING. I am almost done shopping and we still have money left so it looks like we did good at sticking to it!:)
 
I think I have the smallest christmas list in history. I buy for my husband, 2 sons, and MIL, plus one 10$ gift for a christmas game. We used to draw for the adult and kid populations on my in-laws side, but we dropped the adult draw first, then the kids. That's fine by me. I'm trying to convince my husband we don't need to exchange gifts and we should just buy for the kids. It seems like I dread the holiday shopping more each year, and each year I have less of it to do.
 
Let's see

DH
DD
MIL
FIL
SIL
Future SIL
BIL (x2)
2 DN
Mom

That's it (thank goodness!)...Thoughwe tend to have a drop in day at our house for neighbors and friends, and everyone leaves with something (holiday candle in a holiday bag)...They're pretty inexpensive (under $4 total, each)...Maybe 20 of those??

MJ
 
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