how many people do you buy gifts for at christmas?

decides2dream

just curious...


i realize so many people have to buy (or choose to buy) for a shit-ton of peeps, and that can add to both the joy and the stress of the holidays. i realize, i find the holidays less and less stressful....and yes, i only buy for 3-4 people, tops. sure, on occasion i pick up something special for a friend, "just because"....but more ofthen than not, just stick to those closest to me: hubby, my mom, my sis and her hubby. that's it. my older sis and her BF/kids, don't exchange anymore. at the most, i used to buy for parents, siblings, siblings BFs/husbands and kids. one year also bought for hubby's family - that was probably the "biggest" year ever, but they don't exchange. i wonder if this is why i just LOVE the holidays so damn much? no stress, no worries, don't spend a ton of cash...it's all just fun. hubby and i aren't exchanging any gifts at all this year, not even stocking stuffers. figure, we've got enough this year. so yea, 3 gifts. i'll buy em all next monday. i stopped doing the massive christmas card thing too. i send out maybe, 10-15 cards....at most. i still go crazy decorating the house indoors...tho no more outdoor lights, just some decorations....just pared it all back to what matters most to us. i love giving gifts, but the holidays is just such a bonanza, i prefer gifts at other points of the year. mellow works for us.

interested in how you all go about celebrating, gifting, etc, for the holiday season.

MayDay10

I hate the gift-giving ritual/requirement.

I get:
my dad
step mom
mom
step dad
sister 1
chinese sister
sister's boyfriend
roommate
roommate's girlfriend
best friend
grandma

the wolf

lets see, this is a quick guess.

for my family we ( the GF and I ) buy for 8

for the GF's family we buy for 12 or so.

then we have the friends that we buy for which would be maybe another 5 to 8

oh, we buy for the dog too

Random_Wookie

i am trying to get out of the whole buying of christmas gifts this season. As I see this holiday as a chance to spend some time with family and friends.

MayDay10

the wolf wrote:

oh, we buy for the dog too

oh yeah. I forgot him too,

-Buru-

I buy gifts for maybe 4-5 people.
I might bake something and give that as presents to other people sometimes too.

The 24th at night we have a family dinner, we are around 6-8 people usually. And after that we get together with friends, for a few drinks - no more food ugh

We have a BIG Christmas lunch on the 25th, usually around 20 people. So that's the big get together, it takes place at my grandparents house (on my mom's side) - and they go all out, and it is always great fun.

As for decorations, I only do the christmas tree, and may put up a few Christmas things here and there, but my flat is smallish so there is not much room to add stuff. :P

decides2dream

Random_Wookie wrote:

i am trying to get out of the whole buying of christmas gifts this season. As I see this holiday as a chance to spend some time with family and friends.

this is my thinking.
and believe me, i love giving/getting really thoughtful and special gifts. our celebrations have grown smaller, more mellow, more adult....and we really like it like that. i DO like giving the few gifts that we do, b/c i LOVE wrapping presents...but sure, 3 gifts is more than ample for that fun. and then just good company, good food, good drink.......tis all good.




wolf - that's a whole lotta gifts! wowza!
we don't even buy gifts for the dogs anymore. :P i mean, they are spoiled fucking rotten EVERY day, and sure, we give em extra treats on christmas, but honestly...i just no longer feel the need to buy them some overpriced stocking filled with dogtreats. regular treats suffice. now, we normally stuff their old marrow bones with peanut butter or pumkin filling, and they are MORE than happy. apparently, chloe and igby don't give a shit about a santa shaped dogchew.

polaris_x

i will probably buy only a few things ... for my girlfriend and her mom ...

i buy my family one thing for the year to include all relevant days ... so, this year i converted their hot water tank into an on-demand system ... this thing could happen at any point during the year ... and my friends who have kids i've given them a certificate that when they turn 16 they can cash in ... basically, i've put in money every year or so into an account that's accruing a mild interest ... i'm trying to avoid consumerism in general and christmas is the hardest time to do that ...

norm

for about the last 8 or 9 years, our family has done a white elephant gift exchange...but the gift is new and usually not too expensive...since there are roughly 15-20 people to buy gifts for, this is much easier on our wallet and sanity...and the gift exchange party is fun!

dimitrispearljam

about 15-20..but this year more..+ i become a godfather so more for the little new pj fan

decides2dream

norm wrote:

for about the last 8 or 9 years, our family has done a white elephant gift exchange...but the gift is new and usually not too expensive...since there are roughly 15-20 people to buy gifts for, this is much easier on our wallet and sanity...and the gift exchange party is fun!

i think that is an AWESOME way to go about it when you have a lot to buy for!
i know my extended family is huge, and both sets of cousins (from my mom's 2 sisters) do something similar. keeps it sane, affordable anfd most importantly....FUN!

Who Princess

norm wrote:

for about the last 8 or 9 years, our family has done a white elephant gift exchange...but the gift is new and usually not too expensive...since there are roughly 15-20 people to buy gifts for, this is much easier on our wallet and sanity...and the gift exchange party is fun!

I suggested adopting something like this years ago and my husband got all "Whatsa matter, my family isn't good enough to buy gifts for" so I just dropped it. :roll:
I have a feeling it might have gone over pretty well though.

Lauri

not many! just my parents, sibs, and grandmother. Though I usually get each of them more than one item (not this year though!) If I see something that I think one of my oldest friends will like, I'll get it for her, but there's no obligation. That's about it. My group of friends from college used to do the draw one person thing, but we even stopped doing that. I always feel like I should be more stressed about shopping. My family has never really exchanged gifts with the broader cousins/aunts/uncles thing. I'm always surprised when I hear about people frantically shopping for some distant aunt or something.

Oh I forgot, I also do a thing where I sponsor a low-income kid from my hometown and buy some of the items they want/need. It is a cool program. You wrap it up and the school gives it to their parents anonymously so it's the kid actually receives it from their parents or santa or whatever.

Claireack

I buy;

Hubby
Son + it's his birthday christmas day, so two lots
Mum
Step-dad
Nephew (my brothers son, once you have a kid, the kid gets the pressie)
Sister
Brother-in-law
Half brother (who I never actually see)
Nephew on hubbys side
Niece on hubbys side + her partner
6 friends
2 of 1 friends kids
Hubby's brothers step-son
Secret santa at work
Secret santa on here
2 friends also have birthdays in December

I'm usually seriously overdrawn at the bank for Jan & Feb.

tinkerbell

In the last 5 years its started to get pretty out of control in both of our families due to us all procreating!! We both have 3 siblings and no longer buy for the ones who have kids, but do for those that are offspring deficient.

Mum & Stepdad
Dad & Stepmum
In-laws
My 3 brothers
Sis in law
Grandparents
5 nephews
2 nieces
Best friend (& her 2 boys)
And most importantly my 2 monkey kids

Shit thats quite a lot!! and only 2 pay days till xmas ahhhhhhhh

(Edit) Forgot 10C Secret Santa!

josevolution

My parents
My wife
My two kids
God daughter ...

evryone else gets a hand shake ...

Ledbetterman10

-Mom
-Dad
-Sister
-My sister's godmother (my sorta "second mom")
-Grandma
-Girlfriend if I have one...which I don't so I guess I'll save on that this year.
-A wrestling DVD for my cousin who has Downs Syndrome. Got him Macho Man Randy Savage this year.
-Burn a Pearl Jam or other classic rock CD for my aunt.

JOEJOEJOE

I buy my Girlfriend a few gifts, as well as a few clients.

People at my office usually give small token gifts ($5-ish)...instead of doing that this year, I will make a donation in their names to Heifer Intl.

My family doesn't do Christmas, so that makes it very easy!

My gf gets the gifts for her family, and they are considered to be from both of us!

SPEEDY MCCREADY

I buy ........
4 nieces
Mom
Dad
Kathy

She buys.......
2 nephews
Mom
Dad
and hopefully me!!!!! hehehehehe

Plus her family does some grab bag game......Where you open a gift and you could either keep it....or exchange with someone else......I am sure most of you know what I am talking about.....

So we both have to drop $20 each on that too.........

MrMerkinball

Here I go:

We have 3 young daughters....have to make sure all have the same amount of gifts to open. Stocking gifts and bigger gifts.

My Mom and Dad

My wife's Mom and Dad

My Niece and Nephew

I also buy a Nice Bottle of Wine for the 12 Department Heads who Report to me.

My Wife and I stopped doing presents for each other when we had kids. Christmas to us is all about making the kids happy. We started a tradition of Going out for a nice Steak Dinner on the 23rd..before the madness begins......

decides2dream

MrMerkinball wrote:

Here I go:

We have 3 young daughters....have to make sure all have the same amount of gifts to open. Stocking gifts and bigger gifts.
My Mom and Dad

My wife's Mom and Dad

My Niece and Nephew

I also buy a Nice Bottle of Wine for the 12 Department Heads who Report to me.

My Wife and I stopped doing presents for each other when we had kids. Christmas to us is all about making the kids happy. We started a tradition of Going out for a nice Steak Dinner on the 23rd..before the madness begins......

i remember those days...
and no, not that i have kids, but i remember my mom saying she ALWAYS did this, mostly b/c of my middle sister. and even with us all getting the exact same # of gifts, she always thought mine or my older sister's were "better"..... :roll: hahaha.

since i don't have kids, hubby and i usually do exchange, tho not every year....such as this year.

kinda happy to read that most don't have a crazy amount of people to shop for, way too much stress! i mean, i have 2 sisters, hubby has a sister and brother, add in significant others, any possible children....and it could all get outta hand fast. good to see most stay focused on kids and/or just the 'celebrating' part. really is the BEST part!

we go out for a nice meal christmas eve. we go out often, so it's not too different...but we still like it.

the wolf

decides2dream wrote:

wolf - that's a whole lotta gifts! wowza!
we don't even buy gifts for the dogs anymore. :P i mean, they are spoiled fucking rotten EVERY day, and sure, we give em extra treats on christmas, but honestly...i just no longer feel the need to buy them some overpriced stocking filled with dogtreats. regular treats suffice. now, we normally stuff their old marrow bones with peanut butter or pumkin filling, and they are MORE than happy. apparently, chloe and igby don't give a shit about a santa shaped dogchew.

yeah, all in all we spend about 2 thousand at Christmas. 500 on each family, and 500 each ( give or take ) for each other.
last year, rocked ! I had so many great ideas for my GF and got so many great deals that i still had 100 bucks left a few days before christmas , so i just went out and bought her all kinds of really cool small things. that was so much fun for me.

the dogs, we spend about 100 bucks a dog. we wrap the treats up and let them rip them open !! but then we put the treats in their treat bin, and they last long into the year.

this will be our first Christmas with just the one dog. Gonna miss the big bozo on christmas morning because he would get so excited when we would throw all their "presents" down on the floor and just let them tear into them.

I think we maybe getting a new pup for christmas this year.

decides2dream

the wolf wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

wolf - that's a whole lotta gifts! wowza!
we don't even buy gifts for the dogs anymore. :P i mean, they are spoiled fucking rotten EVERY day, and sure, we give em extra treats on christmas, but honestly...i just no longer feel the need to buy them some overpriced stocking filled with dogtreats. regular treats suffice. now, we normally stuff their old marrow bones with peanut butter or pumkin filling, and they are MORE than happy. apparently, chloe and igby don't give a shit about a santa shaped dogchew.

yeah, all in all we spend about 2 thousand at Christmas. 500 on each family, and 500 each ( give or take ) for each other.
last year, rocked ! I had so many great ideas for my GF and got so many great deals that i still had 100 bucks left a few days before christmas , so i just went out and bought her all kinds of really cool small things. that was so much fun for me.

the dogs, we spend about 100 bucks a dog. we wrap the treats up and let them rip them open !! but then we put the treats in their treat bin, and they last long into the year.

this will be our first Christmas with just the one dog. Gonna miss the big bozo on christmas morning because he would get so excited when we would throw all their "presents" down on the floor and just let them tear into them.

I think we maybe getting a new pup for christmas this year.

yikes.
we used to spend that kinda cash as well when we bought for everyone.
we just bought a new imac for ourselves, and while in the store we said 'merry christmas to us!'
we don't normally spend anywhere near that amount on gifts anymore. i find that especially when you are buying only for adults, there really is not much point spedning too much. we pend, at most $100 per person, so roughly, $300. of course, for each other....depending what we want to do/give, it all varies wildly. this year, we'll just give sexual favors to each other i think. hahahaha. best. christmas. ever.

chime

20-25 people but I don't find it stressful :oops: ... usually a couple of 3-4 hour shopping trips done on weekdays in November.

This year I am all done and the gifts wrapped. Went to the post office and sent the overseas gifts last Saturday.

I always aim to get it done in November to avoid the chaos and then enjoy the run up to x-mas and look forward to watching people open their gifts.

decides2dream

chime wrote:

20-25 people but I don't find it stressful :oops: ... usually a couple of 3-4 hour shopping trips done on weekdays in November.

This year I am all done and the gifts wrapped. Went to the post office and sent the overseas gifts last Saturday.

I always aim to get it done in November to avoid the chaos and then enjoy the run up to x-mas and look forward to watching people open their gifts.

you sound like me...10 years ago.
i used to have all my shopping done, wrapped, cards written out and ready to be sent, all before thanskgiving. that was my cutoff date. nowadays, b/c there's so little to do, we now take the first week of december off together, have some fun, and do all our christmas stuff.

i'm starting to get into the whole spirit of the holidays - one more day - woooohooo!

libragirl

I buy gifts for too many people. It totally stresses me out. I buy for my immediate family..mom. dad, sis, bro-in-law. I don't mind that at all. But it's the buying gifts for friends/coworkers that stresses me out.

Heatherj43

When I was still raising my kids, I had to be santa for them, plus I bought for 32 other people! I quit it all. It was hard cuz people was buying for me. Not all of them and mostly little cheap things, but I held my ground and they stopped finally.
I would buy these 32 people the cheapest, but nicest thing I could. Even if I found good deals, it was costly. I ended up hating Christmas.
If it were up to me, I wouldn't have anything to do with it, but my bf loves the decorations. Its funny. Its almost like he never had them as a kid. He acts like a kid.
So, I do decorate for him, but no gifts, even to each other.

peacegirl

this year the family decided to draw names instead of buying gifts for everyone so I only have five people to shop for this year

1. family member
2. best friend
3/4. co-workers..I buy for the 2 people I work with in my dept.
5. co-worker in name drawing

the office usually gets gifts for the partners but I only have to worry about putting in my share of the money, someone else does the shopping

and I have the get a b-day gift for my sister whose b-day is right after christmas

milarso

Parents
Sister
Girlfriend
--Or- if while I'm shopping I see something that I think is really cool that reminds me of a friend or relative, I'll pick it up. Those seem to always be the coolest gifts anyway.

tinkerbell

milarso wrote:

Parents
Sister
Girlfriend
--Or- if while I'm shopping I see something that I think is really cool that reminds me of a friend or relative, I'll pick it up. Those seem to always be the coolest gifts anyway.

Just wait til next year and you'll have a baby to spoil too!!!

haffajappa

I'm broke this year so my christmas list is short.
I tried to stretch it last year but it just felt like some people didn't appreciate it or me.

So it makes it easier this year,
best friend, boy friend, mom and dad, brother, dog,
and of course maybe some little prezzies for some other friends.