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Like $5
I used to do about $20 nothing crazy,but now I give gifts to my family and not even everyone in my family only close family that I am spending the holidays with. (Cousins, family I dont see too often dont get anything). Friends, coworkers etc. Dont get anything unless it's a secret Santa type of deal.
I make my own. It's usually under $5-$10. I make my own scrubs and facial masks. I have a few beauty subs so I add beauty items I never used and redeem points for free stuff too. With Cold/Flu season coming I sometimes give honey that has essential oils to help soothe throats and fight the cold.
I am the gift.
I see Christmas for kids. The one I buy apart from my mother in law, my husband, my kids, sister, brother and my best friend kids since she always buy for my kids apart from that nobody else. I don’t have friends it because I don’t want to but because is hard to make friends and apart from that there’s so many people who show you they real but they are not.
For people outside of family we make gifts or make goodie/treat bags. It’s a family tradition to only buy gifts for family and make goodies for everyone else. We usually spend a lot the days up to holiday cooking and baking then handing them out to everyone. Including those on the street or the less fortunate.
Usually 5 to 10 dollars, but sometimes as high as 15 depending on who it is and what the gift is I.E. if I know the person will absolutely love it
For non family, I do tins of baked goods :)
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So synopsis of the thread and basically my go to is: bake for people (you'll probably be baking anyway), secret santa $20 limit if you can, and budget for your family if that means you don't get something for someone this year then oh well... holidays aren't supposed to be about the $ anyway right?
Not very much, if any at all. I would love to be able to but money is tight and we have a massive "close family" circle so even if we spend $5-$10 per person it would come out to a lot. We've got my mom and my step dad, my 2 brothers and 5 sisters and their combined 6 kids, his sister and her girlfriend, his mom and her boyfriend, his dad and her girlfriend and his brother and his girlfriend. These are all long term relationships too, all the significant others have been around for minimum 5-6 years and before I was in the picture so I feel obligated. This is just our local family that we see every Christmas. That's just too much to spend. This year though we're giving them all pictures of our newborn and some are getting a small photo album and last year we did a bunch of "upgrade to grandparent" type gifts.
We have a budget for everyone. For instance Christmas is also my sister and hubbys sisters birthday do we do $50 each for them. My nieces and nephews get $30 each (or we do Black Friday shopping and get them really expensive gifts for under that amount) my kids each get $250 now and it’s mostly things that they need. Close friends we usually do a bottle of wine or liquor for.
I bake and make goody bags for close friends. Some years I’ve included a handmade ornament. It’s something my parents used to do when I was a kid and still do on a smaller scale.
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This is a really good idea. I just started being a stay at home mom and I love to bake so making goodie bags for family and giving them pictures of our newborn sounds like a super wholesome present.
I would say look at your own personal budget. Some don't do people out of the family. Others spend lavishly. See what you have room for, and budget it appropriately. :) I set my limits according to how much I have to work with, divided by how many I'm buying for, giving the acquaintes less importance than others. For example, if a person I highly value's gift costs over $20, I usually make room by buying the more acquainte-y friends something a little cheaper. But I never spend out of my means. Set a cash budget if that helps you! :) And don't ever feel like you HAVE to spend. A cheaper way of serving everyone is inviting people over for a simple holiday meal, where you can play games or just hang and talk and relax together. :) You're fine. 👍
We usually have a $20 limit.. this year I decided to go on a vacation instead. So no one is getting anything! Lol
Honestly, I only buy for kids outside the family and I do treat bags or maybe a little outfit that costs less than $15/$20. I do have a couple friends that I exchange gifts with and it is always $25 it less. Just to many people in my life for me to spend more.
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I only buy the children gifts but I’ve started buying them 10 dollar gift cards .
Only non-family member we are buying for is daycare staff. Each of the ladies who interact with my child daily will get a nice bag of coffee, her main caregiver will also get a $50 gift card. Otherwise we do only nieces & nephews ($20ish) grandparents ($100ish), and the one brother who doesn’t have kids yet ($50ish).
$0
The only people besides my kids and stepdaughter I buy for are my nieces and nephews. I have a lot so I only spend about 15-20 bucks on each, if I can manage that.
Depends how much I like them 🤣
Chocolates will do lol 😂
Lol none
Hmmm it really depends how close you are with them . But sometimes throughout the year if i find something nice and think of that person ill get it 😊 .
I do this as well and it’s always appreciated. There’s something special about getting homemade baked goods at the holidays :)