What do you gift your adult family?

What are all the adults in your family doing for gifts for each other? Everyone buys gifts for everyone, just buying for the kids in the fam, drawing names, etc? I’m kinda stuck in the middle between one sibling who wants adults to not buy for each other, and one who wants everyone to buy for everyone.

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We only buy for the kids, and let the kids make a craft to give the adults I let my daughter make a painting or somthing for my mom her dad’s and my sister!

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Gift cards to their favorite shops. Perfume/Cologne etc. Depends on the occasion

We do secret Santa for the adults and I buy a gift for my parents regardless. Everyone focuses on the kids.

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Set your limit and let others know. That’s it.

I only buy for gift cards for my 6 grandkids
My adult kids get a $50 gift card to share between themselves and their spouses
As for other families
They get the gift of my eternal love

Kids get presents, adults get my presence and a butt load of deviled eggs :rofl:

Drawing names is so much easier for the adults and then just get the kids a little gift. It gets outrageous when you have a big family. Make gifts or do white elephant.

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find a craft you can make with your kids and make everyone something cool. look to pinterest for ideas.

Depends on your budget I guess. If 1 can and wants to then fine for them, but if you can’t then don’t or just get them a token back of something to drink or an ornament or a silly group game they can reuse over and over

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We do what we can afford. Gifts are never expected in my house. And some years, I can only afford to buy for my kids. Most of the time, we stick to a strict kids only gift policy. And my younger sister and I may exchange something small and sentimental. Everyone else gets a Christmas card and a box of homemade Christmas treats. But my advice? Set a budget and stick to it. Don’t max out credit cards or take out loans to spend yourself broke trying to buy gifts for everyone and their uncle.

The whole gift protocol is my only negative about Christmas. I told my son who makes a lot of money that we would no longer be giving large gifts at Christmas. If you see something that you really want to gift to someone, something small then have at it. It seemed like each year we got higher and higher and somebody always felt they spent too much and someone else took little. We were up to 3 or 4 hundred a piece

I do school pictures and put it in a frame, and give it to them for Xmas. They all love it. If you do school pictures try that.

We started drawing gifts and it’s been great. Everyone is so thoughtful to one another with just one adult to buy for. We set a dollar limit. It’s been a great addition to Christmas for us!

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Gifts cards in a pair of slippers.

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I do a homemade item from my kiddos and a gift card for those that are harder to shop for. For easier people I get what I know they like ex: my mom gets arts n crafts from my kids and candles typically.

We rotate who we buy for with my husband’s family. My family is too far away and we all agreed that it’s easier to just send Christmas cards and family photos.

We don’t. Christmas we will sometimes do name draws. But after that we don’t usually.

We each bring a $50 gift and play a fun game with lots of laughs and everyone goes home with a nice gift. Shopping is fun, too, looking for bargains so that most gifts are worth much more than $50. Nice family time. Usually 15-20 of us.

My family now has 15 kids between 5 siblings and their signicant others so we are only buying for the kids this year but we used to do a secret Santa type of thing in previous years so it wouldn’t break the bank a.d everyone got a gift to open

Stocking Sunday : everyone has a stocking, everyone puts a little something in each stocking. And kiddos get gifts. Everyone opens their stockings together and then everyone watches kids open their gifts

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We drew names once in our family for Christmas and we didn’t like it as much as buying for everyone we never did that again we just buy for everyone.

We have always picked out of hat for adults but the last couple of years we have done a white elephant and it is SOOOO fun!

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Ok well the way hubby ans I have done it…we take turns one of us gets stuff for all the ladies or all the men (or makes homemade gifts) then next year we swap. I made beautiful earrings for all the women in the family the other year. Men are so much harder to figure out what to buy or make lol

Gift cards are always good

Bunch of gift cards thrown in a hat, let everyone draw one

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Everyone in hubby’s family used to draw a name, and buy for that one person. Kids names were drawn too. There was a price limit as well.

I make candy and give to the adults

We used to draw names for the adults and do secret Santa

Bath and body works and a robe and comfy Santa socks! B&BW
have cute gifts sets :slightly_smiling_face:

I buy for the kids and then the adults do a secret santa type thing… draw a name out of a hat. And we usually say to spend no more than $25 for secret Santa. Times are tough and not everyone has the luxury of buying things for everyone, as much as they might want to. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Just buy for the kids. If adults want to exchange they can do that on their time. Your house your rules. Finances are really hard right now.

We usually buy gifts for the kids and all of the adults do secret Santa and draw names. Our family is way too big to do it any other way!

I don’t have to worry about this but one thing I like to do for y sons family is a family gift. Example I did a dvd (a new release) with microwave popcorn and boxes of candy. I also did card games and snacks - so a family gift to do together. Might be cheaper than having to buy each family member a gift. My grandkids like to bowl and play mini golf so a family gift card for something like that

We do secret Santa for the adults and buy for the kids. That way every adult gets something but we only have to buy for one adult and all the kids

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I believe Christmas is meant for kids…

Let the kids draw names and the adults play dirty Santa! Cheaper, easier and fun all at the same time!

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For years, (before we broke up) my husband’s family and we sponsored a family. Instead of gifts that we didn’t need, we found a family (through a church or charity) and got the specs (how many people, ages, genders, likes etc) and we as couples picked who we would shop for with a limit of $100 per couple. We would also throw in for a full Christmas dinner and food for their pantry (about another $50 per couple). So for about $150 each couple we were able to take care of a whole family for Christmas and it was a great way to give and stay connected over the holiday.

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White elephant is fun to do and depending on how many adults there are, you can set the limit anywhere from $25 to $100. You can still buy for the parents and just do white elephant with the other adults.

We do secret Santa for all the kids. Adults don’t do anything. We have a 15 dollar limit on kids gifts as well. We talked about doing the same thing for adults but it was cheaper on everyone to leave it at the kids.

We have 3 daughters. Our 2 oldest are 20 & 22 are we do lists every year. We get them 3 of 4

We draw names to those that want to participate. This year however, we are all going on a family cruise so decided no gift giving for the adults and just let the kids draw names with each other.

I normally get presents for everyone kids and adults ( but the adults are just my mom , 2 sister and my brother in law ) this year my budget is a little thigh so the kids ( they are old enough) will get money and we are planning to go out of town to take them shopping.

We draw names , have for about 5 years now … set a limit so everything is equal.
Its wayyy cheaper and theirs no favoritism.

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as a family we all agree just buy for your own household times are hard now …

Not everyone can afford to buy gifts for everyone. It’s the reality of the world that we live in and not a lot of people respect the financial boundaries of their siblings. I am one of 7 and I have 5 kids- that’s a lot of unnecessary gifting and money that doesn’t need to be spent. We draw names and buy a single family gift that can be enjoyed by everyone. We have a money limit and sometimes we just gift the family the limit on a visa card that they can use towards a bill or their own Christmas.

We all make sure that all the babies/ kids have gifts first. Then for me, I gift my siblings who don’t have kids yet, my parents, my grandparents, my sisters with children/ their spouses and then my Uncles. But everyone always makes sure that the children have gifts first. We normally all get everyone something but if money is tight then that’s just the order my sisters and I go in. As for what to buy one another, all the adults make Amazon wishlists and share them with one another so we all know what everyone else wants.

We do a dirty Santa, or white elephant gift. Meaning everyone buys One gift and brings it. Then draw numbers, pick a gift, and steal. Its a fun time

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We only buy gifts for my mom & my husbands aunt(she’s more of a mom than his mom was) & his 2 younger brothers. I usually make something for my dad. We get a peach pie or cobbler for his dad because thats what he likes, & stopped buying for his dads wife, because when we’ve bought sentimental gifts or had the kids make something for 2 of them it just gets tossed in a drawer somewhere, & i told my husband I’m not wasting my time or money on the 2 of them anymore. Aside from that my grandparents were the only other ones we bought for but they both passed away.

When my family got together for Christmas we drew names. Kids gave to kids, adults gave to adults.

Personally I think it should be left to the individual. If you want to give a gift do it. If you can’t or don’t want to don’t.

Longer then intended, typical :roll_eyes: lol but random financial tip at the end for everyone.

Christmas is expensive and not everyone can afford to buy for every person. Sibling who wants to draw names might be struggling financially, times are hard right now. Have everyone sit down and talk about it, maybe talk to sibling privately first because discussing your finances in front of everyone when you’re struggle is not easy, especially if you have judgy people there lol.
Now if it’s agreed on to buy for everyone SET A BUDGET everyone agrees on because again times are hard.

Now random tidbit I like to share for Christmas.

Save money throughout the year in a high yield savings account. Calculate how much you’ll spend, round up then divide by the number of checks you get.
Example with easy numbers lol
10 people to buy for
11 months to save Jan to Nov, 48weeks
You want to spend $100 on each person.
Paid monthly you add $90.90, round up to $100.
Paid weekly you add $20.83, round up to $25 or $30.

By the time Christmas comes you have money in the account and you can actually enjoy the holidays not just wait for them to be over or stress about how to afford it.
I’d recommend calculating the food cost if you’re hosting and any other added expenses you need for Christmas.

This plan works for everything not just Christmas.
Make a gift fund for all birthdays and holidays you buy for and just pull from that account when you shop.
Make a vacation fund and actually be able to afford to go on vacation.
Car fund. House fund. The possibility are endless.

Big fat Disclaimer!
This ONLY works if you stay on budget and don’t pull from this account just cause you want to, act like it’s not even there. I know a lot of people who try to save money in an account and once it starts adding up they start spending it on things it’s not intended for because they don’t have self control and want what they want when they want it. Don’t be that person, if you are make a savings account for that purpose and leave the other accounts alone.

Also I use high yield because one you get a little bit extra money in interest and also cause mine takes 3 to 5 days to transfer making it so I can’t use it for impulse buys because I was that person too :laughing:

We draw names and do a secret Santa for all of the adults, with a price limit. We always buy things for the kids on top. This way it isn’t a struggle for those who are less financially secure, no one needs to feel guilty for how much they can afford. We also do a dirty Santa/ white elephant for the adults, which is a lot of fun. But we used to buy for every adult and it was honestly so stressful and expensive. Ever since we changed over to secret Santa its been so much more fun, you can get super creative or personal with your gift this way. One year i made my person a little basket full of stuff. His family is Mexican so I added a bunch of little Mexican candies i found and he loved it. Some were new to him and some were nostalgic. It was great.

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Do what you can afford! It’s OK not to buy for grown ups.

I don’t think me and my husband are doing anything for anyone except our two kids. Well, instead of my husband getting a present he said he wants to talk to our daughters teacher and see if there is a needy family that we can anonymously donate a few hundred $ in gift cards to… since we are more fortunate than some.

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We have the girls buy for girls and boys buy for boys,and put a $20 price limit on it, then we buy something small for the kids 12 and under

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The kids get gifts in my family we usually don’t buy for adults anymore.

My in laws side is over 50 people
So my mother in law gives everyone money
She gives her kids and spouses
A check.
The grandkids ( most are married and got kids of their own)
She gives them checks she gives a little more so when it’s the great grand child birthday is they will have money for their birthday
My side I buy a bunch of stuff at the dollar store
One year I gave the girls spa basket made from dollar store stuff and the men got grooming baskets
They all like it

Go to Dollar store( now $1.25) buy potholders towels, etc for their kitchen, bath or little inspirational ornaments, something to hang on wall, door. That waybyou show you care, not out as much