Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

In my other holiday gift giving posts, I saw some people post that they only give to the kids...and some people in my family do this too.

I don't have kids yet, but even if it's a small gift, I give a gift to everyone, adults and kids a like, b/c I just love to celebrate Christmas and show everyone I care about a token of gratitude and love.

Even if it's a free babysitting pass or something like that...I don't feel like the Holidays are just for kids. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

When money permits, I exchange with everyone ... just like you ... even if it's something small.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

I think it depends on the size of your family, I have 18 cousins on my dad's side, so my aunt will call everyone and let them know which kid they have to get a gift for, makes it easier for us.

My mom's side is small so we all get a little something for everyone, I usually order flowers for my aunt and the grandmothers, and get our parents a nice gift and my sister and her DH a G/C to dinner and a movie same for my BIL and SIL, I get my cousins one gift each (only have 2 of them).

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We do a secret santa with my immediate and DH's immedite families. The usually set a $125-150 limit.

Now that there are kids involved, we shop for them too.
I also buy for
DH
my godmother
my goddaughter
DH's goddaughter
our doggie

I think this year we will get our parents something grandparent-y as well.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We exchange with our parents and siblings and give gifts to our neices.

On my mom's side of the family only the children get gifts, which inlcudes me On Thanksgiving me and my cousins pick names out of a hat and the parents by the gifts for who ever there child picks. My parents do not exchange with there siblings.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We don't have a big family, but everyone is pretty tight with money. So we always buy for the kids and do a grab bag for the adults. Except our mothers we always buy them a gift.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

For us, DH's family is too large to buy for everyone. So we only buy for all the kids & if you don't have kids, then you get a present. We do a Grab Bag on Christmas Eve with a $20 limit which is nice.

With my mom's side, we exchange with my parents & then my nephew. Usually I get a joint gift for my brother & SIL.

It gets quite expensive if we bought for every person in our family

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

I don't think the holidays are just for kids, but for me the gift aspect of it is more for kids. We tend to spend more on the kids than adults.

DH and I are both from large families so we pick names out of a hat, so you buy for 1 siblings instead of 10 sibs + spouces. Other than that we buy for parents, nieces/nephews and DS. We spend about $75 - $100 on each other, depending on the year.

I do like to give something to everyone, so I generally make something for the sibs/spouces that I don't have to buy a gift for. In the past it has been candles, soaps, cookbooks, tablerunners, ornaments, a collage of family pics.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

My immediate family - we exchange with everyone.

My extended family: I only buy gifts for my grandmothers.

DH's immediate family - we give gifts to his parents and then do a secret santa for the siblings and spouses. We all buy for the kids.

DH's extended family: we do a Secret Santa.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We exchange with our parents, siblings, nephew, DH's grandparents & 1 of his aunts.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We do a grab bag on Dh's side of the family with a $30 spending limit.

For my family we do $50 gift cards for the siblings.

We each buy for the parents and my nephew. On DH's side, we give the little kids $$ since there are so many of them.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

this is a touchy subject in my family. We exchange with everyone.

A certain in law married into my family and decided that SHE was going to single handedly change our entire tradition and only the kids would get gifts . . . and when someone handed her a gift since we didn't listen, as we said we wouldn't she made nasty comments and didn't even thank us.

But anywho - I love Christmas and I love exchanging gifts. I spend about $20-$30 per couple on the adults but I have no limits on the kids.

Even this year, right before my wedding - people are trying to get me to NOT give gifts and I refuse to "cancel Christmas" because I happen to be getting married.

If you can't afford a gift then don't give me one but I still am going to get one for you because I enjoy doing so.

This woman ALSO refuses to open any cards that you get her for holidays because they are a "waste of money" AND for mother's day she gives her mom and MIL scratch offs with NO card because again, waste of money.

I will never be like that, maybe she will always have more money than me - but I enjoy nothing more than seeing someone open up a gift that I purchased for them!

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

With my family we exchange with my parents, my brother and his wife. My parents are nuts and get me, DH and my brother and SIL so much stuff.
Dh's family we give to the kids (there is 4 of them) and I give something small to dh's sisters (like an ornament or something small like that) This was their rule that they made up. His sisters always give us a gift though since we don't have kids yet. Dh's parents usually give us something small as well.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

Posted by NinaLemon

Posted by Tilde

this is a touchy subject in my family. We exchange with everyone.

A certain in law married into my family and decided that SHE was going to single handedly change our entire tradition and only the kids would get gifts . . . and when someone handed her a gift since we didn't listen, as we said we wouldn't she made nasty comments and didn't even thank us.

But anywho - I love Christmas and I love exchanging gifts. I spend about $20-$30 per couple on the adults but I have no limits on the kids.

Even this year, right before my wedding - people are trying to get me to NOT give gifts and I refuse to "cancel Christmas" because I happen to be getting married.

If you can't afford a gift then don't give me one but I still am going to get one for you because I enjoy doing so.

This woman ALSO refuses to open any cards that you get her for holidays because they are a "waste of money" AND for mother's day she gives her mom and MIL scratch offs with NO card because again, waste of money.

I will never be like that, maybe she will always have more money than me - but I enjoy nothing more than seeing someone open up a gift that I purchased for them!

Wow! There is a big difference between being careful with money and being the GRINCH! maybe she shouldn't show up for Christmas at all - because all that food is expensive and you just fall asleep afterwards

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We do a grab bag with DH's family because there are way too many of them, but everyone does buy for the kids, and with my family we buy for my parents, my brother, and his fiance.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

With my family:
My Dad
My Sister
My Niece
My Nephew
My Grandmother
My Aunt
My Aunt & Uncle
My Godparents

DH's Family:
ILs
Niece
DH's Godmother
DH's Younger Cousins


We also buy for some friends (who do not have children) & those that have children we buy only for the children

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We exchange with parents, inlaws, siblings, niece, and nephews.
With our group of friends we do "Secret Santa".
I also get something for grandma and my uncle in CA.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

With my family we buy for my parents, my sister, my niece, my aunt and uncle and our close family friend Geri who always celebrates the holidays with us.
For DH's family we buy for his parents, his brother, his sister and her boyfriend, and the child cousins. We also buy a case of wine and give a bottle to each aunt/uncle.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

We don't have a big family. We give gifts to:

my dad
dad's girlfriend
dad's girlfriend's two kids
DH's mother
DH's father

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

My family is too big to give gifts to everyone (cousins, aunts/uncles, etc). I give to my parents, grandparents, siblings, and godmother. Same goes for my DH's side. Obviously I give also to my DH and my DD, and in the future if my siblings have any kids I would give to them as well.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

On my dh's father's side, we do Kris Kringle gifts so all we have to do is but for one couple. Then of course, we buy presents for the kids. We also give one gift to his dad.
On my dh's mother's side we buy for her and his sister.

On my side we buy one gift for my mom and dad.

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

The adults in my family always exchange so I couldn't imagine not exchanging with them, esp after all the generosity my mom and grandparents have always shown me/us. And since my aunt and uncle host every year, I feel like I have to give them.

So it's:
Kevin and DD
Mom
Brother, SIL, neice, nephew
Brother (and this year maybe his gf)
Dad and his wife
Grandparents (only 1 set left)
Aunt and uncle, 2 cousins who are teenagers
Kevin's aunt and uncle and their 2 kids, one is 18 and the other 25

Re: Spinoff...who do you exchange gifts with?

My theory is that when people have kids, their gift becomes less in monetary value. I buy for the child, then a small something for the parent.