Christmas...

EmbracingChange

How much on average do you spend on your kids? Parents? Grandparents? Siblings? Friends? Coworkers?

Do you tip your mailman, garbage man, etc? If so, how much? 

Bmcmullin01

We don't do much for our parents usually not more than $20 and my sisters and I have a thing were we don't do gifts for each other since they don't have money we all just decided not to buy for each other. I would definitely find it odd to buy presents for coworkers and my friends and I don't do a gift exchange. We only buy for the kids really, nieces and nephews. We don't spend more then $30 on each and on our daughter we will probably spend a total of $250-$300

Bmcmullin01

And I didn't know people tipped the mailman or garbage man...so that's an obvious no. We have a large garbage company that does our garbage every week so that would be weird to me. And I have no idea who our mailman is

EmbracingChange

My foster mother always bought a box of chocolates for her coworkers, at least her favorite ones. So I've had that ingrained in me. Last year I just dipped strawberries and pretzels for them, but my friend says that coworker gift giving isn't normal practice so I wondered if I was alone, well besides my now retired foster mother.

We spend about $200-$300 per child, $50 each on our parents, and $25-$50 on each sibling. Including Dh's brother in law, we have 4 siblings to buy for. My only living brother asked for a $85 hoodie that's in such high demand that its sold out and going for $200 on eBay! He's lost his mind! 

MrsAMB07

We do a Secret Santa type thing with DH's family and another with my aunts/cousins/grandparents, that's $50 a person for the adults. We all buy for the kids, probably $30-50 each.

My mom and sister are $50 each. For our own kids we only do about $100-$150 each because they're little and both have birthdays very close to Christmas. When I had coworkers, my grade level team spent about $10-15 on each other. I have one friend group doing a Secret Santa, as well, for $15-20.

It gets to be so much this time of year, I'm looking to cut back a bit next year... I know my sister will give me a problem with spending less on the kids and each other, but really she doesn't have the money, so I don't know why we have to.

christinemurray91

We've actually started secret santa for both sides of the family. We spend about ~$50-75 on our secret santas, and then ~$20 on each of the neices/nephews. For our daughter, I think we spent about  $50 on her when all was said and done, but we shopped sales and got her some puzzles, a sled, some books, and couple craft sets, but I think we would reasonably say up to $150 is fair for her. 

We don't buy for co-workers, friends or anything like that unless we're in an exchange, but we do tip the mailman and our landlord. 

EmbracingChange

I read an article online that says we're supposed to tip "service" people like garbage men. Mine use a arm thing on the truck to grab my trash can and don't ever leave the truck so I don't do anything for them. They wouldn't get it even if I did tape it to the lid or whatever...

I buy one of those $2 boxes of Russell Stovers with the Christmas wrapping on it and put it in the mailbox for the mail man. A few days later I usually get a Christmas card from him. We don't make a lot of money so we do small gestures, but that's something I've done since I got my first apartment. 

Bmcmullin01

EmbracingChange said:

I read an article online that says we're supposed to tip "service" people like garbage men. Mine use a arm thing on the truck to grab my trash can and don't ever leave the truck so I don't do anything for them. They wouldn't get it even if I did tape it to the lid or whatever...

I buy one of those $2 boxes of Russell Stovers with the Christmas wrapping on it and put it in the mailbox for the mail man. A few days later I usually get a Christmas card from him. We don't make a lot of money so we do small gestures, but that's something I've done since I got my first apartment. 

That's how my garbage company is also..plus we rent our house and are moving in a year and have only loved here 8 months...so I don't see the need lol

EmbracingChange

I have gift giving anxiety when it comes to DH's family. We aren't, but they are fairly well established so it's intimidating to me. I remember when we were first dating and his uncle gave all 6 siblings and his parents a calendar of photos of their 6yo twins & 8yo son and everyone just stared at it like "wtf is this? You didn't even splurge on the coffee mug?" I never do photo gifts and I still have anxiety even though all MIL wants is a drawing from the kids, a six pack of Coke in the glass bottles, and some nuts to help the kids crack open.

2ndturkey

I don't give gifts to my family really. My hubby's family we do secret Santa for the adults and if we have money no more then $20 for the nieces and nephews. For my son this year we spent about $120 and that's a lot for us.

SaraT717

I think this year we will be at $200-250 for DD her birthday is in Feb and my parents and grandparents go crazy buying her stuff because she's the only kid so she will def. Have a lot. Too much prob. For my parents its $50 each usually but this year I went a little over. With DHs mom I think it's close to $100 I have no idea. I choose to not pay attention to that. And that's it I don't get my uncles anything nothing for my brother. I might get my grandma and grandpa a thing of chocolates and flowers this year.


I have never thought to give my garbage man anything but that's probably cause they upset me they forget my recycle bin all the time. And I don't know the mailman but he prob doesn't like us cause I let the mail pile up in the mailbox.

nunzchucks

$30-$40 per Secret Santa person in both families and then $100-$200 on DD depending on "the big gift". We've stopped getting each other gifts.

Eta: Nada for garbage, mail, paper, etc.

MaidMarion25

Oh geez I spend so much, I think I've spent 110$ just on my sister, about $30 for each if her kids, about $60 on my mom, $100 on my dad and his wife, same for DH's parents, and I've spent about $150 on DH, and we haven't bought for his daughter yet, $25 on my grandparents, it adds up so fast! And my family is the type that if you don't buy each one of them something they are offended, I would much rather not give gifts to each other, just the kids, and I would like to buy for a child in need instead.

colllydon

25-30 on each of my nieces and nephews and our parents. We stopped buying for out sisters and just buy for their kids. There are four sisters and nine kids.

ETA because my phone posts before I want it to

WoodsSeltzer09

Jeez I have no idea what we spend in total on everyone: DS we spent about $150 -200, DH I t hink i'm at $250, My siblings /IL i'm at $150 total, DH brother will be another $60 , DH Parents $150, my parents i havent finished shoping for yet ...

chaysefaith

The only people we have set amounts for is bf's siblings and nieces and nephews. He has two brothers who each have a girlfriend so there's a set limit for everyone of $60/couple OR $30/person if you don't buy a couples gift. He has a 14 year old sister and then 4 nieces and nephews, and they're all set at $20/each. There's not a set amount for his mom or his dad.

In my family my sister and I don't buy for each other, just for the kids. We spend about $20-30 per kid, but there's not really a set limit. There's also not a limit for my mom. This year my sister and I got our kids together for a fall mini photo session, which was $75 and we split the cost. I ordered all the photos and got one framed.

My bf and I REALLY don't have limits between us...we suck at waiting til Christmas to give each other the gifts we buy. We start buying for each other around August and just give them as we get them...and then feel obligated to buy something to open on Christmas. It's probably a lot of money when everything is said and done, since we suck.

For our kids this year they'll both probably be around $200, not including stockings. They're both getting $100 cash and then a couple new outfits. We don't do much for them because they get SO much from everyone else.

Savvy122

For anyone who DOES tip their garbage man - how do you do it?  Our garbage man is actually pretty awesome and I would like to leave him something if I could figure out how.  DS loves the garbage truck and throughout the summer when I was home, we'd go out and watch him dump the garbage and whatnot.  He was always fantastic with letting DS help.  But I have no idea how to go about leaving a tip for him?  I don't want it to go in the trash!

Kinipela7

We do a secret santa for the adults among my siblings/husbands and that is $75.  I spend about $50 on my parents. And I normally spend $75 on my niece/nephews.

texasmama2014

Each year my husband and I buy each other new running shoes.  We use them for a year, and then to keep our legs, knees, etc. healthy we get new ones for Christmas from each other.  We are also doing $40 stockings for each other this year.  I got him mostly practical use things that he needs...  

We have 5 nieces and nephews, so this year we bought them all a nice $10-15 book, and are sending $25 each.

Parents: $50 each, Grandparents: $10 each (we have 3), and my siblings: we draw names and have about a $30-$40 limit per gift.

Co-workers: I bought a small gift for my boss and one of my closest co-workers, and I will be making treats for everyone else to be put in the break room.  We typically do gifts, but this year I bought food for the local food pantry and a service project at my church in lieu of doing little crummy gifts that no one really wants too badly.

I think that covers it!

So total, with donated items:  Around $850 this year... Yeesh. That sounds ridiculous. But that includes our shoes, which for us, is a need... so actual Christmas gifts is like less than $700... But still.

PinkKEL9

We spend about $25 on parents and around $50-$75 on each other. We probably won't spend too much on baby next year as he/she will be little but in the future maybe around $150?

Pepper6

My Christmas budget varies year to year based on what people want.  The ones I try to stick to though are mostly for the kids, I spend about $30 per niece/nephew.  Parents vary anywhere from $40 to $1K (we took my mom to Hawaii two years ago...that was definitely a one time only thing though).  This year, my sisters and I decided not to buy for each other, though I'll probably get them a nice box of chocolates and I bought them a cute Christmas ornament when we were in Hawaii last month, which is more of a souvenir than a present.  H and I usually spend about $200-$300 on each other (he usually spends more on me though, the jerk).

I have never even seen our mailman or trash/recycle guys, so definitely no gifts for them....

Jennylou0604

We spent about $350 on our DS this year and I spent about $200 on my DH.  We only buy for my brother b/c he's the Godfather of our DS and we spent about $30 on him.  We don't buy for any other siblings.  We spend about $50 each on our parents and about $15-20 on the nieces and nephews.  We each have Godchildren so we spend about $30 on them.  

This is the first time I've ever heard about tipping the mailman, trash guys, etc.  We don't do it and to tell you the truth I've never heard of anyone I know doing such a thing.  It's a very nice gesture, though.

lest12

@savvy122 - I have a friend that's a garbage man.  He says that most people tape an envelope to the inside of the lid. 

I would tip our mailman but we have a different person every day/week.  I'm more likely to tip our UPS guy this year, he's been the same guy for the whole year, loves our dog, stops and says hello to DH.

We spend a lot, I guess.  Anywhere from $50-100 on each of our parents/siblings.  $25-30 on our grandmothers.  $50-ish on a few of my aunts that I am close with. 

We spend way more on each other, but next year we want to take the cash and put it towards a little family vacation in the spring (with baby, apparently).   

babygabe614

We don't have a ton of people to buy for, so DH and I still spend a lot on each other (probably a few hundred each. I have spent about $400 on him so far and still have some gifts left to buy) and we spend around $200 on my mom. For my stepson, it varies depending on what he wants. This year isn't a big spending year (thankfully) so we are only spending around $150 on him but in previous years when he got electronics or things of that nature, it was definitely more.

I made gifts for my 3 closest friends which probably equals to about $10 apiece and then I will be buying my coworkers gifts for hopefully around $5 each and there are 10 coworkers I buy for. We also give our mailman $20.

Sareynoo

I spent about $80 on my mom $80, for my dad, $80 on my brother, $90 -sister. $240- husband, $60 - brother, $40 - aunt, $90 - friend, $50 - friend's two kids. $250 - daughter, Husband paid for his family's gifts.

kittenslove

We spend about $100 each on my sister, BIL, my brother, his sister, my mom and dad and his mom and dad. We usually do $50 on the nieces and nephews, although this year we did a little more on my oldest (we got all the men tickets to a hockey game at $88 each). 

This is our last "big year" since the little one will be here soon. Maybe again if our finances pick up next year, but doubtful.

I buy throughout the year for the adults, so I don't take a big hit all at once.

For the people I work with, I used to do $2.5 gift sets of lotion, hand sanitizer, and chap stick.This year I work with more people, so I made candy sleighs and cookies to give away. 

We used to give scratch off tickets and a box of candy to each of our 3 garbage men and mail men. This year we have had different guys every week. I honestly couldn't tell you any of their  names since they haven't been around long enough. And my mail service has been crappy due to our regular guy leaving and the post office just subbing in people when they are available. Due to these reasons, we will not be tipping them. 

My husband owns a residential cleaning service, and the maids definitely appreciate the tips. He doesn't generally get any, except the one apartment he does, but the clients generally tell him (I don't know why, I guess to make sure he knows?)

When I had direct experience with students, I always appreciated whatever the students gave me. I never got a lot, and never expected it. Generally it was chocolate pretzels, cookies, hot chocolate. It was very sweet.