Do you set a budget for Christmas?

danandkelly · October 2009

And do you stick to it?

Is your budget a number for the total of all gifts or do you budget a $ amount for each person and let that dictate the total $ figure?

Lesley423 · October 2009

We haven't before but we are planning on doing it this year. We have an overall budget amount that we want to keep as our max. Then we divided that up into a dollar amount for each recipient but that's not set in stone. We have flexibility with that.

SweetieP · October 2009

Yes...although in the past 2 years, it's gotten less and less. I have a cap that I'll spend on Ryan and we've cut out buying for any of the adults in our family. Hubs and I will spend $50 or less on christmas for each other and that includes the stockings.

Maybe when I go back to work, the budget will be higher but right now there's no extra money and we don't believe in using credit cards to finance Christmas.

everydayeve · October 2009

DH and I set budgets on what we can spend on each other and what we can spend on Eve. And then from there we buy one gift per person and try to be frugal - concentrating more on finding them an item we think the person will like than the cost of the item. This year, I'm going to try to make some homemade things.

danandkelly · October 2009

I usually try to set a budget by determining a $ for each person and then the total is the max that we'll spend for the Holidays.

But this year, I'm thinking of doing it differently. I have scaled back a lot on what we spend over the last couple years but still always feel like I've spent too much. We don't use credit cards or anything like that but it still gets way up there.

linnychanel · October 2009

for gifts betwen A and I we set a limit. depending on the year the limit goes up and down ; )

We are at that point with family where we don't exchange gifts. Its really nice, i'm such a scrooge I hate the gift giving process, so stressful. My grandmother takes care of my 3 young boy cousins, so we usually giver her as much as we can afford in cash, and money to each of the boys.

m&m818 · October 2009

I've set a budget dollar wise for Maddy. But its based on the 3 things I really want to get her. If I find them for cheaper, I probably won't go spend more just to reach the budget limit. Well ... probably not. ;-)

abvernon · October 2009

Yes, we have a holiday club account that I dump $$ into. This total amount is for ALL gifts. I wish we could spend it on a trip to Vegas instead.

linnychanel · October 2009

m&m818:
I've set a budget dollar wise for Maddy. But its based on the 3 things I really want to get her. If I find them for cheaper, I probably won't go spend more just to reach the budget limit. Well ... probably not. ;-)

what are you getting Mads? I need to steal your ideas ; )

StefandTodd · October 2009

everydayeve:
DH and I set budgets on what we can spend on each other and what we can spend on Eve. And then from there we buy one gift per person and try to be frugal - concentrating more on finding them an item we think the person will like than the cost of the item. This year, I'm going to try to make some homemade things.

This is us exactly.

jsugrin · October 2009

We do. I really am just over the holiday being out of control. If I had my way the adults would each sponser a family in need and only buy for kiddos but I found some of my family is pretty damn selfish.

mcunningham · October 2009

no, i've never set a budget, although i think i will next year since i am taking off 6 months when baby #2 comes, so money will be a bit tighter.

tri-reader · October 2009

I try to set an amount for each person. It gets hard when my family keeps adding more and more members!

kittylove · October 2009

We used to but never stuck to it. This year we aren't doing gifts for the most part. We didn't do them last year and DH and I both loved that X-mas was more about family and traditions than the gifts. So this year Riley will be getting a gift from each of us and we will be giving all the grandparents a CD of this years pics and one printed family photo. I think we will do one gift for each other too, and that is it.

SeasonalCook · October 2009

StefandTodd:
everydayeve:
DH and I set budgets on what we can spend on each other and what we can spend on Eve. And then from there we buy one gift per person and try to be frugal - concentrating more on finding them an item we think the person will like than the cost of the item. This year, I'm going to try to make some homemade things.
This is us exactly.

I was going to ditto this, too.

LoLoPanda · October 2009

We usually have limits within different families, which dictates our budget. It varies from person to person (i.e. my Dad's family is a minimum of $40, and mom's family is maximum of $20 this year because of the economy).

EmmieB · October 2009

We have always had a budget for gift-giving. It's generally per person and then I work within that so that each person within a family gets the same number of gifts to open.

True love since 5/7/99 · October 2009

since i am done all my x-mas shopping & also done wrapping it all!

We set a $800 limit for everything, us, dd, & our 2 nieces & our parents, thats all we are buying for this year since we are headed to NJ for x-mas & that was a big amount of $!

futrkingsley · October 2009

We both have big families and lots of potential holes that money can disappear into at the holidays so we set budgets for everything. In previous years we used Elfster for family gift exchanges (so each adult pulled one or two names and there was a limit for those gifts), but last year my family skipped adult gifts and I bowed out of Dh's family elfster. This year I think it will be similar. And DH and I only did stockings last year, which I see us doing again.

I'm doing handmade for the 8 nieces and nephews -- super hero capes for the older girls, and some sort of clothes for the boys (probably T's with their own logos designed by DH), and a blanket for our other neice.

For DS, we went small and already bought his gifts. I'm making him and DH a few things (matching hats, Xmas jammies, and something to wear on Xmas).

The only things we'll buy are our holiday cards (which we may make instead) and photo calendars for the grandparents.

tmp-195892875001867 · October 2009

We buy for a set amount of people and I have a budget per person, though the amount varies depending on the person.

On DH's side, we buy for MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL, two girls and two small things for the Gmas. Sometimes the extended family does an exchange and we participate if we are there.

On my side it's my mom, dad, sister and cousin. As a family, we buy for a family in need. And sometimes we will just do an exchange although my family really doesn't seem on board for that since we just have each other.

DH and I set limits too - sometimes it's a stocking, or $50 or just dinner out. Last year, I bought Char a few gifts, but it was mostly things she needed like sweatsuits. This year, we have a few gifts for her but she gets so much from other people, she really doesn't need much. Though we got her a little people camping set

I have a few GFs I sometimes exchange with - it gets confusing because every year I don't know if we are or aren't. I am hoping they bring up not doing gifts so I don't have to

dblhappiness · October 2009

Yes we have been setting a budget. I am one of five and with all the husbands/wife I have to buy for I try to keep the dollar amount small...add in kids and it just makes it so tough. We've been doing pretty good lately--we are all in the same boat financially so we agree to either drawing names or just getting something for the kids. If we go outside that, we try to not go too crazy so there aren't any hard feelings.

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