Holiday Gifts

Smom901316 · November 2013

Hub's family and mine do holiday gift exchange a bit differently ... We give a couple ideas and ultimately the gift is up to the giver and everyone is happy in the end. His family sends links and exact requests or asks that we send specific gift requests and you know what you are going to get . I am partial to how I grew up , the excitement of looking for the perfect gift and trying to guess what it is.

How do you handle gift exchanges?

Smom901316 · November 2013

That is how his family does it (make model etc) he used to go with his grandmother to the store to buy his gifts and the she would wrap them

LJUTCMommy · November 2013

My IL are Muslim (so are we but we also give gifts on Xmas) so we just give something small. Mil gets a sweater, SIL gets a purse...something like that.

For my family, I send one present for each: my Mom, stepdad, 4 siblings, and nephew. And I'm about to have another nephew/niece to add to that mix.

None of these people get us anything, but I don't mind. I love "the thrill of the hunt" for that singular, perfect gift.

I don't think it would be fun to know exactly what someone wants and just buy that. That's lame.

V&G101808 · November 2013

I mentioned this in another Christmas post but I really don't get the point of lists. It takes away all the fun.

I'll ask my mom if theres anything in particular that she needs or wants, same for my dad & brother but I buy them what I can and what I think they'd enjoy - we don't go off lists.

LokiLahve · November 2013

DH and I give each other ideas. I'll get some stuff he mentioned but most is stuff I think he will like. I but my family what I think they'll like (I'll ask mom what sister needs and sister what mom needs to be sneaky). DH's family doesn't do gifts usually.
IMO suggestions can be helpful in case you get stumped, but just buying exactly what is requested us boring. Why bother wrapping it? Better yet, everyone might as well buy gifts for themselves.

magdalina.h · November 2013

We do specific because we don't want to waste time returning stuff we don't want. Now, for the kids, it's whatever they want to get them.

MommyBolty · November 2013

V&G101808 said:

I mentioned this in another Christmas post but I really don't get the point of lists. It takes away all the fun.

I'll ask my mom if theres anything in particular that she needs or wants, same for my dad & brother but I buy them what I can and what I think they'd enjoy - we don't go off lists.

I completely agree... DHs family draws names each year and they want you to tell them specifically what you want. I don't operate like that. I like it to be a surprise what I get someone, and I like surprises myself. In our family we give an idea of what we want or a few items we'd like to have and we may get one or all. You just never know. I never know what DH is getting me, and he doesn't know what I am getting him. I prefer it that way.

amandarins · November 2013

We give each other ideas. The most fun for me is trying to get the best deals to stay within our budget for each other and finding really cool extras and stocking stuffers.

FutureMRSTillman · November 2013

Our families usually always just surprise each other, but hints are dropped here and there.

With hubby and I, we ask specifically what the other wants. Rarely is there surprise between us.

LilMissScareAll · November 2013

With DH's family, we do Secret Santa. We draw names on Thanksgiving and we list 3 ideas for the person and have a set spending limit. The kids get presents from everyone. It's DH, his brothers (and SOs), cousins (plus their SOs and kids), mom, uncle, and grandma. Everyone comes to our house for Xmas Eve for the exchange.

With my family, we only do gift exchange with my immediate family. My parents, siblings and their SOs and kids. We have an unstated spending limit among my siblings. We give each other ideas of what we'd like. But since none of us live near each other, we usually just give gift cards since shipping gets expensive.

I'd rather get someone something I know they want/need and I don't spend enough time with DH's family or my own to come up with something on my own. DH is the only person who I work hard to surprise with his Christmas gift.

TurtleMomma · November 2013

ILs: we draw names amongst immediate family (secret drawing) and set a spending limit (no gift cards because they are lame). Kiddos are exempt and get gifts from everyone.

My family: everyone buys 10 random items from the dollar store, wrap them and we do it like a white elephant exchange.

BabyE143 · November 2013

My love language is gifts. I spend a lot of time picking out the perfect gift. I hate giving/ receiving gift cards. (there's one exception: where my older brother who has OCD and HATES public places went into a forever 21 to buy me a gift card. The whole fact that he went into the store meant a lot to me, he didn't send one of our sisters or my mom...he got it himself. It was sweet).

We have an exchange between cousins every year (some have SO's now). I hate lists as well but we'll write one down in order to give us a good idea of what the person likes. Our list includes shirt size/ pant size favorite color, etc.

carrotcake06 · November 2013

My family is v small - everyone gets everyone gifts.

My ILs work like @turtlemomma's ILs. We do a gift exchange (one for the "adults" and one for the "kids" - my kids are the only grand babies, so they get spoiled) w no gift cards. Though tides might be changing and GCs might be allowed, which I'm all for.

I'm not a gift person at all. I know it's important to some people, but it's just not my thing. And don't get me started on cards. I hate cards.

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