JFF: How Much Do You Spend on Xmas Presents?

Wowsa! This is eye-opening.

I think I spent a total of $500 (probably less) on my family (hubs, 2 littles), grandparents, cousins, teachers, etc.

I shop year round, black Friday, and make lots of personalized items. I made personalized calendars for all siblings, and grandparents for about $10 total (thank you Snapfish).

One of my MIL's admitted that she was used to spending $9K on Christmas a year. (I nearly soiled myself - that's the price of a car!) The recession hit them hard. I'm glad I no longer get $400 worth of presents from them when all I can give is baked goods and family calendars.

My oldest daughter saves coins through the year and that is her shopping money for her sister, me and Dad. I think there is about $30 total. Perfect. When baby sister gets bigger, we'll make sure there are more coins in there and it will be split between them.

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Whaaaat? Seriously? I spent about 35 dollars on my 3 1/2 year old son, will spend about the same on my husband and about 100 dollars on everyone else. I have the money to spend more but I try to keep Christmas about family, health, blessings, and tradition.

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This year? Around $370 on 5 people :)

That's actually about $100 more than I was aiming for, but the girls desperately needed new bunk beds for safety sake.

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I had 600 cash to buy with this year & really I don't want to spend anymore than that I have a few things to get for stocking stuffers but since I had a list I went with that & alot of toys were BOGO from Toys R US for my kids,I spent the most money on my kids,everything else is a gift card for the tweens,brother,a drying rack that is portable for my in laws camper when they take the kids they have some place to pile their clothes on,& some other things for my family I don't pay full price for anything cheaper is better even better stacked with a discount & coupon & I really made sure to score the BOGO's since that was on their wish list.Yes I must say I was frugal this year I hate seeing money being wasted that I could of used it on something else that was much more needed.Anyother time I have too many gifts for my kids we can't walk through the living room they get tired of opening them up so they don't enjoy what they received then that frustrates me because I feel that I over did it again.

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We're really lucky....my husband saves in his credit union ALL year so we can have plenty to spend for Christmas--still--we run short some years! LOL

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Wow ! I read some of the answers & I almost feel ashamed. I spend about $100 on my daughter & son-in-law together. I spend about $100 on my 3 grandchildren. My husband & I deceide on a dollar amount each year, depending on our expenses. This year it is $75. Everyone else is from $10-$20. I shop early & look for sales startin in September. I love Amazon & look for items that I know they will like. I also do alot of shopping on line.

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This year we decided to focus on "quality" instead of "quantity" with the kids. Since our kids are older, their "wish list" items are more expensive than they have been in the past. We have 3 kids and we will likely hit about $300 for each when we are done. And that is only for about 4-5 gifts, including santas. Hubby usually buys me a nice piece of jewlery for about $300-500 but puts it on his Kay's Card that he pays off in a couple months. I spend about $200 or maybe less on him and his bday is this saturday so that factors into it as well. I emailed my mom and aunt and said we are cutting back on adult gifts and will only be giving them gift cards this year and asked them to do the same. I'm tired of getting crappy gifts from them and hope they will do this. I will give my mom a $50 card and my aunt and cousin a $25 each card.

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My brothers and their wives, their kids about $15-20 each. My daughter $200 maybe, parents $30 each. This year my daughter has opted for less presents (she knows she doesnt use them and they clutter up the playroom that she doesnt go into for weeks) for savings up for a vacation soon, like a cruise. I woudl rather celebrate and experience together than buy material things.

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Usually about $300 for each of the 2 kids and a hundred or so on each other. Then, we have at least 8 other people to shop for. We usually end up spending about a $1000 total.

I try to keep it around $500 or $600 for everybody. I budget $50 for husband, in-laws and sil. $10 for office gift, teachers gifts, sitter, etc. The rest I spread between my 4 kids.

Usually right around $1,000 total. This past year I've taken over handling all of the bills & stuff though so we've got considerably more money than we have in, oh, say the last 5-7 years so we'll probably go a bit over that. This is also the first year in the same length of time we'll be buying for each other & not just the kids & my side of the family.

I have a bunch of people to shop for and I aim to spend around $150 per person/couple + a little more for my son - maybe $250, so I usually wind up spending a bit over $1K.

It's a lot, but nothing compared to the go-go years of the late '90s. Back then we were all out of control and I used to spend around $2500!! :O I think I like these more reined-in holidays better. :)

We have never had a set amount.
In my husbands family (which is large) we all pick names and whom ever we get is who we buy a gift for.

His parents always buy a TON of gifts for all the grandkids as well.

I usually get my parents a card and some gift card to a book store or something...

For my husband and myself and our child, we just wait and see how much money we have to work with.

We wait until December to do our shopping, this year our first December "free" check, after rent, bills, and what not, will be on the 19th.

We assume that we will have about a $1000 for EVERYTHING.
Me, my husband, our daughter, our tree, stockings, his relatives whos names we drew, and my parents.

***This is the FIRST time we will have event hat much for the decorations and everything. Last year we had a broken fake tree and spent a total of a couple hundred dollars.

I spend around $500 on my 2 kids. Then another $500 on 10 family members.

We spend about $200 on our kids, $30 on each of our 6 nephews and $40-$50 on each set of parents. For each other we don't spend a lot, just something small that the kids pick out.

Ugh, hubby took me WAY over my budget. But when things are okay financially, we do about $500 per kid...hubby and I don't do that much, maybe aroun $200 IF we do gifts at all. And the family gets a few gifts...but nothing substantial normally.

$200 on each of my daughters. $50 on nieces and nephews. If my siblings don't have children I buy them a gift that cost about $25.00. My husband it just depends. Last year I got him a beer club membership so the cost was spread out over the whole year. A few years ago I got him Sirius radio for his car. I would say that is the most expensive gift since he still has it and we are still paying the monthly bill. LOL!

I spend about $250 on my son for christmas. My husband varies from year to year. This year, probably $250. On my husband side of the family he has four siblings, an Aunt/grandpa that we always shop for, along with his cousin, and my MIL and FIL. I try to make it even for everyone, so probably $25 -50 for each of them. That's just his side. I have two brothers, and two sets of parents, and two grandmas. Usually ranging their gifts around $25 each. It can get ridiculous.

Wow- We spend around $2500 on Christmas TOTAL. That includes airfare ($1200), family pictures ($150) , decorations, cards, postage, gifts ($600), gratuities, etc. We draw names for the adults with a set spending limit and then buy for the kids only. That really helps keep the costs down.

$500 is a lot to spend on a young child. He will outgrow most of this stuff pretty quickly.

I spend only $300 for everyone. There are about 8 people I purchase for each year. Budget for kids is only $75.00 per kid.

$300 total on both kids. They are 3 1/2 and 14 months. They got a LOT of stuff though, I don't think I spent over $35 on a single gift since I got so many good deals this year. I haven't bought anything for my husband yet, I have no idea what to get him but I think I spent about $200-$300 on him last year. The total on other family members is probably around $300 as well.

I start saving for Christmas right after our family trip during the summer. I always try to put away enough so that we can buy our kids what they really want most and I like being able to buy our family at least one really nice gift each....something we know they truly want. Some years we are able to spend a lot more than others. This happens to be a really good year for us because our youngest started Kindergarten and we no longer have to pay daycare!! Woo-hoo!!!! That in itself has made a huge difference this Christmas. But, for the years where money is tight, we just try to make sure that we put as much thought as possible into each person's gift. Sometimes even the smallest presents can be more meaningful than the big ticket ones. ;0)

I don't really have a set amount. I just kind of pick things up here and there. I have never really kept track of the amount.

I doubt I will even spend $500 all told. I just can't afford it and I'm a sale shopper. I think the priciest things on anybody's lists are SD's DSi and DH's foot massager. For the extended family, anybody over 18 doesn't get anything specific anymore and all the little guys are easy. I bought them books for less than $4 each.

2-300 per each of my two children..maybe 200 on husband. Rest of family...at most $80 per our parents, and $50 or less on siblings. Kids in family, max $30.