S/O do you buy for more than just your own family for Christmas?

[hac1224]

We spend very little on others, but we do buy (or make) gifts for my 2 nieces and nephew. I spent less than $10 TOTAL on all 3 of their gifts. I occasionally pick up something really small for my parents and ILs, but once again only about a $5 item just because that's all we can afford. This year my sister came up with the idea for the 3 of us (sis, brother, and me) to go in together on a $20 item for each of our parents. It works out perfectly because she did the shopping. My sis and I are on tight budgets with only 1 income for our families, and my little brother is living at home between years at college and working 2 part-time jobs to save to go back to college next year. In other words, none of us can afford much individually, but we'll make it work.

[R055ANA]

No, we don't buy gifts for our own kids so we are certainly not buying gifts for others outside our immediate family.

We don't really have relatives or friends buying us gifts either so I don't feel bad about it.

It is SO freeing for me not to have to worry about what gift I will be getting X.

[SaraElise]

We used to by for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE
his parents
my parents
his 2 grandmas
my 2 sets of grandparents
my aunt
5 of his aunts
1 of his cousins
his 9 siblings and their 2 spouses
our 3 nieces and nephews
my 4 siblings

So that was 35 gifts aside from each other and our kids

We still buy a lot, but have cut back and do gift exchanges with his 5 oldest siblings and spouses and my siblings, so that reduces 11 gifts to 4 (2 from each of us) and we draw names for his aunts with his older siblings so each of them gets an aunt each year.

It's still a pretty crazy number of gifts though

[mama_to_DJM]

Yep. I was kind of shocked when, for the first time, I added up what we spend for Christmas- but it all seems reasonable! It just adds up quickly. We buy for:

Our 3 kids
Gifts from the kids to their siblings (we let them each pick out a $10 or so gift)
Me and DH
DH's mom and dad
My mom
3 nephews
1 niece
One of my siblings and their spouse (we draw names)
DH's sister and her husband

[EmilytheStrange]

We buy for:
Me, DH and DD

-DH's mom, DH's dad, DH's stepmom, DH's stepdad
-My mom, my dad, one of my sisters, my BIL, my sister's 4 kids

I feel bad leaving out my other sister and her 4 kids and such.. but she moved away when I was like 9.. so I don't really know her or them.

[ajbailey89]

We buy for our two girls, each other, my parents and then everyone else gets baked goods.

[lemurmommies]

We buy for our little family (3 of us) plus: my mom & dad, my godmother and her husband, my closest cousin, my grandmother, as well as DP's mom & dad and usually a gift box for our 4 nieces and nephews.

[harmoni247]

we only give "real" gifts to the kids in the family (ours, our niece, my kid brothers).

Then the grandparents get something made by our kids, or with the kids pictures (like a clay plate with their hand prints, or a calendar of pictures).

The rest of the family gets a bulk gift (like homemade seasoned almonds last year, or mini blueberry pies, a mug with homemade cocoa mix, you get the idea). we also donate to a charity. when we have enough, we like to spend what we would have on a gift on a personalized charity that means something special to them....but if we're struggling, we'll donate a flat (lesser) amount to one charity as everyone's "gift". so, if we can only afford $5 per person that year, I'm not going to split it up.

[Huxley]

I buy for my daughter, my sister, my mother and father, my grandma and grandpa, and then I go in on a gift for my other grandma and grandpa. I'm also getting my best friend a small gift.

[Liadan23]

we buy for ds and dd and our nieces and nephews (9 on dh's side, none on mine). the adults don't exchange gifts. although, my parents usually can't help themselves and get gifts for my siblings and i. usually money or a gift certificate. dh and i don't really buy gifts for each other either, we sometimes go buy something for ourselves as a treat. my family all decided a couple years ago that it was just too stressful, and we'd all rather enjoy our holiday together without the extra stress. and keep our own money to go buy whatever else we want maybe that's grinch-like of us, but honestly, we're all happier for it. they do buy gifts for my kids, and i feel bad that we dont' reciprocate. but no one else has kids, and none of us want to bring back the mass present buying for adults. when my siblings have kids, i will probably buy gifts for them too.

dh's family has never been big on present exchanges, so that was never an issue. we bring gifts for the kids, but that's it. we don't exchange presents with friends. i will probably bake some cookies to give to the people in my group at work. there's only 4 of us, and they had started the tradition of exchanging small gifts amongst themselves before i started here. so i can't really bow out but cookies are no big deal.