Is it too late to suggest no presents for adults?

[LaWeaselMys]

My dad mentioned that he thought we were a bit old last year.

Which is totally fine, I would have much rather he'd spent the money for my gifts on DD.

But I didn't say anything about it... should I leave it for next year and keep doing this year as usual?

Or can I ring up now and say 'have you bought anything yet?'

No, I said this to family this weekend just gone.

I am hugely happy at the liberation from having to buy 14 x presents for adults this year.

Just from the sheer can't be arsed factor.

FAR better to have just children to buy for. Only have to buy presents for 4 children now which is bliss.

Me and DP are not bothering either - we are going to treat ourselves to a meal at a smart restaurant as a present to ourselves.

it's worth mentioning - if people have already bought, then save it for next year.

we do this, but i get presents because i don't have children of my own

I think it is that for me this year too - there are just so many adults, and it's really hard to buy anything nice for an adult on a budget.

Right I have just suggested it to my sister and will see what she says.

I was hoping to convince DP to pitch in so we could buy ourselves a new mattress for christmas. Boring but sorely needed!

I tried to say it to MIL this week. She ignored me

I don't think ILs would go for it, sadly.

If it works with my family maybe I can convince DP to pitch it to his family next year.

I think it's worth mentioning, I think it is totally a waste of everyones time and money buying tons of presents for adults. However, to not be too Bah-humbug about it and to keep some christmas spirit I put all the adults names in a hat and do a secret santa with a £20 max spend. It works for us. Good luck!

Ask and see if people have already got things, we do a £10 budget for presents for adults, so it doesn't get over the top but you still get a little something

I am quite surprised how liberated I feel by not having to buy all those presents.

It is saving me a fortune, but more impiortantly saves me from feeling obligated to buy jumpers/perfumes/trinkets for adults and hoping that they like it, when frankly it would be best for all concverned to spend that £500 on something else.

There is so much TAT in the shops as well. I am certainly an avid shopper and am not frugal by any means, but all the stuff on display just for Christmas - stupid boots box sets of smellies, silly socks, christmas chocolate etc - who needs or wants this crap? What is the point of a single champagne glass with a mini bottle of cava and 3 chocolates? Why bother?

Think you can still have enough Christmas spirit by spending time with each other over a batch of mince pies, rather than deluging everyone with nonsensical gifts.

Sorry - rant alert!

Am going to start another thread about crap presents.

I would like to do this, but we have the most DC out of all the IL side of the family, and the only DC on my side, so I don't feel I na really say only presents for DC.
However, I thought last year I'd made a breakthrough and got everyone to agree that we'd set a budget for adult presents (thinking do what you can for a fiver or something) and everyone else got together and agreed on £20 max per adult. I was a bit and combined, as that was actually more than my personal budget per person each year anyway.

It gets silly doesn´t it?

I know it is lovely to buy presents, but when you end up buying somez´thing for the sake of it.

I´m sure often people hosting Christmas dinner would rather be bought a pudding or cake or something useful.

I thought about taking food

I've just been going round the shops not buying anything, because everything I can afford is a pile of poo that nobody would want.

Well we haven´t done presents for adults for years.

Husband & I don´t always bother for each other tbh.

I know that probably makes us sound really boring but if we really can´t think of anything then we don´t bother.

As long as the children are happy & we have a nice Christmas lunch.

I was going to do that this year. In this day and age where people have more than ever anyway, it gets harder and harder to think of gifts for people!

I would be deligted to have one of those Heston Blumethal´s puddings with the orange in.

I am happy to buy presents. But I hate the situation we have. Aside from me, no-one seems to be able to organie themselves enough to think about what someone might like. Instead the fuckers all e-mail me, asking for ideas. And it gets ridiculous, just an exchange of money really.

What is the point if you aren't choosing a gift yourself? I have to choose gifts for them. I choose my own for them, as I like to get something that I think that they will like, and I hate gift lists in adults.

I want to say "if you cannot think of anything to get for me, I would rather you didn't get anything at all".

I mean I choose the presents that I will get for them, not that they get for me.

I try every year with the ILs and my parents and every year I am too late (why they don't save the thought for next year though...). This year I asked DH to remind the ILs (it was early October) and, again, too late! Maybe next year...

I managed to do it was other people though. I think October half-term seems to be the cut-off for mentioning these things.

I am happily released from seasonal obligations with everyone apart from my own children and my parents. I buy for my parents and DH for his and neither or us buy for each other.

I have already warned the adults of the family that as I am being made redundant their presents will be token gesture. All agreed wholeheartedly to this, and while shopping for multibuy wine and chocs I decided that I would be just as happy for this sort of thing every year. You know - stuff to actually enjoy at christmas not some trinket or tat that you don't really like anyway