To ask how much you spend on adult relatives at Christmas

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I’ve done my parents a little stocking each, with several low-value items (a nice book, some warm socks, sweets they like). I have really struggled for ideas this year but don’t want this to look like a sad effort. Is it enough? I suppose I could also maybe put in a voucher for their favourite restaurant for them to enjoy together, or buy DM a voucher for the local spa to have a nice massage. They deserve the world and I can’t think of a main present idea! Both have said they think Christmas is over commercialised and would prefer to just spend time together which we are going to do.

I have no idea what’s normal these days with cost of living and what most other people do. We earn average incomes definitely not minted but not struggling either.

That’s lovely. Mums are overlooked, I don’t mind at all but I spent up to 2k on gifts and get very little myself. It’s lovely that you recognise that and spoil them

£200 on DH, £80 ish on PIL, £60ish on siblings, £20 on sundry adults.

Christmas costs us about £2000 including all presents, food and the various outings we like.

Normally I’d spend about £100ish on my mum, and about £50 on my sisters but were just doing a secret Santa stocking with a £50 max for everything this year. Actually really looking forward and it’s forced me to be much more thoughtful! I’ve got my mum and I’ve really enjoyed shopping for little bits and bats

What people spend depends on what they can afford, what they think the person would like etc. I can't believe anyone sits down and comes up with a list of numbers and sticks to it. So if you want to buy your folks theatre tickets it might be £200 but the next year it might be something completely different for £50. Both are fine.
But if your parents don't want anything then at least respect them and don't buy anything else! Most people as they get older just don't want more stuff - they just want to be listened to!

We no longer buy for siblings, our only parent left is my mother in law and we have spent maybe £60. It depends. Last year we got her an iPad so spent a lot more.

I’m taking my mum on a short uk break in new year to Northumberland….then bought her a jigsaw….a new pegbag and made her up a little hamper….I’m paying for a trip to Amsterdam for my 3 AC and my partner and that’s it for adults….just the kids in family after that

We save throughout the year for my mum/dad/sister/her partner/my father in law - £100-£150pp.
DH and I set a budget of £200pp for each other, we’ve both gone over that by around £100.

Birthdays with my family are small, they’re a token gift. Christmas is the big one for all of us. DH and I will spend a lot on each other for birthdays as well, but my family don’t.

I just love getting them all bits and pieces that they want, they’ll be the odd chocolate etc, but most will be proper presents. Christmas is a big deal in our house.

Our budget changes each year though, we’ve gone up to £300pp and dropped down to £60pp. It’s flexible and depends on the year.

£30 ish

I spend £200 on each of my 3 adult DC. £100 on DS1 gf, £50 on SiL and £50 each on 2 DGC plus a stocking of about £30 each. I spend different amounts on MiL depending on what she wants. Last year I spent £280 on a pre used mobility scooter because she needed one and has used it a lot. I don't normally spend anywhere near This amount of her. This year I've got her a jumper with pockets she likes, outdoor slippers, Dove set, bath bombs, Thornton's chocolates as her favourites, a book she wants and some word search books she likes and highlighters. These will all be put into a stocking and I'll give her a nice potted plant in a ceramic pot too. BiL will have Berries and Cherries ciders, socks and a new wallet. Well take MiL and BiL out for a meal on 28th December. We're going up on 27th-29th. I don't buy for any other adults. My adult son who doesn't have a partner or gf is cooking Xmas dinner for me, DH and Foster son this year. I'll be taking a turkey crown, a joint of beef, crackers, 2 x champagne and 2 x wine, chocolates, cheese platter, cracker box, profittores from M&S and a lemon cheesecake, cream plus shortbread, marzipan fruits, Toblerone, After Eights and a few more festive bits I'll leave with him.

We Don’t buy adult presents, it’s such a waste as people end up buying shite or stuff you could have bought yourself with the money you spent on presents. If I want something I buy it, children are different though and very young adults and teens usually have low spending power so they may get something they need. Rarely anyone over 30 needs a gift.

You spent less on your GC than DSs girlfriend??? Am I reading this right?? I must have it wrong….or that is so weird 😳

Nothing because all adults can buy things for themselves and don't need to faff around buying things for others and wondering if they've got it right etc.

Get a no presents rule.

We only do secret Santas now amongst adults in our families and it's a £20 limit each. Even that soon adds up, most of us are far from wealthy.

I spend about £100 each on my parents - DH spends about £60 each on his but also has Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins to buy for where I don't. We both have a married sibling and get the couples a nice bag of treats each so Biscuits, fudge, honeycomb etc
Nieces and nephews - £25 each.

Apart from the odd little edibles, we’re not doing adult presents any more (aside from our own dcs.) Our parents are no longer with us anyway, but we still have siblings/BiLs/SiLs. Nobody wants any more ‘stuff’ and IMO any clothes/toiletries are usually better chosen by yourself.
We do charity donations/food bank instead.

No you read it right. I have 3 DC. I try to split money between the 3 groups. Each DC gets £200 each then a pot to share with their respective families. DD has a DH and 2 DC so I split money between them, DS 1 just has a gf as no DC and DS 2 is on his own this year. I do get on really well with my DS1 gf. She is very thoughtful and she doesn't have much money as she has a disability and can't work ATM, so I give her a little more to treat her. My 2DGC have 4 sets of Grandparents and 2 sets of Great grandparents so my DD won't let any of the Grandparents spend more than £50 on each child plus a little stocking. I often treat DS2 to a takeaway as he lives 3 miles from me. I often take him out for breakfast too and I always insist on paying.

What do they give you. If they give you 50 back.its pointless isn't it?

£100 on nephew , niece and mum
about £40 on brother and sister in law - depends what I see that they’d like tbh

£80/£85 on my nieces
£50 joint present for B&SIL
£150 on my Mum

If they are fairly trendy baby boomer types but slowing down - maybe an interesting cook book and ingredients box? My mum is 80 but loves Asian, Indian, African, vegan, Caribbean food trends she sees in paper and cooking a meal occupies a day enjoyably but trekking (4 buses) to the nearest ethnic food shop a nightmare

i don’t buy gifts for adults beyond my siblings.

once my siblings had kids I stopped buying for them and bought for my nephews and nieces.

when my nephews and nieces had kids i stopped buying for them and bought for their kids.

so I buy for 13 family member currently and 2 work colleagues (thank God we are a small team of 3)

otherwise I would need to remortgage the house for:
mum
husband
3 kids
3 siblings
11 nephews and nieces and their partners
8 great nephews and nieces
which is 27!
not to mention all the cousins and their children.

We don't have many adults to buy for because everyone has kids now and we all just buy for each other's kids instead.

I have one couple who we always buy a restaurant voucher for, for around €120 but they give us a restaurant voucher for around the same value. It's more about just recommending good places to each other I guess.
We spend around €80-€200 on parents depending on what we buy them that year, don't really have a set budget.
Secret Santa at work is a €20 limit.
My husband and I don't normally buy presents for each other at Christmas, we buy each other gifts year round when we see something the other would like but no pressure to get something specifically for Christmas.

£50-100 on each adult (parents, pil, brother, bil, sils). Adult nephew will get £50 cash.
DH it depends - so far I've spent about £70. Am considering a big purchase (really need to make my mind up) which would be about £700. But generally each year could be anywhere between £50 -£800 for dh, depending on what he needs / would like.

We do a secret Santa with the adults as there's 8 of us and then something small for the 3 kids limit is £100 for secret Santa use a site called draw names to choose and it allows people to make a wish list if there is something they want loop

I spend about £30 each on my parents and the siblings/partners (8 of us in total) all do a secret santa with a £40 budget which works well. then about £10 each on the nieces and nephews.