I might have cut present buying down to the extreme lower levels???

[hidinginthenightgarden]

I hate tat. DH hates tat and a sister expressed to me a few months ago that she is "over getting bought stuff".
In light of this I have suggested to DH that we don't buy for each other and for siblings we have an afternoon together doing something nice as we rarely get together. All ideas gratefully received!
On top of this I don't buy for friends so I only have my kids, parents and grandparents to buy for.
Extreme? Have I gone to far? DH parents (and both grandparents) give us money not gifts so we will only get presents from my parents.
I don't think I will regret it but am having doubts!

I only buy gifts for my grandchildren, my family agreed not to buy for any adults. My daughters and son also agreed to only buy for their own children, not nieces or nephews. It's so much less stressful. I don't miss getting gifts at all.

I’ve cut my list down hugely over the years and now the only adults I buy for are my parents and a token gift for DH (we usually book ourselves an overnight or weekend away for Spring instead). My siblings and I agreed to stop years ago which was such a relief as two of them in particular are incredibly hard to buy for!

Up until this year I was still buying for three friends but I bit the bullet @ September and suggested we knock it on the head and instead arrange lunch or dinner sometime in December. Frankly we were struggling to think of things to buy each other and we’re all able to buy things as and when we want them.

We still have 11 nieces and nephews we give presents to but I really don’t mind that and have always been clear that presents stop when they are adults.

I really hate doing secret Santa. I think your plan sounds great. My parents do similar. They meet up with their siblings and have Christmas lunch together in early December. I’m a single parent so I treat myself to a few special things for Christmas. I love it as I can get exactly what I want and not feel guilty. For my birthday I got myself a new bag.

I buy for dc and dh, that's it!

Our secret Santa isnt secret at all. I call it that for convenience. MIL pulls names out of a hat so one adult buys for another adult. You then forward on a list of options and your buyer chooses one to give you. Everybody's happy

We do what @Wildorchidz does and it is brilliant!
So freeing! I see people running round buying ridiculous tat and feel sorry for them.

Why is it on here if someone buys for a lot of people the suggestion is they must be buying "tat"?

I buy for siblings/nieces/nephews/siblings' husbands/wives/close friends and my mum, so in total 33 people but none of what I buy is cheap or tat.

My siblings all buy for me (again no tat), my mum doesn't buy any of us tat and we don't stop buying our nieces/nephews when they become adults.

Do what is best for you and your family, but I don't see why the need for any judgement. I don't care what people do or don't spend because Christmas should be what you want it to be, not what anyone else tells you it is.

I think you are doing the right thing!

I buy for my adult daughter, my parents and my sibling's grandchildren. I used to buy for my nephew and niece until they had their own children, hence buying for the grandchildren.

A lot of my friends moan about how Christmas costs too much/they are buying presents for family they never see etc and all say that they envy my short list. They don't seem to understand that they could do the same if they wanted to! I think each is frightened of raising the subject, but I think many of them would be surprised that their families would be in full agreement!

We buy for our dc, godchildren and each other. Haven’t bought for siblings for years.

This is what we mostly do too. I don't buy for siblings. I don't have parents to buy for. I buy for godchildren on my side. Dh has 2 nieces so buys for each. This year he is not partaking in buying gifts for adults on his side and hopes to meet for dinner instead where we will all just pay our own way. I don't have the head or the enthusiasm for shopping for anyone apart from our kids tbh and even with them they all have to give me a detailed list of what they'd like. Buying for Dh has become difficult in recent years as he claims not to need or want anything.

I suppose you’re lucky that you can buy expensive presents for 33 people WagtailRobin. Often, people can’t afford to spend a lot of money on so many people so they are trying to find things to fit a budget, which might not be something the person actually wants to receive.

I buy for DSis x 2, their partners x 2 DM, DF and DD and DDog. That is the sum of my family. I also buy wine for my daughter's teachers.