How many people do you buy for?

[Lovemusic33]

And how much do you spend per person/child….not including your own dc?

I’m just writing a list of people I need to buy for, 9 children and 10 adults, I have cut down on who I buy for but can’t really reduce it much more, the kids are mainly my DC’s nieces and nephews (my ex’s children’s children), so I buy them gifts from my dc who are not yet adults and then my niece and nephew. The adults are my parents and their partners (both remarried), my best friend, and my one remaining grandparent as well as the DC’s father and his partner (again I buy a token gift from the dc).

So if I spend £10-£15 on each that’s still over £200 😭

How much do you spend on each child/person? And how many are you buying for?

Are there any good token gift ideas for under £10 that will get used and not end up in landfill?

Suggest secret santa to your family, so everyone one buy and receives one really nice, thoughtfully chosen fist.
It’s revolutionised our spending/planning and is now just a lovely tradition.

@DowntonCrabby

Suggest secret santa to your family, so everyone one buy and receives one really nice, thoughtfully chosen fist. It’s revolutionised our spending/planning and is now just a lovely tradition.

Not really easy and it’s several different families, 2 sides of my family (my mum and dad are both remarried) and then my ex’s family which my dc still see. So we can’t really do secret Santa.

We don't buy for the adults (excluding our mums, grandparents and dads). Siblings, aunties and uncles etc don't have kids. We buy for the kids. It's still bloody expensive though!

We had no money last year and likely to have not much this year. I went to the second hand book store for all the adults and bought something each would enjoy. I said straight up this is what I was doing. It still contains some thought. Books can always be rehoused. Not being wasted
Extended family is large (12 adults plus 14 nieces and nephews plus godchildren)
Whole lot cost about £30

@DowntonCrabby

Suggest secret santa to your family, so everyone one buy and receives one really nice, thoughtfully chosen fist. It’s revolutionised our spending/planning and is now just a lovely tradition.

We did this in the past too

I’ve cut out aunties, uncles and siblings (though I feel bad as my brother and SIL buy me a small gift). It still seems like I’m buying for loads or I’m spending more than I need too. My parents don’t expect much, I usually buy them a token gift around £10 (a book, chocolates etc..).

That does sound tricky then, could you suggest adults stop buying for adults rather than exchanging token gifts?
If not I’d stick to consumables, wine, chocolates, candles, nice hand creams.

MIL gave all the adult males a keyring multitool thing a few years ago which was a great gift, useful and only a few £. Handbag hooks/ scarf hanger/ scented hangers/scented drawer liners are good for ladies. Totally aware of the casual sexism I’m displaying here!

I buy for
Mum and dad. Around £50/ £100 each
DH, DS1 and DS2. Sons around £200 each DH anything from £20 to £1000 depending what has caught my eye for him!
GF's of DS1 and DS2. Around £60 each
1 male friend. Around £25
5 female friend. Around £15 each.

I buy for DC, DH, a good friend of mine and I give one of our neighbors always a small gift with a card, usually a cake or some fancy chocolates.

Sorry forgot to add budget

DS : £100
DH: £50
Friend: £30
Neighbor usually £20

27 people incl nieces nephew and godchildren.

Just my adult children and my partner...oh and my one niece that is under 18. We don't buy for over 18 in our family generally. It makes life much less stressful.

5 people, 3 adults and 2 nephews. Approximately £50 each on the adults and £30 each on the kids. Twin nephews' birthdays are day after Boxing Day though so need to buy for that as well. Can't really afford it this year ☹️

Budget..£50 for my two kids..£20 for my niece. My DP depends on what l see that she would like.

I feel your pain. We buy for 30 people (family and friends children) and spend an average of £20 on them.
I’m horrified now that I’ve written it down!
I need to have a conversation with DH about how we can reduce the number of people we buy for

We don’t buy for adults except our parents who get a weekend away.
I only have 1 niece and 1 nephew and I spend £50 on each.
We have 3 DC so when my sister and sister in law ask for ideas, I send them things around £10-15 as I feel that’s fair, given they have 3 to buy for.
Lego do small sets or they sometimes get tie dye sets or a board game between them. Is that an option if any of your nieces and nephews are siblings?
I don’t expect anyone to spend a certain amount on mine and would hate to think anyone had struggled so they could get them all an individual gift.

@Whiterose23

I feel your pain. We buy for 30 people (family and friends children) and spend an average of £20 on them. I’m horrified now that I’ve written it down! I need to have a conversation with DH about how we can reduce the number of people we buy for

It does seem worse written down. I usually buy a couple gifts each week so I don’t usually notice how much it is, this year I’m planing on 2 shopping trips to get it all done and then I can concentrate on buying gifts for my 2 teens.

Really not many! Parents and one sibling each.

The tie dye kit might work for nephew and niece (they are 5 and 7), the others are younger, I haven’t got a clue what to buy the smallest 2 (age 1 and almost 3), they have so much already, I usually buy books or clothes. Then I have 3 teens to buy for 😬.

Token gifts for adults, I usually stick to consumables as already suggested.

I remember dd getting a big bubble blowing set for a birthday. It was probably only a few quid, but she loved it and it provided quite a lot of entertainment. Something like that or colouring or art stuff maybe. Could be about £5-10 per child. I think that's fine for your dcs' nieces and nephews.

I only have my niece and nephew to buy for, plus secret santan with siblings and I also buy for my dad and his partner. DH gets consumables only as he was minimalist before it was cool . Then our dcs. So altogether that's only 4 adults and 4 children, (I think), including my immediate family.

Oh NOT including my dc you said! Sorry.

So that's 3 adults and 2 dcs plus dh. I spend about £20-30 on the dcs, but there's only two of them! I wouldn't spend that much on more distant relatives.

I buy for around 50 people. Dh and I have large families and we still buy for grown up nieces/nephews and their children etc. Both our parents divorced and remarried so we have 4 ‘sets’ of parents.
I don’t sweat the shopping though, I take a bit of time writing the list and then do it online over 2-3 evenings.

Our 2 adult/older teen DCs. about £100 each
My Mum & Dad £20 each
MIL £20
3 great nieces/nephews £10 each
Food or gin for DB and SIL max £15

DH and I vary but we always agree a budget. Some years it’s a minimal amount, some years it’s about £50. Not often mite than that. Sometimes we buy ourselves a joint thing.

22, plus DH and baby. And dog
16 adults and 6 children, ages between 3 and 8.
I tend to spend around £20ish per person, or £30ish per couple (which does save a bit!)
I think I’ll probably need to think about how best to cut it back a bit for next year but, again, I’ve left it too late this year!

Oh and I don’t really set a budget for DH (have spent as little as £20 on a tight year and £600 on a flush year!), and baby is a brand new instalment for this year so it’ll be a token present if anything.