How much do you spend on Xmas presents?

When the children were small and money was tight my dear OH and I agreed not to buy each other presents and we have kept this up. He, however, has a Christmas birthday and so gets masses of high value pressies.

I give my children £100 each and spend another £50-£80 on things to unwrap on the day. I spend £50 on my sister and mum and £30 each on my nieces and £40 on my BIL.

It's all a bit much, I know. I don't know how to 'row back' as they say. No one seems to notice that they are opening presents and I am not. My mother sulked because she thought the kids were getting more than she was and didn't even 'clock' that I had less than she did. From her I had a pair of grey tights that my sister bought and wrapped.

Hilarious, they must have mistaken me for a nun as I've never worn grey tights in my life!

We don't spend much on each other, just get a few bits and bobs. We have one daughter and one granddaughter and I have to admit to going a bit over the top on presents for them which is ridiculous as our DD is in her 40s. We've always done it but each year I say we won't but still do.

Secret Santa for the grown ups and small gifts for the little grandchildren ; Our children have requested no big pressies as they have no space . We have all contributed to a trampoline for twins and a new scooter for DGD. We spend very little really. One friend goes even further - Secret Santa must be from a Charity shop ,may try that next year !

Hi I love love giving presents . I am spending about £50 each on the four grandchildren. About .£40 on sils and lots more on my daughters. The children have loads of prezzies but I still like spoiling my own two. Have never stopped really since they were little.
Other half and I spend about £150 each but we have only been together 14 yrs and we like to treat each other even if it is a nightmare finding something we want.
I do keep saying that one day I won't be able to do this but so far that day has not arrived.

I love Christmas and love giving presents. I didn't have any nice Christmas's growing up and DHs parents were quite frugal so I make a big splash and spend a fair bit on immediate family and each other. We have a chosen charity too. Overall I stay within the budget I have set. Although if anything the food budget is flexible!!

Am I an old fuddy-duddy or does the idea of it being a "nightmare finding something we want" make anyone else feel very uncomfortable? If there is nothing you want, then maybe that money might be better spent going to a charity. Or saving it for when a GC has need of it.

I am beginning to think that I am totally out of touch here!

I like to set a budget. We always agree the budget. Then DH goes into Christmas overdrive and said budget goes out of the window! The budget was: £50 for each of our children and each of their partners; £50 each for each of our two step grandsons, who always have money; £100 for our one and only grandson (well, it's a given that that one will be blown to the four winds without a second thought!). I spend about £30 on my neice, who is my closest remaining relative, and so far DH has spent £20 on me and i have spent about £18 on him. All the above budgets have so far been exceeded because he just loves Christmas and buying presents. He can't help himself! I resign myself to ensuring that he buys sensible presents and not the sort of things they will open and then struggle to find something nice to say about something they'll hate!

When we had a young family, it was all about the kids . Then we were both working with good jobs so I would estimate in that period about £1500 all told on presents for our DD's, SIL's , friends and family and food. I paid for it all because I was bringing home the sort of salary that allowed me to do that.

Now we're retired ( apart from coming as a huge shock to DH LOL) I spend about £125 on our 4 grand kids, £25 on our two SIL and about £50 each on our DDs. Only one niece now under 18 ( my cut off for adult gifts outside of our close family) so about £20 on her. DH and I treated ourselves to new iPads on our holiday this year , so not much for each other but that not much will probably be about £100 each.

I love love love Christmas. Not just for the gifts although finding the perfect gift for someone makes my day, but also because I get everyone ( if I'm lucky ) at my house at some stage, to feed and spoil and celebrate with.

I budget for this type of spend and I don't begrudge a single penny. I don't smoke, drink very little and don't have any other vices ( they're all pleasures!) so the festive season is my pleasure and my guilty secret. .

I have just heard that our oldest step grandson is planning to 'surprise' us with a visit on his way back from uni on Friday! The thought that he would want to do that will be a present beyond price. Of course it could just be that he is hoping for a good lunch!

Around £150 on each of dgc and £100 each on dc and their spouses, so app £1100. By the time I buy brothers, in laws and my two very best friends it's usually about £1500 in total. DH and I just treat each other if we see something we like in the post Xmas sales.

This year I am spending about £50 on each of my 3 grandchildren they need clothes so that's what they are having. My daughters and sons in law won't be getting a great deal but that's life lol. My hubby and I have never really bought for each other because it was always about the kids now the grandchildren. I don't need anything really. Plus we have a holiday booked for Jan so that can be our xmas present to each other

Not posted before - but I had to join in on this one

Reading NanaandGrampy's post was like reading my own! I'm so excited for Christmas, the first one with my very own grandson. I've seen in other posts that I'm not alone in being taken by surprise by the tidal wave of emotion when a grandchild arrives.

Must remember to keep the tissues handy on Christmas Day

Nothing! I live with my best friend and we buy things for each other all year round. We are going to Dublin four 4 days on Sunday, so that's that. My children have declared me dead, so obviously I can't send anything from beyond the grave, even if I knew where they were, which I don't. I'm not Scrooge, it's just how things have worked out.

Limit of £30 each for DS, DDs and DSiL, £50 each for 2 DGSs. Amount varies for DH but not in the realms of the high figures on The One Show. He gets what he wants/needs, which might cost £20 but this year he's having a FitBit costing £70. He is more extravagant but has been known to buy and wrap up 'things we need' e.g. Vacuum cleaner, towel rail, toilet roll holder!

shestheone loved your post and I remember my small GCs first Xmas Day he wa six months old and about the size and shape of an oven ready turkey all plump and warm I just couldn't put him down all day. . By the next year when he was singing little songs I was a heap of blubbing. Have a great Christmas.

I've bought hubby two sweaters which he picked himself. He's got me a dressing gown and a magazine subscription. We buy the grandchildren a bit more than the adults, but we are not over the top. I've knitted my sister in law a few things as she really appreciated that last year. I used my Tesco and Nectar vouchers for most of what I bought.

I set a limit of £100 each for the main present for adult children and grandchildren, but then buy a lot of stocking fillers so it probably adds up to £150 each or more. I would like to cut back, but my DIL and family are so generous to us that I don't want to seem mean. I do save in a special account throughout the year for it, so it isn't too painful.

We do Secret Santa max £50 for the grown ups (including cousins, aunts etc, anybody who will be part of our Christmas together) and I reckon to spend between £30 and £50 each on the DGC.
For some reason I had assumed that we weren't doing SS this year as DDand SIL's present to us and her sisters and BILs is a week at a posh lodge next door to their house at Cricket St Thomas so that we can all be together. So I had just finished my present buying when I got the Secret Santa memo That will teach me to be organised well in advance.

We have never bought presents for each other as a) when children were young we couldn't afford it and b) now we can afford it, if we want it we buy it anyway. Also, as we only have a joint account we would be paying for half of our present. I can understand that if there was something you wanted but thought an indulgence and your other half knew you would like it and bought it as a surprise, that would be lovely but, personally, I can't see the point of writing a list. As for what we spend on family, we spend about £100 per child and similar for our grandchildren. Our philosophy, we would rather see them enjoy our money now rather than after we're gone. Obviously, if our circumstances change we would have to cut down.

I don't count, just spend until I cant afford any more without going into debt. I spend most on my DGD then my DD then my mother, with a few friends who get the least (most of my friends agree with me not to spend on xmas gifts).

DH and I gave up on presents for each other years ago and just buy stuff we need/want whenever we need/want it. A few years ago we also declared 'presents for children only' and that's what we do. Of course, that means we don't get presents ourselves but we are not bothered. We spend about £50 per grandchild. I'm glad to read on this thread that others think similarly and we are not particularly Scrooge-like!

OH and I never used to buy each other Christmas presents, instead we bought things for us, new TV, music system etc. We never had a lot of money and with 4 daughters between us we spent what we had on them. Now I buy for 6 grandchildren, this year between £25-£35 each. 2 daughters and sil's get a small gift each as does step grandson. Stopped buying for nieces and nephews once they reached 21. Only others I buy for are my 80 year old parents and my 84 year old aunt, once again I will buy matinee tickets for them to see a musical, last year it was 'Top Hat', this year 'Chicago', they all love the theatre. Sadly since my husband passed away contact with my step-daughters has gradually diminished and I have seen neither of them this year.

We buy Secret Santa presents for adults involved on the day, maximum officially £50. This group can include in-laws from both DDs. Presents for the children not included, but limited by the wish of all adults to make sure children have a lovely Christmas but are not over indulged. DD1 sometimes keeps back for later, for 7-year-old,some presents from outside the immediate family. DD2's twins only 17 months so don't know presents from wrapping.

DH loves to buy extra presents for me though.

DH loves to buy extra presents for me though.