Thanks for sharing! I’m already missing the Christmas holiday so this is a nice refresher :)

When Christmas is spent with my family, the rule is if you’re over 15, you bring two gifts worth approximately US$15-$20 each, and we do something similar to Travis @Debtchronicles above. Pile them in the middle of the room, we sit in a circle, and draw numbers from a hat. Person number one goes first and chooses a gift from the pile, but only by pointing and describing (so no squeezing and shaking). A child not involved in the scheme (they get their own gifts as usual, usually limited to $50 or so) delivers the selected gift which gets opened. The second person (and subsequent people) then decide if they want to steal an already opened gift, or open a new one, but a gift can only be stolen twice before it’s pronounced DEAD. If your gift gets stolen, you get another turn, and we work through in number order till everyone has one gift, whether dead or not. Then we work backwards in number order, stealing and unwrapping in amongst lots of hilarity. When there is only one unwrapped gift left in the pile, it is a frantic go around the group of “what’s dead?” as opening the final gift means you’re stuck with it and there’s no more stealing. The most stolen gifts are lottery/scratch tickets, and the teens involved usually buy two gifts they want, and the adults like to steal them to tease :)

A few years back, when one of my nephews was in his early teens and aspiring to be a chef, would spend the last few weeks of November making hoards of meals to pack into single serve containers, freeze them, and that would be his early combined birthday/Christmas gift to his two single (at the time) aunties living together who were usually too frantic to cook during December.

As for gifting between myself and the other half, because our birthdays are in February and March respectively, and throw in Valentines, we spend about US$350-$400 to cover all three events. I didn’t get a Christmas gift this time around, and my birthday marks possession date for our new home, I’ve been told something great is coming after the move is done. I spent about $100 on his Christmas gift which came late, and I’ll spend the remainder on something that he discovers he needs or wants once we’ve moved.

I’m otherwise a grinch when it comes to gifts. I don’t usually want them myself, so I don’t give them, especially if I’m not going to be there on the day.

Anyway, I try to map out my Christmas spending in the first week or so of November. I’ve already picked up one small gift and am plotting out what others might like. This year, I’m only going to buy gifts for Mom, Dad, Baby Sis and Baby Bro. I might do some baking for when I visit friends in Victoria… but it’s going to be a family-only Christmas for me this year! With that in mind, I’d like to keep it in the $200-250 range.

My husband and I really emphasize home-made gifts for eachother, (winners so far: from him: portrait of us in pixels, from me: quilt made out of his old t-shirts) and we work together on making delicious foodstuffs and handicrafts for our friends. My family is hugely into gift giving but they’re getting more and more into making things.

I’ve just started a bi-weekly craft night (wine and musicals -yes please) with some girlfriends which are dedicated to Xmas gift making.

There is still some buying – mostly thoughtful trinkets or gags, and since I have 13 cousins and all of the associated aunts and uncles – that side of the family does an annual Secret Santa. One gift, $20 maximum. Most of our holiday budget goes into supplies – usually $150-$200 takes care of everyone on both sides as well as friends. The cost in time, of course, is astronomical – and that counts for a lot. But I try to just contrast that with the money I’m not spending going to the movies or out for drinks instead. ;)

This post has made me so excited for Christmas – I can’t wait now!

I like the way you broke down your expected gift budget. I’m going to steal that idea, too, so thanks! :)