HELP! How do you work this with family at Christmas?? (presents, person)
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A couple of my new bio sisters and I are going to exchange gifts this year for Christmas, for the kids, when they come out to stay with us on Dec 26th.
Now, I have one son.
Next sister coming has 2 sons.
Youngest sister has 2 girls (and a new baby boy who I have already bought a baby gift for but wont count toward Christmas)
How do you work it in your family?
Set a max limit of money and spread the amount amongst the kids?
Example, in case I did not explain clearly:
One child: $100 gift
Two children: $50 each
Three children: $35 each
I am not buying for all nieces and nephews, not all of them will be here, only the ones listed above.
I mean, how does this work?
My adopted brother has no kids, so when he spent on my son, I would spend extra on him. Am wondering how families that buy for a few nieces and nephews work this when the number of kids in each family does not equal out?
Really need to know so my sisters and I can figure it out. Until I came along, everyone had 2-3 kids each. I am the only one with one kid.
A couple of my new bio sisters and I are going to exchange gifts this year for Christmas, for the kids, when they come out to stay with us on Dec 26th.
Now, I have one son.
Next sister coming has 2 sons.
Youngest sister has 2 girls (and a new baby boy who I have already bought a baby gift for but wont count toward Christmas)
How do you work it in your family?
Set a max limit of money and spread the amount amongst the kids?
Example, in case I did not explain clearly:
One child: $100 gift
Two children: $50 each
Three children: $35 each
I am not buying for all nieces and nephews, not all of them will be here, only the ones listed above.
I mean, how does this work?
My adopted brother has no kids, so when he spent on my son, I would spend extra on him. Am wondering how families that buy for a few nieces and nephews work this when the number of kids in each family does not equal out?
Really need to know so my sisters and I can figure it out. Until I came along, everyone had 2-3 kids each. I am the only one with one kid.
What is the proper way to do this???
Thanks!
In my family every adult sibling does what they can afford to do for the nephews (we have no girls in the family!). It's really not about the dollar value each child receives. One sister of mine has no kids, so we all buy gifts for her cats - which are her "babies".
A couple of my new bio sisters and I are going to exchange gifts this year for Christmas, for the kids, when they come out to stay with us on Dec 26th.
Now, I have one son.
Next sister coming has 2 sons.
Youngest sister has 2 girls (and a new baby boy who I have already bought a baby gift for but wont count toward Christmas)
How do you work it in your family?
Set a max limit of money and spread the amount amongst the kids?
Example, in case I did not explain clearly:
One child: $100 gift
Two children: $50 each
Three children: $35 each
I am not buying for all nieces and nephews, not all of them will be here, only the ones listed above.
I mean, how does this work?
My adopted brother has no kids, so when he spent on my son, I would spend extra on him. Am wondering how families that buy for a few nieces and nephews work this when the number of kids in each family does not equal out?
Really need to know so my sisters and I can figure it out. Until I came along, everyone had 2-3 kids each. I am the only one with one kid.
What is the proper way to do this???
Thanks!
Generally, spread it out reasonably...if there gets to be a big pack...do a gift exchange where everyone draws someone else's name and gets them a gift. We did that all through my childhood years on my moms side of the family.
We decided to let the nieces and nephews exchange gifts because the adults do not need anything. We set a cap of $50 per child...it seems to work well.
what you have outlined already looks fine. I think you can find something for the children with that amount of money. I think that's fair enough. If you can notch the $35 up to $40 that would be cool but if not it looks just fine as is.
JG wrote: Example, in case I did not explain clearly: One child: $100 gift Two children: $50 each Three children: $35 each
I don't know if it has so much to do with fairness or balancing it out....it's more of a situation where you set your spending budget and split it up among however many kids you have to buy for. It may be $50 per kid or it may be $5 per kid. I refuse to look at Christmas as a huge financial obligation and lose all my peace and joy. I plan on spending a set amount and that is all I am going to spend. Usually, I give a box of age appropriate art supplies to each family member child that I purchase all through the year and fix each child their own special box.
why dont you find something nice for them. it could be as expensive as 25 bux or it could be from the 99 cent store. remember its the thought that counts. NOT THE PRICE
why are people so materialistic. or caught up on money.
and why do people have to know how much somehting cost? will they appreciate it more? be more thankful? take care of it more? thats just rude.
howabout you guys just do a gift exchange with thoughtful presents. ask what the kids like. dinosaurs, dolls etc. if they like dinosaurs get them a book on dinosaurs. it could be 10 bux. if you think that you have to BUY their love with a more expensive gift, then add a "fossil" digging kit. or a fossil replica of a dino. be creative. and that does not mean you have to spend tons of money.
i know its your 1st xmas, but make it about the act of giving and not the price of a product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeepGirl118
A couple of my new bio sisters and I are going to exchange gifts this year for Christmas, for the kids, when they come out to stay with us on Dec 26th.
Now, I have one son.
Next sister coming has 2 sons.
Youngest sister has 2 girls (and a new baby boy who I have already bought a baby gift for but wont count toward Christmas)
How do you work it in your family?
Set a max limit of money and spread the amount amongst the kids?
Example, in case I did not explain clearly:
One child: $100 gift
Two children: $50 each
Three children: $35 each
I am not buying for all nieces and nephews, not all of them will be here, only the ones listed above.
I mean, how does this work?
My adopted brother has no kids, so when he spent on my son, I would spend extra on him. Am wondering how families that buy for a few nieces and nephews work this when the number of kids in each family does not equal out?
Really need to know so my sisters and I can figure it out. Until I came along, everyone had 2-3 kids each. I am the only one with one kid.
I can't help you out with financial math but it sounds like a great time. I hope things go well for you all this holiday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeepGirl118
A couple of my new bio sisters and I are going to exchange gifts this year for Christmas, for the kids, when they come out to stay with us on Dec 26th.
Now, I have one son.
Next sister coming has 2 sons.
Youngest sister has 2 girls (and a new baby boy who I have already bought a baby gift for but wont count toward Christmas)
How do you work it in your family?
Set a max limit of money and spread the amount amongst the kids?
Example, in case I did not explain clearly:
One child: $100 gift
Two children: $50 each
Three children: $35 each
I am not buying for all nieces and nephews, not all of them will be here, only the ones listed above.
I mean, how does this work?
My adopted brother has no kids, so when he spent on my son, I would spend extra on him. Am wondering how families that buy for a few nieces and nephews work this when the number of kids in each family does not equal out?
Really need to know so my sisters and I can figure it out. Until I came along, everyone had 2-3 kids each. I am the only one with one kid.
I would spend the same amount of money on each kid, regardless of how many kids everyone has, like $20.00/kid...it sounds like you only have two nephews and two nieces to worry about, right? Think of age-appropriate gifts that they would like, keep a specific amount in mind, and that should make your shopping trip much easier. If you use that basis for gift-giving, it wil make your life much easier as the kids get older, because KIDS NOTICE EVERYTHING!!! So, if your sister gets your kid something for $100.00, but you spend $35.00/apiece on her kids, they will notice, sooner or later!
Trust me, I've had the same experience. All of this should be about spending time with each other, and the memories, because gifts are nice, but I bet that everyone will remember the special events, and not what they opened. Some ideas, if the girls are old enough, is make gift baskets with baking supplies, an apron, etc, and make cookies or something with them while they are there. For the boys, same thing, or there are some really cool 'gross science' kits and cast-and-paint your own dinosaur or shark kits...stuff like that is fun, and if they do something while they are there, they won't be 'bored' all the time, and will have a memory to take home with them as well!
I hope this helps, because when I was with my ex, I had to be creative with buying for a big family, and it seemed like every year it worked out really well, the kids always like what they got from us, and it was never an extravagent gift!
This year, I'm buying for 3 step-kids...pressure's on
Generally, spread it out reasonably...if there gets to be a big pack...do a gift exchange where everyone draws someone else's name and gets them a gift. We did that all through my childhood years on my moms side of the family.
My family does a gift exchange/name draw between everyone over age 18 & then whatever we feel is individually appropriate for the little ones. Some years I go way overboard (no kids of my own) & some years I try to keep it under control. I've been lucky tho - I've always been able to find something unique to each kid & they rarely were of equal cost.
Perhaps with your situation, you could put everyone's name in the hat - all ages. Doesn't mean you couldn't still get gifts for whomever in addition to who your hat pull is....for us it's fun because we really try to come up with something spectacular (not nec. $$-wise) since we only have "one" person to buy for.
Actually, this is a pretty cool "dilemma" you have this year! Enjoy every minute!
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