Holiday

[Mominohio]

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@Grade1Teach wrote:

I'm in the midst of life with two small kids - I have a new niece and my sister just got married.  I expect gift giving will be the same, if not a bit more, than last year.

I always say I'm going to cut back, but it never works out that way.  Honestly, I'd like to cut back with my own children.  I feel like they always get too much (but at the time I feel like it's not enough) and then I'm going crazy after Christmas trying to put their things away and organize.  Sometimes they don't even really play with the things they get.  When will I learn my lesson?     

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@Grade1Teach

I've been exactly where you are. In the midst of raising children, and having family doing the same, the whole gift thing can be quite overwhelming. 

That is when I learned to shop year round, because I wanted to give well, and spread out the cost. There is an element of burden in that time of life and gifting....the time, the money, the work of it all....but it does pass ever so quickly, so enjoy it while it lasts! 

I do know, that if I had it to do all over again, I would give my son fewer gifts at the holidays/birthdays.

I was always able to find like new things second hand (Little Tikes was especially the big thing when he was young, and I would find so many of their things like new for just a few dollars) and shopped all year, so I tended to over buy. When he was very young, I'd especially buy educational things years in advance and hold them till the appropriate time for him. All that shopping ahead lead to simply way more things for any given holiday than he needed.

So he had lots of stuff, great stuff, for cheap, but too much stuff, all the same. 

I never understood it until the last year or so, but I'm finally to the point where I want/need very little in the way of things people will be gifting and I'm more than willing to buy less. Seems everyone I know is really in the same stage, so it all works out great. 

So don't beat yourself up, but I can say, I wish I had reigned it in at a much earlier age, or really, never started the excessive giving.

[Mominohio]

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@gidgetgh wrote:

I think our gift spending will be around the same as last year.  I don't really keep exact track of it, to the penny, so I don't really know, but I think I probably always stay around the same.

The number of people I'm buying for will probably be the same.  Maybe a few less. We buy for several people and I enjoy that.   I'm thinking about cutting back a few people, but in the end probably won't.  Definitely no additions to the list.

What I AM doing this year that's going to be very different than last year is that I want the gifts to be physically small.  Last year I gave gifts to several people....many people.... and they were very bulky (I gave my group of friends all the same bulky gifts)  and hard to wrap and on the ones that needed to be shipped were difficult to find the right shipping box and then expensive to mail.  It drove me nuts.  By the time it was finally time to ship them or give them locally to the recipients, I was overwhelmed by it.  It all felt like clutter to me.  I couldn't wait to get the gifts out of our house.  GET IT ALL GONE.

So, as I've posted here earlier, I've already started shopping for this year.  I have my list and so far I'm doing a fabulous job, LOL, of getting great gifts that aren't so freaking bulky.  They're nice and physically small and I'm thrilled with my choices so far.  And hopefully that will help make Christmas not feel so overwhelming to me this year.  My goal is that the gifts I give to each of my friends, daughter in law and a great niece will fit inside a standard sized shirt box, not the larger sized robe box.

Oh, one change I'm going to work really hard on this year.  I'm the queen of the add on gift.  I'll be done and then find something(s) small that I really like and then I'll buy several and add them on to gifts I have.  I'm going to try to not do that this year.

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@gidgetgh

If you are the queen of the add on gift, I must be the princess! LOL

I'm really bad about that too. 

Last year, I didn't know my son's girlfriend very well. I went to TJ Maxx, and did know that, as my son put it, "If you like it mom, she will like it, you guys have similar tastes, and when I go shopping with her, it's like it's you!". 

So because she is always cold, I started with a throw. Our TJ's has tons of the most beautiful throws every year at that time. So I picked a thick soft  white one, with grey elegant print. Then, I thought if she is going to snuggle up in a throw she needs a candle to burn, so I found a mercury glass silver candle (well, I found two, alike, the other was black and both had a big silver snowflake on the front, and couldn't decide so she got both) that coordinated with the throw perfectly. Then if you are snuggled up and warm, basking in the glow of a candle, you should read, so then a book. Well, before you get all warm and snugly, you should maybe want to take a nice bath, so I got body wash, lotion, body butter and bar soap by Au Lait (love the clean smell of that line! and it is all white, with black graphics on the containers). Topped it all off by finding silver/grey metallic elegant and thick snowflake gift bags and tissue paper to match. The whole thing was grey/silver/white with a touch of black, all coordinated and nice. 

I love TJ Maxx for that reason. I've gone in and created huge gift baskets, with up to 10 themed/coordinating things at the same time in one place. 

But, yeah, a shopping trip for a gift for my kid's girl friend turns into add on this, and add on that! I had a blast doing it though!

[Mominohio]

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@Marsha2003 wrote:

I will buying fewer Christmas gifts this year.  I finally got my parents to agree to not exchanging gifts!  Yay!  We went to visit them in late spring instead.  So, I still need to buy something for my three aunts and my nephew.  I bought each of the aunties that celestial kaleidoscope tree last year at the as-is price.  I hope I can find something that exciting and well-priced this year.  If not, I may send them a live wreath for their front door.

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@Marsha2003

Add me to your list of aunties! I'd love a fresh wreath for the door! My mom used to send me the VPH fresh wreath, and I loved it!

[gidgetgh]

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@Mominohio wrote:

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@gidgetgh wrote:

I think our gift spending will be around the same as last year.  I don't really keep exact track of it, to the penny, so I don't really know, but I think I probably always stay around the same.

The number of people I'm buying for will probably be the same.  Maybe a few less. We buy for several people and I enjoy that.   I'm thinking about cutting back a few people, but in the end probably won't.  Definitely no additions to the list.

What I AM doing this year that's going to be very different than last year is that I want the gifts to be physically small.  Last year I gave gifts to several people....many people.... and they were very bulky (I gave my group of friends all the same bulky gifts)  and hard to wrap and on the ones that needed to be shipped were difficult to find the right shipping box and then expensive to mail.  It drove me nuts.  By the time it was finally time to ship them or give them locally to the recipients, I was overwhelmed by it.  It all felt like clutter to me.  I couldn't wait to get the gifts out of our house.  GET IT ALL GONE.

So, as I've posted here earlier, I've already started shopping for this year.  I have my list and so far I'm doing a fabulous job, LOL, of getting great gifts that aren't so freaking bulky.  They're nice and physically small and I'm thrilled with my choices so far.  And hopefully that will help make Christmas not feel so overwhelming to me this year.  My goal is that the gifts I give to each of my friends, daughter in law and a great niece will fit inside a standard sized shirt box, not the larger sized robe box.

Oh, one change I'm going to work really hard on this year.  I'm the queen of the add on gift.  I'll be done and then find something(s) small that I really like and then I'll buy several and add them on to gifts I have.  I'm going to try to not do that this year.

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@gidgetgh

If you are the queen of the add on gift, I must be the princess! LOL

I'm really bad about that too. 

Last year, I didn't know my son's girlfriend very well. I went to TJ Maxx, and did know that, as my son put it, "If you like it mom, she will like it, you guys have similar tastes, and when I go shopping with her, it's like it's you!". 

So because she is always cold, I started with a throw. Our TJ's has tons of the most beautiful throws every year at that time. So I picked a thick soft  white one, with grey elegant print. Then, I thought if she is going to snuggle up in a throw she needs a candle to burn, so I found a mercury glass silver candle (well, I found two, alike, the other was black and both had a big silver snowflake on the front, and couldn't decide so she got both) that coordinated with the throw perfectly. Then if you are snuggled up and warm, basking in the glow of a candle, you should read, so then a book. Well, before you get all warm and snugly, you should maybe want to take a nice bath, so I got body wash, lotion, body butter and bar soap by Au Lait (love the clean smell of that line! and it is all white, with black graphics on the containers). Topped it all off by finding silver/grey metallic elegant and thick snowflake gift bags and tissue paper to match. The whole thing was grey/silver/white with a touch of black, all coordinated and nice. 

I love TJ Maxx for that reason. I've gone in and created huge gift baskets, with up to 10 themed/coordinating things at the same time in one place. 

But, yeah, a shopping trip for a gift for my kid's girl friend turns into add on this, and add on that! I had a blast doing it though!

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@Mominohio- your turned the whole “I think I’ll get her a throw” into an entire theme gift!  

I’ll move over on the add on gift throne and make room for you. 

I get little stuff for add ons. Little travel sized hand lotions, purse notes, little packs of holiday tissues, stuff like that. And then I’ll buy several of each and it’s off to the races. 

Last year I found these really small boxes of shortbread cookies, bought one for my husband and he really liked them. So then I bought a gazillion more and gave a box to everyone. Boxes of cookies everywhere. 

This year, I found these great hooks to hang in the closet at The Container Store. I loved them so I bought 12 more packs and everyone is getting a pack. Then I found this really cute, inexpensive foldable trivet at Bed Bath and Beyond and bought 6 of them to give to people.  It was right after that that I made the decision to knock it off with the add ons this year. 

Cute story on the hooks though. I just gave a set two weeks ago to a friend as part of her birthday gift. She liked them so much that the same afternoon, SHE ordered 10 sets for add on Christmas gifts for her family and friends. I got a kick out of that. 

[SunValley]

I have had a short gift list for years, and the presents are modest. If someone will be at my home when gifts are unwrapped, I do have a gift. I start buying in October, a few each month. I keep within my budget and have no Christmas hangover in January. This works for me.

[Marsha2003]

@Mominohio  Sure, you can be an honorary aunt! 🙂

[PA Mom-mom]

@Mominohio We decided years ago amongst our siblings that we would stop the gift giving to brothers, sisters, and their children. We still take a hostess gift at holidays and perhaps something small and useful for the other SILs. For our children and grandchildren, we have gone to money or gift cards - at their request - and increase the denomination according to the cost of living. Sometimes we find little things that our children would like, but the cold, hard cash is still most appreciated. 

[homedecor1]

It's been Christmas since this year started! Many milestones for my kids so we've been "generously" gifting them for things they needed now.

I don't have any others that I gift give so it's easy & stressless!

Maybe some gift cards but nothing extravagant.  Those days are gone now that it's just my kids, gd & us.  We never did the gift thing as if we want it just buy it ...Christmas doesn't have the same "meaning" since many family members have passed & friends have become less.

Guess at a certain age -- things start changing faster than we like! In fact, I probably won't even decorate (my thoughts at this time) my kids have already planned Thanksgiving will be our family holiday as they already made vacation plans with in-laws.

[Sweetbay magnolia]

I really enjoy giving Christmas gifts.  I have no intention of stopping.

There are a few that will always be on "the list", but, beyond that, it's whatever the spirit calls for.

[Spurt]

There are no small children among our extended family/relatives and many family members have passed on. So gift giving has become very limited, out of family/friends only about 6 of us even want to exchange gifts and its come down to mostly gift cards now OR a donation in their name to a favorite charity....We also set a limit of $25-$35 too.......We mostly enjoy just getting together and sharing the Christmas spirit and true meaning of the holiday...........