Ask:
Christmas is just over, and it is the perfect time to call up your friends and relatives to wish them a Happy New Year and say, "Thanks for the XYZ gift. It's great, and I'll really enjoy it. But how about next year we just keep it simple?"
A lot of us spend all year buying bargain gifts for the holidays. What if our obligations were smaller? Are we giving gifts to people just because we are good at finding bargains?
Answer:
Great point!
We did this three years ago when it just got to be too much. We waited until June when Christmas was far gone and 6 months away. Then we called up siblings on both sides of the family and said, "What would you think if instead of giving to each other this year we just bought for all the kids and for Mom and Dad?" They all thought it was a great idea!
Then the next year, again sometime during the summer when talking to siblings we said, "What would you think if we just got one nice gift each for each of the kids and went in for a larger gift for Mom and Dad?" Again they loved the idea!
Then last year, my brother (who is not even a little bit frugal) said, "How about next year if we give the kids experiences instead of gifts? We have too many toys." We loved the idea!
We just tried to suggest it in small doses. Changing traditions is really hard for some people.
Answer:
Originally Posted by KathrynHannah
Great point!
We did this three years ago when it just got to be too much. We waited until June when Christmas was far gone and 6 months away. Then we called up siblings on both sides of the family and said, "What would you think if instead of giving to each other this year we just bought for all the kids and for Mom and Dad?" They all thought it was a great idea!
Then the next year, again sometime during the summer when talking to siblings we said, "What would you think if we just got one nice gift each of the kids and went in for a larger gift for Mom and Dad?" Again they loved the idea!
Then last year, my brother (who is not even a little bit frugal) said, "How about next year if we give the kids experiences instead of gifts? We have too many toys." We loved the idea!
We just tried to suggest it in small doses. Changing traditions is really hard for some people.
great ideas/suggestions!
Answer:
No, I don't think I can. I only buy for my kids/grandkid, my parents and my sister's family. I do give something very small to teachers and that is it. I just have too many kids!!!
Answer:
We did! We no longer exchange Christmas gifts with anyone but our own parents and our own children...and DH. We seriously cut down on the $ amount for all oaf these. DH's parents are each getting fleece throw made my me this year (already made and wrapped!) I spent a total of $50 for both. My Mom will get one also, but I got her material for $14, so cheaper still. My Dad and step-Mom will get approx $20 of pictures in frames as a joint gift. That is it for xmas exept for my DSs and DH. All birthday gifts will either be just a card or $5 or less. I am done with that too for the year.
I did try to get the familie to adopt a family for Christmas instead of exchanging this year. Only my Mom was up for that, so this year we started eliminating gifts.
Answer:
I've been cutting down my gift list for a few years now too. I had 'the talk' with 2 friends this fall and was able to save about $60 by not getting them gifts. I'm pretty pleased with the amount of family/friends that we buy for and unless we lose touch with some of these people, I'm planning on buying for them next year. I'm lucky too, that I have a small family and do not buy for extended family(cousins, etc.) and on my DH's side we only buy for his Mom.