Aside from our religious beliefs, one thing that most everyone agrees on is that Christmas is the season for giving, but how can we give to multiple family members without taking a second mortgage out on the house? Some people only buy for moms and dads, maybe brothers and sisters, but what happens if you are all together for a great Christmas dinner and every one but you gets a gift. Granted, Christmas isn’t about receiving but it would hurt a bit to be the only one left out. Now on the other hand, what if you only had the money to buy for one or two family members, wouldn’t you feel bad for giving to one without giving to the others? Here is an idea on how to prevent this whole situation from becoming an issue. This is what my family does…
My husband and I travel with our kids to visit our family on the holidays, soon before or after the exact date, saving the exact date for our own private family celebration. We preplan a date with his side of the family and mine, with his consisting of around 10+ people and mine having around 15+ people. As you can imagine, it gets expensive. My dad made the statement a few years back, “I hate the holidays because people stress more over money than remembering what the day actually means…”. After realizing that once again my dad was right, we came up with a new plan.
Every year at our Thanksgiving dinner, we put all of the adult names in a hat or bowl, we each draw one name out to see who will buy for whom on Christmas, and then we all agree on a price limit.This gives people plenty of time to put real thought into their gift buying, of course the kids get gifts from everyone, it puts every one on the same agreed upon budget and we all have a gift to open on Christmas.