How Much We Spend for Holiday Presents

I have some friends who adore the holidays. By July, they’re putting up memes on Facebook counting down the days until Christmas. By October, they’ve put up their Christmas tree. When buying gifts, they go all out because they want those close to them to love the holiday as much as they do. However, how much my husband and I spend on presents reflects our budget and refusal to go into debt for the holidays. My adoration of the holidays passed a long time ago; I find the season to be busy and chaotic. However, I still delight in seeing my kids and family opening their gifts, and I try my best to find deals to stretch the number of presents I can buy on our limited budget.

How Much We Spend for Holiday Presents

We buy gifts for our three kids, my mom, and each other.

For Our Kids

Our kids are all teenagers now. When they were young (and less fussy about the presents they received), we spent $100 per child. Now that they’re older, we spend $200 per child. We spend approximately $150 to $160 on presents and $40 to $50 on stocking stuffers. The presents are the gifts they “want.” The stocking stuffers usually contain useful items like socks and underwear and more expensive items like makeup and gift cards.

For My Mom

My mom usually joins us for Christmas, and since she’s a widow, we buy most of her Christmas presents. We spend $150 to $200 on her gifts.

For Each Other

We try to cut costs when buying for one another, typically only spending $50 or so on each other. However, we get gifts from my mom and our kids, so we are not without presents.

How We Keep Our Spending “Low”

For a typical holiday buying presents for the six people in our family, we spend approximately $900, or an average of $150 a person. We can keep our spending low for two reasons.

We Don’t Buy Gifts for Outsiders

We homeschool our kids, so we don’t need to buy gifts for teachers. We also don’t have a gift exchange with extended family, which reduces our costs.

We Established the Tradition of Spending Less on the Holidays

Money was tight for the first ten years of our children’s lives. They didn’t receive many gifts, so they are used to receiving a modest number of presents. Even when our budget became more comfortable, we still limited our spending. Rather than spending elaborately on the holidays, we’d prefer to spend extra money on activities, funding their college educations and our retirement.

There’s nothing wrong with spending a lot on presents; however, doing so is not our priority.

Final Thoughts

How much each family spends on the holidays is a personal decision based on the number of people you buy for, your budget, and your feelings toward the holiday season. However, $900 is how much we spend on holiday presents.

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Melissa Batai

Melissa is a freelance writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking.