new holiday traditions

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I think I'm getting worse with age. At 18 I recall telling my roommate and friends let's not exchange gifts. I said I didn't have money and honestly I hate shopping. What do you spend on Christmas? I feel like I do spend a lot on christmas just not gifts. That I do spend on our trips and hosting people. But recently this year everyone coming over I said PLEASE no gifts and no secret santa and NO gifts for kids. I Said bring wine, dessert, anything like that but not a gift.

We are going to cirque du soliel and I'm spending $100 on 6 tickets each and a hotel for my parents and us and of course meals, etc. We are doing a ski trip which should run $2k for 4 days. We are hosting at least 3 christmas meals saturday/sunday and christmas dinner and possibly another one. And I feel like we are doing everything want except gifts. As I type this okay I need to buy at least stocking stuffers for my kids and a santa present..

But what do you guys do?

[kork13]

I strongly prefer simple, minimally-commercialized, family/friends focused holidays. I refuse to buy gifts for folks that aren't clearly practical and needed, and I often wish/ask that people not give us gifts simply for the sake of doing so. My wife is alot more sentimental, more liberal with gift giving, and so on... However, we've limited our gift giving to one rotating sibling on each side of the family each year (gratefully, the families all like that construct).

But both of us do value experience type things alot more than physical stuff. Often, we'll give family "experience" gifts that they wouldn't otherwise normally seek out. For example, DW's brother loves basketball, so this year we got them tickets to see the Globetrotters when they tour through their town in January. Last year, we helped pay for DW's sister's family to go to Disneyland.

I also love cooking, and that's one of the ways that I regularly "give" to my family, friends, and co-workers...throughout the year, really. Similarly, I'm thrilled to just have people come visit, and consider that time as a more than sufficient gift, especially knowing that as a military family, we tend to be very far separated from our relatives.

We also keep some gifts very simple & predictable. Every year, our family gets a new set of pajamas (or this year, we're doing robes). Stockings always have apples, oranges, hygiene supplies (toothbrush/paste, deodorant, etc.), small games, and little snacks/treats. For actual gifts under the tree, one of my favorite conventions (especially for my kids) is to stick with a 4 gift rule: "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read." Find them something that fits those categories, and that's it. I love the simplicity, and I think keeping the quantity of gifts fairly limited helps them to appreciate them more.

[bjl584]

We hosted Thanksgiving, so I'm off the hook for Christmas.
We'll be going to a few parties, but aren't required to bring anything but a dish and drink of choice.

I personally don't buy gifts for anyone outside of immediate family.
All in I think I'm hovering around $700 spent.

[mumof2]

As our kids are in their 20's and buy what they need or want...I usually buy a couple small gifts for under the tree for them and my hubby and then give them money so they can buy what they want at the after christmas sales...we don't really need or want much...I am a minimalist so I am really hard to buy for. I usually buy for my mom but its usually gift card which can go towards anything from food/clothes etc...so whatever she wants to spend it on...we usually host christmas (we arent this year) but being summer everyone just brings food for everyone to share...so we have meats/salads/desserts etc...its pretty laid back...and since I buy all year for gifts I only ever get things on sale so save money there!!

[msomnipotent]

I'm finally having the kids come over to bake cookies this year. By kids, I mean my daughter's cousins. This will be the first time in a long time that we didn't go on the Polar Express, so now we have time for cookies (and everyone is getting along). We used to drive over 5 hrs each way to stay at an overpriced hotel to ride the Polar Express but everyone started to feel that it was a giant time suck and not worth the money. Thank God!

[scfr]

My budget this year is $800: gifts for 4 people that are mostly practical in nature (help with legal costs, produce delivery subscription, contributions to college costs or savings), greeting cards & postage, taking the family out for lunch on Christmas Eve, some extra "fancy" food, and extra donations. I've also given the gift of time above and beyond the usual, taking my mom (who no longer drives) and brother to a couple holiday events, picking up gifts & groceries, wrapping their gifts to others, taking care of the "high up on the stepstool" decorating, and mailing their packages for them.

My sisters and I got together and made a list of items we'd like to have from our mother (things that she already owns - some are family heirlooms, some are not), and starting with our birthdays this year we asked her to give those things to us now instead of buying anything or waiting to have them until after she passes. Her finances are limited and she has way to much stuff, so this is a way to help her save money and the trouble of going out to buy something, plus it helps ease her in to the decluttering process that she has found extremely difficult. So I know I'll be getting one of those items from her this year, plus a small gift card from my brother, and that's it.

It's been a pretty good holiday season this year!

[riverwed070707]

For actual gifts under the tree, one of my favorite conventions (especially for my kids) is to stick with a 4 gift rule: "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read." Find them something that fits those categories, and that's it. I love the simplicity, and I think keeping the quantity of gifts fairly limited helps them to appreciate them more.

LOVE this! I've always valued experiential gifts over physical gifts and been uncomfortable with the commercialism of Christmas. Conversely, my family has always been over the top. They spend way too much. I think I was initially turned off by buying presents because I vividly remember as a kid coming down xmas morning to a living room floor literally covered and piled high with presents, followed by months of my parents complaining about paying off debt from Christmas which left me with guilt over the presents I'd received. With DD I usually fill her stocking with favorite things - chapstick, fuzzy socks, favorite candy, new gloves, etc and she gets one "big" present. This year she's heading into middle school and she grew about 6 inches in the last year and she asked for clothes so I did some online thrift shopping (24 clothing items for $80!) and she'll be getting more gifts but I spent less than $100 total including stocking stuffers and the clothes are needed.

Last year her gift was a trip to Arizona and she got some things for the trip. I love DOING things over buying things because making memories is so much more valuable than getting stuff. DDs dad and I are divorced but last year I went to their place for xmas eve and stayed the night so we could all open presents together xmas morning. We combined the things we got her and didn't label who they were from and just enjoyed hanging out around the fire and playing games. Planning to do the same this year. Guess it's becoming a tradition

[Like2Plan]

This is a fun topic. We have a tradition of going to see Christmas lights that they set up in one of our state parks. Also, Mt Vernon has a candlelight tour. We like to see the National Christmas Tree at least once during the season. Sometimes, we see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater. Some years we go to Disney World between Christmas and New Years--it's not my preferred time to go, but sometimes it is the only reliable time we can schedule and know the family will be able to go...

Almost all of my Christmas shopping is done. There are a few things that are in transit to relatives. I was really lucky to be able to hand deliver about a 1/3 of our gifts this year. I like that best.