Gift Exchange Issues

[thefrugallery]

Ever since I can remember, my family has always exchanged gifts between each person. As our family has grown to include spouses and children, we have not altered our rituals. I am recently out of work and this is a burden for my husband and I. My parents and brothers are pretty well-off financially and the gifts they give are very nice. We don't set price limits, but generally we spend at least $50 for each person.

How can I approach the subject with them that I would rather not do this? I would rather give savings bonds to the children (who already get too many gifts) and not do gifts for the adults.

Have you run into this problem yourself? How do you deal with it?

[elessar78]

We've dealt with it as follows:

We're free to give our immediate family as we choose, for the aunts/uncles/cousins we draw lots to see who we buy gifts for.

I kinda abhor the materialism surrounding Christmas, so I'm all for less gifts.

[LuckyRobin]

Just tell them you can't afford it. The sooner the better. They are your family and they should understand things have changed.

[Branden62225]

Good posting.