How much will you spend on Christmas presents this year?

[YLTL_Dan]

Do you have a set amount to spend on Christmas, or do you spend at will? According to the NRF (National Retail Federation), the average spend is $718.98 per person which would translate into around $1,440 per couple.

The DW and I spent a little over that last year, but will probably spend a little less this year. Some tips to control spending (highlighted in my recent article):


What's the best way to control your spending on Christmas?

1. Create a list of everyone you want to give presents to
2. Estimate how much you will spend on each person
3. Compare your estimate to how much money you have
4. Adjust list as necessary
5. Take your list with you when shopping and use it!

[NetSkyBlue]

I will spend $450

$50 each on the members of my immediate family (4 of them)
$50 for the name I drew in our family gift exchange (this year, my grandmother)
$200 for my boyfriend.

I have everything purchased except the gift for my grandma, and so far I'm $2.53 under budget!

I have a line item on my budget for gifts, and I move money from every paycheck to "gifts" so the money's always in there when I need it.

[bjl584]

I will be honest, I've never really budgeted for Christmas. I've always had plenty in my checking account, and every year I just sort of go shopping for the people on my list. I put everything on my credit card and then pay it off in full when the bill comes in January. I usually spend a couple hundred dollars.

[MonkeyMama]

$0.

We usually spend closer to $300 or so. I've earned a LOT of free gift cards, this year, is all.

I have no idea what people spend all that money on at Christmas time. I do have kids. I just never spend enough for it to make much difference - cash Christmas for sure. (Most our family and friends agree to skip gifts and just give money to charity).

[snafu]

I start with the smaller, under $20. gifts and focus on using discounts, sales, gift cards, staying trendy and cheerful, enjoyed for a couple of months and discarded. Being able to price check on i-Phone has been working out far better than I imagined. We don't have Santa aged kiddos in our extended family just now who would get and enjoy store bought gifts. Our family has a long tradition of giving home made gifts. Gratefully we now draw names using 'secret Santa' rules.

DH and I plan to travel to Myanmar in February rather than buy stuff.

[dawnwes]

$100 per child x 3
$200 for extended family total
$100 for misc. people (I am making gifts and this is for supplies.)

We may go a bit over, but that is our budgeted amount.

Dawn

[riverwed070707]

$10/kid (nieces and nephews) x 9 = $90
$25-40 on my own kid (not sure what I'm getting her!)
$20 for a gift exchange at work
$400 for DH and I's presents to each other (we don't really do gifts all year so we splurge at Christmas)
$60 for our parents and siblings (not bad for 11 people!)

Total= about $600

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$1k maybe? Does it count that my DH wanted and "bought" himself a tablet? I am calling it his gift and I bought him a $99 soda machine for his b-day next week.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Livingalmostlarge, the article from the National Retail Federation that I found calls that "self-gifting," and they do count it as part of the Christmas spending. In fact the title on their article emphasizes self-gifting.

National Retail Federation -

I don't see anything in there though to confirm that in 2-adult families the Christmas spending is as high as $1400. It isn't clear. If so, people like my DH and I sure do miss the mark.

I haven't thought about how much we might spend. Mostly, we will be spending for travel.

[Team Syntek]

Wife and I just had a baby and compromised on $200/each - there are FAR better things to spend money on than Xmas

[YLTL_Dan]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

I don't see anything in there though to confirm that in 2-adult families the Christmas spending is as high as $1400. It isn't clear. If so, people like my DH and I sure do miss the mark.

I haven't thought about how much we might spend. Mostly, we will be spending for travel.

I never found a clear explanation of how a couple's budget would look ($720 vs $1440). The article always said "the average customer", so after deliberating I went with doubling for a couple. It makes some sense when you think about it since you'd have separate parents, siblings, and cousins on both sides. Either way, I was surprised the average was so high.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Here's another poll. 2011 Holiday Shopping

[elessar78]

When everything is said and done probably a shade under $1000. Ugh.

[thefrugallery]

$1440 per couple does seem high. We just moved cross-country so pretty much everyone is getting something that is easy to mail such as gift cards or vouchers for something. We will spend $500 on gifts this year. The kids will all get savings bonds. They don't even notice a couple less gifts under the tree and they will thank us later!

The Frugallery

[EarlyRetirementJoy]

This year I "found" $1,000 in unredeemed points for one of our credit cards. My DH told me a couple of years ago that he'd opened a new card, but never spelled out that it accumulated points at 1/2/3% of spend, depending on specific item being purchased. So that was a very pleasant surprise.

DD#1 and fiance - $400
DD#2 and fiance - $400
Sister in law - $100
My father - $100
DH - $0 (We've decided to adopt a family through the Salvation Army instead)
TOTAL - $1,000

I also do stockings for DH and my sister-in-law, but have used coupons from Kohls and JCPenney to fill them this year for less than $15 each. Crazy that retailers are sending these out - I've gotten nine $10 off $10 or more coupons so far - but I like it!

Next year we will probably cut both DD's down to $200, for a revised total of $600. We went high this year solely due to the found credit card points.

[FrugalTexan75]

Ummm...

$256 - Plane ticket to CA
$20 - Secret Santa gifts (though may get away with less ..)
$0 - mom's gift (got at Community Dinner)
$0 - brother's gift (Community Dinner)
$40 - dad's gift (redbox - football thing, plus something from Community Dinner)

So ... about $316? (Maybe add $15 or so for shipping for mom and brother's gifts?)

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Livingalmostlarge, the article from the National Retail Federation that I found calls that "self-gifting," and they do count it as part of the Christmas spending. In fact the title on their article emphasizes self-gifting.

My wife and I were just talking about this the other day. We basically stopped buying each other gifts years and years ago. We are both the type that don't want a ton of money spent on us for no reason. We are also both the type who, when there is something we really want, go out and get it. Also, since all of our financial life is lived jointly, we realize that me taking money from OUR account to buy her a gift and her taking money from OUR account to buy me a gift is pretty silly. It's all the same money. It all comes from the same place. We just buy what we want when we want it and that's it.

All of that said, I did buy her a little something that I know she wants. I think it was $12. I also ordered her a Wellness Mat for the kitchen but that benefits both of us. I think she was going to get me a new blender (ours broke) but again, that's more of a house gift that all 3 of us will use. So the $12 item is probably the only thing that I'll be buying that we wouldn't have gotten anyway.

[dojo]

With DisneySteve on this one. I have everything I'd need, he has it all too. We just enjoy being together with the family and not waste time on stuff we don't need. If I or him want something, we just go get it

[DeansLane]

I think in Christmas I will go with your suggestion and see if it is helpful or not If it really helpful then it will be a nice gift from you for me so Merry Christmas.

[Angio333]

We are buying for 16 adults (over 18) and 9 kids (under 18). We spent around $700 TOTAL.