Gift giving
What are your thoughts on adults exchanging gifts for birthdays, Christmas, etc? Is it just about the kids, or do you set spending limits on the gifts you buy for adult friends or family? How far into the family to you buy gifts...parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, great grandparents.....?
Everyone!!
I love buying gifts for everyone, regardless of age! :) Growing up, our family always had a gift exchange for the kids and another gift exchange for the adults. We havent done that for quite a few years but I really miss it. I sometimes think buying gifts for adults is funner, especially around the Christmas time. (Adults usually appreciate gifts more too!). At work, we always have a Christmas exchange which is a lot of fun! I always buy gifts for both of my parents, grandparents, and friends that are closest to me. At work,I'll usually purchase a small, inexpensive gift for the people I work with, just to let them know I'm thinking of them.
family
Normally we buy for everyone but my husband has a large family, but not everyone buys for everyone that goes. We decided this year we were only buying for the kids. I will still get for the grandparents and our siblings but not for all the aunts, great aunts, cousins, second cousins and everyone else that shows up to the party. It gets very costly. We are setting a limit on christmas in our own house too. We always just bought stuff when we were out and our son ended up with TONS of presents but this year we have two kids to buy for so we are going to set a dollar limit.
gift exchange
For X-mas on my side of the family, which is pretty large, we adults(my siblings/spouses) vote on a theme, then pick a name, and decide on an amount...typically $30. One year we did sweet confections, another year, board games, etc.. It works out great! With 9 nieces and nephews, they now also do a gift exchange. They pick a name of a cousin, and buy or make something for $10. The kids love it because most of them are old enough to really know what a cousin may like, plus they have fun shopping for or making that special gift. All of the adults will then go in on a larger item or two for my parents.
On my hubby's side, which is considerably smaller, we have in the past years just been giving a family gift (there's only 4 families all together). We usually make something, like a fruit basket, a crafty holiday decoration, decorate a picture frame, then include a recent photo of all of us or of just the kids. We then will go in with my sister-in law and get a restaurant gift card, or the likes, for my in-laws. Oh, and the kids do a $10 gift exchange.
As for birthdays, we usually buy or make a small gift for all the nieces/nephews. As for the adults, if varies from year to year...everyone just kinda does their own thing.