Do you buy (xmas presents) for relatives you don't like?

How do you know they don't feel the same way, you said in your previous post the siblings kid is into gaming but you buy him board games and books???? Why don't you just buy them what they want instead of what you think they need, might save a bit of angst.

 

If it wasn't for my mother I don't think we'd bother. She likes it. I just have to find a gift for her and she gets presents for everyone else and sends me the bill.

 

Because in the past when i did spend $100 on the kid and got him games they still got thrown to the side

 

I love how we do Christmas. My own family is all spread out across the country/world, so when we get together it's a live-in arrangement.

We all pick a name out of a hat, and spend $50 on just that person. Everyone does a wish list to increase the odds of not getting a dud, and then on the night we all have to present our gifts to our Santee, with some kind of performance - a poem, song, multimedia presentation, whatever. It's hilarious and my favourite thing of the whole year.

Then, when we get together with James's family, we all bring a $5-10 pressy and do a 'Bad Santa' on Christmas day - all the gifts go in the middle, and someone picks one and unwraps it. Then the next person picks one, unwraps but then has the choice to swap with person 1 if they want to. Person 1 gets no say in the matter. And so on until the gifts are all gone - no-one's gift is safe until the very end. My 10 year old ended up with a jar of gherkins last year

 

... Bah humbug!

But that's just me.

Much more fun when it's beauty products - Nair, Nads, ear/nose hair trimmer, moustache lightener

 

I don't.

 

THIS Melts my heart, for our kids this year we have bought them minimal presents but have also organised a family holiday so we can make memories not just throw away the gift the following year. The kids are excited to be going to a lovely holiday house instead of just camping. (Mum (me) is more excited that she will have her own shower and toilet and no one looking at you as you walk to the toilet block)

 

Too much use of the F word and the C word.


Families and Christmas

 

As far back as I can remember my family never bought presents for any occasion, not even birthdays. But during the year we always treat each other and buy stuff for one another when its spontaneous and not just because its a certain time to. Feels a lot more genuine this way to us.

 

If I feel I should to avoid others frowning, I'll get them something for a couple of bucksI know they'll definitely not appreciate, from red dot etc

 

I don't buy Christmas presents and neither do my close friends. We have so much stuff already. No need to add to it. Spending time with family and friends is more important than more stuff. No presents takes a lot of unnecessary stress out of Christmas.

 

Screw them then, just buy them pot plants or give them a gift voucher.

 

we usually have no presents policy, just get together and have a good time, eat drink and be merry
for our kids, we ask what they want and get it for them save so much time running around, everyone gets what they wanted and we save the time to go on do other things like chillax

 

We give gifts and receive gifts but we don’t expect anything. If they don’t like the gifts then too bad.

 

What ever happened to its the thought that counts......

 

I think that’s the problem - gifts are given out of a sense of pressure rather than thought.

It’s rare to get a gift that someone’s really taken the time to think about.

 

Oh really I love xmas and gift giving thought always goes into mine. Even the gift wrapping. Rustic wrapping this year - brown paper with curling ribbon and custom home made gift tags.

I might just love xmas too much thought lol

 

Few years back I made the mistake of buying my son a few games for his xbox from a big bin at JB for ~$20 each, they sat there never played because they weren't games he was in to.

The games their in to are ones they can multi-play with their friends from school online, ~$80 to $100 each, to hard to pick what his friends are into now or next. Best to give cash or gift card, let them get their own.

iTunes gift cards is another way to go, they can buy games or music through the iTunes store. Even if they don't have their own iPhone yet, their likely playing on mum or dads.

 

Keep an eye on MMO Role playing game, they can be addictive, some parents are clueless until it is too late.

I don't ban that sort of stuff from my kids but I educate them and let them know the in and out and limit their online time so they don't get into a habit that it hard to get out.

 

As the clueless adults, we can make the mistake of getting someone else an xbox game, for example, when they have a playstation, and vice versa.